VIGOROUS DENIAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 16, 20 January 1939, Page 7

VIGOROUS DENIAL.

Canada Not Co-operating With Britain. REPLY BY MINISTER. (Received 2.30 p.m.) OTTAWA, January 19. In the Senate, Mr. R. Dandurand, Minister without portfolio, vigorously denied the allegation made by the Conservative leader, Mr. Arthur Meighen, that Canada was not co-operating with the British Admiralty and War Office regarding defence and lacked complete knowledge of the programmes of both sides of the Atlantic. Canada would not surrender in war to autonomy and she was not going to be placed in the position of having to dance to the tune of any British Government, which might be Tory, Liberal, Labour or Socialist, without opportunity to approve of entry into the conflict. Professor Sidney Smith, of the University of Manitoba, in an address to the Service Club, said Canada should inform the world that she may remain neutral if Britain goes to war. If Canada was always to follow Britain's lead she should exercise her right to consultation by the British Government. It was not wise to bury their heads in the sand and then, when war broke out, to find they had no alternative except to enter the war.