Evening star., 1940-08-19
Vulnerable Canada

Noilouo 10
so-and her military experts are as
aware of it as are those in the United
States-and in Berlin If Germany
were to win the battle of England
and gain control of the British fleet,
Canada would have to look to the
United States for protection against
a European invader. She has no
navy worthy of the name. Her army
and air force, now aiding in the war
overseas, are wholly inadequate to
repel a well-organized totalitarian
assault. Canada's war effort has been
earnest, but distressingly slow in
producing results. In urging Canada
to take possession of Greenland
and to establish an air base there,
Watson Griffin, a fellow of the
Royal Geographic Society, cited
these stepping stones from Naziheld
Norway to Canada: Shetland Islands,
225 miles from Bergen; Farce Island,
225 miles from the Shetlands Reyk-
javik, Iceland, 488 miles from the
Faroes; Sydproven, Greenland. 1877
miles from Reykjavik, and Chino, on
Hudson Strait, Northern Canada, 1877
miles from Greenland. Mr.. Griffin
was quoted in the New York Herald
Tribune as expressing the belief that
the Germans easily could make this
passage to establish base on Hud-
son Bay, from which they could DOM
mate the mining sections of North
ern Ontario and Quebec, the steel
works at Sault Ste. Marie, the rail-
roads, the st. Lawrence Valley and
other strategic points. Canada's
Arctic regions are patrolled only by
mounted police.
Once established in Canada, the
invader would encounter no Maginot
Line nor any other Notifications be-
tween the United States and Canada.
Our relations with Canada in the
past have been so friendly and the
possibility of attack from that
quarter so remote that militariza-
ton Of the border was deemed
wholly unnecessary. 1t is against
this background of thoroughly
alarming considerations that Presi-
dent Roosevelt and Prime Minister
Mackenzie King have agreed to es-
tabliSh a Permanent Joint Board on
Defense, to consist of four or five
members each from Canada and the
United States. This agency, it was
announced, will be set up and will
begin its deliberations at an early
date. President Roosevelt has stated
the case frankly when he declares
that the United States will defend
Canada as we would our own
territory. We must defend Canada
against any totalitarian invader, be-
cause defense of Canada is defense
of the United States. Canada is
aware of this, and she is aware also
of the fact that without the aid Of
the United States, she would be no
match for an axis attacker. This
mutual understanding between the
two countries simplifies the task of
joining hands for continental de-
fense.
Details of the program will have
to be worked out by the new defense
board. In the past, however, there
have been unofficial proposals that
the United States establish naval
or air base at Halifax, Nova Scotia,
or at some point in Newfoundland.
A military highway through Canada,
connecting Alaska and the States,
long has been advocated. A closer
coordination of Canadian and
United States production facilities
for Joint defense is desirable. What
ever the provisions of the final pact,
there will be no single beneficiary,
no monopoly of advantages by one
or the other of the signatories. Can
ada and the United States are in the
same boat and the perils which beSet
that boat are common to both Oc-
cupants. Only by pulling together,
as they are doing now, can the two
of them hope to weather the threat
ening storm.