N the same day last O week that General A. G. L. McNaughton spoke before the external affairs committee, painting a picture of the United States’ determination to hold on to its death-dealing atomic- bomb stocks, members of the House of Commons debated the future course of Canadian-Am- erican miltary relations. During discussién on Bill 253 to give commanders of Ameri- can troops in Canada internal disciplinary and administrative powers, T. J. Bentley (CCF, Swift Current), drew attention te the need for all the facts “behind this bill”. 3 Implied in his remarks was criticism of the backdoor me- thods the King admiristration has employed in Canadian-Am- erican military dealings. » Bentley saw “no necessity for troops of any other nation be- ing stationed here for training or exercises.” And h2 wanted to know didn’t use Alaska or some other northern area for their tests. (American forces are also con- ducting large-scale tests in Alaska.) <) Bentley challenged his critics by stating flatly that it was “not inevitable that there be a war between the U.S. and Rus- sia.” He pointed to the British- Soviet 20-year peace pact as worthy of attention by Canada. Parliament, he said, should not give sanction to a bill that would “fan the fires and flames _ of suspicion.” _ @ erga was only one of a score of members who took advantage Louis St. Laurent’s bill to break loose from the tight rein the government usu- ally contrives to maintain on _ discussions involving foreign policy and bring to the floor of, the House some of the doubts — and fears agitating the Canadian People. 2 All that the secretary of state for external affairs wanted to do with his Billi 253 was give commanders of American troops in Canada power of discipline and internal administration. But somehow opposition mem- bers would not swallow the in- - hocuous-looking bill. Something _ was going on behind the scenes. They wanted everything above- board. The CCF members, in particular, wanted the bill re- ferred to the external affairs committee of the House. Then they could call witnesses and _ get a lot more information than they normally can by a discus- sion in the House. . ' So the battle was on—for or against the amendment intro- duced by the CCF. - St. Laurent explained that in 1933 parliament passed an act providing for discipline of Brit- ish Commonwealth troops. On the outbreak of war, the act was extended by order-in-council un- der the War Measures Act to include forces of the U.S. Then another order was passed ex- cluding the authority of Can- ada’s own courts over U.S. ser- _ vice courts. Both these orders lapsed on ‘April 1, The purpose of the pres- ent bill would make possible discipline of American troops, with final authority in Canadian courts. What was absolutely new about the bill, of course, was the extension in peacetime of a military privilege to the U.S. Neither the Tories, the CCF cr Social Credit were having . anything of this. They wanted more facts. The Tories and So- cial Crediters were not ‘taking exception to U.S. policies to- wards Turkey and Greece nor its atom-bomb declarations. But they objected to the sacrifice of independence entailed by the . FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1947 why the Americans * Presence of American troops on Canadian maneuvers at Churchill, infringes Canada’s to U.S. foreign policy. This is what some Commons last week. King maintained that But Canada would not be the first co to get them out again. soil in peacetime, such as those shown here in winter sovereignty, jeopardizes its independence and links it members told Prime Minister King in the House of the troops were here on_ his government’s invitation. untry in history to find that it’s easier to invite troops in than By MARK FRANK character of the bill, and the — government’s high-handed action. im having “already committed Canada to collaboration on a military level with the U.S. on February 12, without proper reference beforehand to parlia- ment. : e OHN PROBE (CCF-Regina) was ruled out of order when he charged that “there seems to be an unnecessary amount of hush-hush” surrounding the ac- activities of American armed forces in Canada. Probe asked St. Laurent to tell the Canadian people what the American forces were do- ing in Canada and where they were located. St. Laurent said it was com- mon information that units of the U.S. army were stationed at Churchill for the purpose of testing war equipment under winter conditions. He said that there were other. American forces in Canada but added that he was not free to reveal in- formation as to their activities or location. Probe declared that Canada was surrendering some of its sovereignty to “army courts of a foreign power.” But even sur- render of sovereignty was not the worst of the bill. “It is the fact that the bill is premised on the presence in this coun- try of foreign, if at the same time friendly, forces.” He charged ‘that Canada was not living up to article 47 of the U.N. Charter when it enter- ed into arrangements for en- trance of U.S. troops into Can- ada. : “We must not enter into an arrangement with the U.S. per- — mitting their troops to come across to Canada, and ours to go to the U.S. which makes for a virtual alliance,” he said. (Article 47 of the U.N. provides for a military staff committee to assist the security council in the maintenance of peace and security). ~ Rapid-fire questioning came from the Tories, who wanted to know where authority lay in deciding invitation of troops to Canada. Howard Green (P.C., Vancou- ver South), asked whether di- visions could be ‘invited.’ St. Laurent replied that there was no statutory authority for the “penetration within our country of the armed forces of another friendly state.” It was, he said, like the president. of the U.S. or diplomatic representatives com- ing to Canada, adding that Am- erican troops were in Canda with the consent of the Canad- ian government. The House finally voted 104_ to 26 to defeat Probe’s motion to refer the bill to committee. On the recorded vote, the Lib- erals, Progressive Conservatives, and Social Credit members vot- ed solidly against the CCF group, except for Howard Green (PC-Vancouver South), who voted with the CCF. — x S bere WEEK, however, members were still discussing the aft- er-effects of the attack on the government’s policy. Most mem- bers had not anticipated the wide scope of the debate on what the government regarded @s a minor bill and government benches were taken unawares by the second onslaught from opposition benches within a week. Earlier, the government had been forced to retreat on its immigration policy. The unexpected sharpness with which CCF, and some Conserva- tive and Social Credit members raised the question of Canadian independence was an _ unwel- come curtain-raiser for Presi- dent Truman’s visit from the viewpoint of government sup- porters.. ; The stand taken by the CCF members reflects to some extent. the pressure they have been under ‘from their constituents and the CCE membership to take a sharper stand on foreign affairs. But while the CCF’s stand reflected a recognition of widespread public uneasiness over the government's policy, its attitude seemed to be one of a plague on both your houses. _This was expressed most clearly by S. H. Knowles (CCF, Winnipeg North Center). spoke about “the Soviet camp” and “the Western camp,” and drew a glib but entirely false analogy between Canada in its military and political relations with the U.S. and Yugoslavia’s relations with the USSR. For him. the differences be- tween the American-Canadian Author bares Greek terror ’ : Ree ST. JOHN, author and hews commentator, punched a huge hole in the ‘iron curtain’ covering Greece. In a detter written and mailed from Yugoslavia, after getting out of Greece, St. John tells of the hun- ger, the misery and the persecu- tion of the Greek people and of the corruption and degeneracy of the present Greek regime. He says, “The HAH has just sent proof to the Government that 3,500 villages in Greece have received no UNNRA food for an average of six months. An UNRRA official in Athens and another in Salonika stated that many of the villages have not received food for 11 or 12 months,’ : St.. John describes his visit to the village of Asvestario where there are 672 people. “The chil- dren all have sore’ on faces, arms and bodies.’ “Have you any food in town for the children?’ St. John asked. ‘No.’ i, “What are you living on?” “Roots from the forest.” “How many in exile from here?” St. John asked. Three women stepped forward, one with five children, one with four, one with three. The three husbands were serving long sentences in exile. “We have to send food to our men in exile,” the three said in chorus, “or else they tell us they will starve.” ‘Do you get mail from exiled husbands!” : “Occasionally. But all they are allowed to write is that they are happy and well-treated, and your He. has partnership for imperialist eX poitation of their own and other peoples and Soviet-Yugoslav C0- operation for peaceful recon- struction and building of social ism did not appear to exist. Lo But the debate has neverthe- less helped to give point and purpose to the growing clatmur among progressives of all shadeS for an independent Canadian foreign policy founded on pracy tical meastres to strengthen and carry out the principles of the United Nations. then we have to write back that we too are happy and well- treated.” “ In the general store, he Te . ports, “the shelves are empty except for 13 boxes of the fin- est face powder I have ever seen, one string of rotten figs, five pounds of white beans, three one-pound boxes of mouldy — chocolates, one bottle of aspirin. One reason Greek villages get no food, St. John discovered, was that “under the law, the _Nomarchia (head of: the coun- ty) can issue the village’s food ration only to the president. SO | the president gets it down to Yiannitsa, posts a notice on 4 telephone pole that unless the People of the village call for their rations within five days, he will dispose of the food. Then, when they don’t appear, because they have already been — warned to stay where they are, “he sells the people’s food and ~ Pockets the money, after split ting with various other Greek officials,” St. ‘munist menace’ with this story: “I have talked with the editor (that is almost~ of a liberal consérvative news- in Greece) paper in Athens. Quite a gen-. tleman. No use at all for Com-- munists, but’ he said that in six months, if conditions do not _improve, he is going to the says all decent people will. Is isn’t 4 — question of Communism at all. — ; ‘ y oe _ PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 10 hills to join up John explodes the! Cum: — Mackenzie King finds the — Doctrine hard to sell .