Secession Storm

Outspoken Major James H. Clark, Speaker of the Ontario Legislature, went on the air from a Detroit radio station last week and said:

"In my own offhand opinion, if a vote were taken [in Canada] tomorrow, there would probably be 40% to 45% of the people vote for a political union with the U.S."* Two days later he raised the estimate to a flat 45%. Many Canadians, he insisted, believe that the standard, of living would go up 25% overnight if there was political union with the U.S.

Toronto's powerful Globe & Mail cried that Ontario residents should "feel humiliated and insulted." Said the London (Ont.) Free Press: "We doubt if there was ever a time when there was so little sentiment in favor of union with the U.S. as today." Ontario's Premier Harry C. Nixon repudiated the Speaker. Said he: "Ontario is intensely British and will remain so. Let no man tell us otherwise."

*This week a Gallup poll, withheld from publication since April, showed Canadian opinion divided: 49% for continuing as part of the British Commonwealth; 21% for becoming part of the U.S.; 24% for becoming an independent nation; 6% undecided.

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