Union Not Now

Most Canadians reacted the way they always do when union with the U.S. is proposed. At Kenora, Ont., George Barrett, Attorney General of Illinois, told an audience of Rotarians that Canadians should break their "sentimental" ties with Great Britain and seek statehood south of the border. Indignant citizens were baying at his heels before he could say "George Washington."

But there was one place in Canada where the idea no longer seemed so preposterous. Arthur Ford's London (Ont.) Free Press editorialized: "Canadians will not take [the Barrett] suggestion seriously. . . Nevertheless . . . there is one, and only one, state of affairs which could possibly induce us to take such a step. If a time should come when the people of eight provinces believe . . . that their lives and destinies are being controlled and influenced by Quebec. . .it is conceivable that they might resent it so forcefully that some other condition than confederation might be preferable. This is not the fantastic projection of a nightmare. It is a possibility. . . "

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