Evening star., 1938-05-29
''C.anada Is Canada -

~-~sA->~N>~sS
Washington is the scene of reciprocal
trade negotiations which symbolic the
nationhood of Canada Coincident with
similar negotiations with Great Britain,
the State Department is in treaty with
representatives of the Dominion looking
to an agreement to supplant the one
signed in 1885, which was one of the
earliest and most important of the Hull
pacts. Though discussions are proceed
ing concurrently with those being held
with the Mother country" the Canadian
exchanges are wholly apart from the
British dealings. Nothing could more
graphically exemplfy the independent
status of our northern neighbor within
the framework of the British Common
wealth of Nations.
Though the power to negotiate inter-
national treaties is prima facie evidence
of peoples sovereignty along with the
maintenance of it's own diplomatic rela-
tions, Prime Minister Mackenzie King
has just taken occasion specifically to
remind the world of Canada's untram-
meled national position. Addressing the
House of Commons at Ottawa, he en-
phasized that the Dominion is not COM
mitted either to 60 to war or even to
remain neutral where Great Britain or
the Empire is involved. South Africa
is South Africa, New Zealand is New
Zealand, Australia is Australia and
Canada is Canada said Mr.. King,
adding: 1T will promote good under
standing if that elementary fact is borne
in mind"
The prime minister made these state
ments during a long-awaited exposition
of Dominion foreign policy, in light Of
the international situation, which he
describes as dark, but not one that calls
for despair" The Canadian people, like
the American people, are incorrigibly
minded. They are as hostile to
the idea of entangling alliances as if
some founding father of their own had
made that principle the country's ira
ditional policy Envisioning commit
ments which might draw Britain into
another world conflict, Mr.. King points
out that Canadas position rests on three
factors-O the unlikelihood that she
will either attack or be attacked; CD
the improbability of embodiment in war
through her League of Nations member
ship, because the Geneva sanctions pro-
visions have ceased to have effect" and
go the Dominions membership in the
British Commonwealth imposes no obliga-
ton whatever to engage in war. If
critical situation arises, it will be exclu-
sively for the Canadian people, acting
through their Parliament, to determine
the nations course, always mindful that
1t is in nowise bound by foreign policy
decisions of the United Kingdom. Under
the Statute of Westminster, enacted in
1881, the daughter nations" became as
independent as Britain herself.
1t was a famous predecessor of Mr..
Mackenzie King, Prime Minister Sir
Wilfrid Laurier, who long ago proclaimed
the vortex Of European war" The
Dominion was under no compulsion,
except that imposed by the ties Of blood
and sentiment, to march to Britannia's
defense in 1914. Yet she did so promptly
and valiantly. No soldiers of the King"
fought more gallantly than the Canadi-
Ems who won glory and immortality
at Vimy Ridge and on a hundred other
fields The relationships would griev-
ously miscalculate if they assumed that
in similar crisis the sons of the Maple
Leaf would not be found once more
battling shoulder to shoulder with their
British and French kin for the things
democracy holds dear.