Defense of the North

Before an audience at Princeton, N.J., Canada's Ambassador to the U.S. Lester B. Pearson last week laid down Canada's foreign policy.

"The basis of my country's foreign policy is a simple one," he said. "Subject always to our obligations as a member of the United Nations, we desire to maintain the closest possible relations with the U.S. and the United Kingdom, and do what we can to see that those two countries remain on terms of friendly understanding with each other. Canada knows well that, if they fall apart, her own position would be impossible, as she would be forced to choose between her two friends. That would be an impossible choice. ... If [they] cannot work amicably together, there is certainly no hope for the United Nations. . . ."

"Is there any reason," he asked significantly, "why Canada and the U.S. should not concert arrangements for joint defense? . . . We are becoming increasingly aware in Canada of our significance as an arctic power, and the effect of this on our relations with both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. We are most anxious to develop the economic . . . resources of our north country . . One of the great sources of uranium in the world is well within the Canadian Arctic Circle. In this arctic development, however, we desire the closest possible cooperation with the U.S."

Five days later the significance of his speech became clear. From Washington came word of a joint arctic defense plan for the U.S. and Canada. It was based on the military premise that Canada's vast northland might become a battleground in another war. Operation Musk-Ox (TIME, May 20) had proved that the north was no longer impassable or impregnable. It had also proved that Canada had not yet developed the proper equipment for warfare there.

Tundra Theater. The new plan, prepared by the U.S.-Canadian Permanent Joint Defense Board, called for the same close cooperation in peace for the defense of northern North America as had existed during the war. The two countries would maintain defense bases and weather stations on the roof of the continent; they would devise and make suitable equipment; their forces would be coordinated, trained (see below) and armed with the same arctic weapons. If the tundras ever faced invasion, U.S. and Canadian troops would man the arctic defenses together.

Washington was careful not to slight Ottawa's sovereignty or her ties with Great Britain. The U.S. would share the cost with Canada. But otherwise neither partner's foreign policy would be tied to the other. The purpose was purely military, to build a bastion against attack from the north. Nobody mentioned the name of any likely attacker from that quarter.

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