Scheme For Opening St. Lawrence Seaway

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28801, 23 January 1959, Page 9

Scheme For Opening St. Lawrence Seaway

(Rec. 9 p.m.) OTTAWA, January 22.

A compromise solution to the problem of officially opening the St. Lawrence Seaway has been submitted to the United States and Canadian Governments for approval, Reuter reported yesterday. The solution, hammered out in Weeks of negotiations by working committees for both sides, involved at least three separate ceremonies in which the Queen would take part on June 26 and June 27 The plan, if approved, was expected to be announced early in February was designed to fit the personal convenience of President Eisenhower, and to prevent ruffled feathers on both sides of the border. The plan provides for an allCanadian opening ceremony as the Queen and Prince Philip leave Montreal aboard the Royal yacht Brit"nnia on the morning of June 26 and for a ceremony at the International Rapids section of the seaway, on American soil, on June 27 Both the Queen and the President would take part in the second ceremony This would be described not as an “opening” but as a “recognition” that the seaway had been built as a joint Canadian project. Aft'r this ceremony the Queen,

possibly accompanied. by the President, would cross the International Bridge to Cornwall, Ontario, and would visit the international power-house. On the afternoon of June 27 the Queen, accompanied by the President, would sail through Lake St. Lawrence aboard the Britannia, and another “recognition" ceremony would be held at the Iroquois Lock, on the Canadian side Many problems remain to be ironed out but that was the framework of events as presently planned. The delay in reaching agreement on the seaway opening has been due to both practical and political difficulties. For some time there was a possibility that President Eisenhower would go to Montreal, for joint ceremonies ■ there. The Canadians liked the idea, but the Americans did not Then there was the American proposal to have the official opening at the International Rapids section, where the two big locks, the Snell and the Eisenhower, were on American soil near Massina. The Americans liked that idea, for political reasons as well as for the convenience of the President but the Canadians did not, expecting an outcry if the official opening should be held outside Canada. Hence the present proposal for an “opening” ceremony in Montreat and two "recognition" ceremonies at the Integrations! Rapids and at Iroquois.