Debt of Gratitude

Not all Canadians agree with External Affairs Chief Lester B. Pearson that the U.S. is ignoring or mishandling Canada's foreign-policy interests. Scholarly William Joseph Browne, a Newfoundland Tory M.P., took time out from the budget debate in Parliament last week to place a sharply dissenting opinion on the record. Said Browne:

"We receive protection from the United States that I do not think we fully appreciate. If the United States were not there with its powerful forces there would be nothing to prevent Russia from attacking us instead of looking for objectives in Asia. Not only those living in Canada, but the whole world . . . owes a great debt to the United States."

Browne compared Canadian and U.S. contributions to the fight against Communism, stressing the fact that the U.S. has adopted compulsory military service while Canada remains "dependent upon a halfhearted recruiting campaign."

"Here we are," he said, "ten months after the outbreak of the [Korean] war and Canada today has only one battalion in the field and 6,000 men en route . . . If it had not been for the decisive action of the United States . . . Korea would now be under Communist control and it is quite feasible that Communist forces would have since invaded Formosa or even Japan."

Under the circumstances, Browne argued, a Canadian statesman should have little fault to find with U.S. policies. He had in mind particularly the recent Toronto speech by External Affairs Minister Pearson (TIME, April 23) in which Pearson was critical of U.S. leadership. Said Browne: "It was rather surprising that [Pearson] should speak as he recently did in Toronto . . . We are copying the bad manners of the Russians [in] their brazen . . . and even insulting tactics."

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