Off the Hook

Ever since "he started it last summer, Ontario's Premier George Drew had been whooping up his air immigration scheme. When the first goal of 7,000 British immigrants was reached last month, he announced that 8,000 more would be flown in by October. Last week he killed the project. His explanation: Trade and Commerce Minister C. D. Howe wanted to grab all Ontario's immigration traffic for the government's Trans-Canada Air Lines.

The two men had been feuding ever since Howe notified Drew last month that T.C.A., previously too short of planes to do the job, now had enough equipment. As a result, said Howe, the arrangement with Transocean Air Lines, a U.S. firm which had brought over most of the immigrants under a T.C.A. subcontract, would end on April 15. That, said Howe, would help Canada conserve U.S. dollars. Furthermore, Transocean was using "substandard" equipment. (Transocean uses U.S.-made DC-4s; Trans-Canada uses Canada-made North Stars, i.e., modified DC-6s with British engines.)

Drew exploded. Charging the minister with "outright dishonesty," he roared that "not one cent" of Canadian money had been spent. As for Transocean, Howe was guilty of "shameless slander."

Then it was Howe's turn. British immigrants, he pointed out, paid their fares in sterling, which Canada's government had to convert into dollars. Then came a haymaker. He produced two letters from Drew's own officials questioning the safety of Transocean's operation.

Drew's answer was to throw the whole affair into Howe's lap: the Dominion Government should "now inaugurate its own immigration program." That put it squarely up to Ottawa. It also got Drew off the hook. Ontario's labor shortage is easing up. Moreover, immigrants are squawking at the poor jobs offered and the appalling housing shortage there. Drew's immigration program seemed headed for the scrap heap anyhow. Now he could blame it on Ottawa.

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