CANADA'S ATTITUDE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 71, 24 March 1926, Page 9

CANADA'S ATTITUDE

TO BRITISH FOREIGN POLICY

LABOUR LEADER AN ANTIIMPERIALIST.

(Sydney Sun Cable.) (Received 24th March, i2.30 p.m.) OTTAWA, 23rd March. Canada's external relations were discussed in the House of Commons, when Mr, Woodsworth, Labour Radical member for Winnipeg, moved that Canada should refuse to accept any responsi bility for complications arising from the foreign policy of the United Kingdom. Mr. Woodsworth added that there was a tendency in Canada to be more British than the British. He then referred to the recent speech in Hapilton by Mr. Meighen, when the Opposition Leader declared that in event of another war not only Parliament shquld be called together, but the decision of Parliament should be tbc subject of a General Election. \ "I am inclined to think," said Mr. Woodsworth, "that Mr. Meigiien went too far, but we are not doing f,o in settling the principle by my i-jsolution. Mr. Meighen's argument was equivalent to saying that if Canada had had its autonomy, this Dominion, would, not have been in the;'war. Another member said that Toronto would not have sent 50,000 men to. France, and'be might have added ,50,000 Canadians would not have been filling graves in France or Belgium." Mr. Woodsworth then quoted General Macßrien, Chief of the Canadian Staff, as saying that it was idle not to l expect another war from the adjusting of European frontiers; Mr. Woodsworth' protested' against this propaganda; and against Earl Jellicoe's proposal that Canada should contribute 30,000,000 dollars to the Imperial Navy. Mr. Woodsworth said that he saw a danger of Canada'being dragged into the war without Baying whether or not she wished'to be in it "We should say," he declared, "that our part involves' "a, limited liability, and without the decision of the Parliament and people of Canada, we should not be bound by what is decided overseas. I am not anti-British, but I am anti-Imperial. I support the ideals of the Great British Labour Party, whieh soon again will be the Government of that country. lam against anybody's Imperialism. American Imperialism is more dangerous to Canada than the British type." Mr. Kennedy, Conservative member for Winnipeg, replying, declared that Mr. Woodsworth did not represent the views of any appreciable number of Canadians. Would any member add to his stature by saying that in tima of distress he would refuse to help Ids own mother. He charged Mr. Woodsworth with trying to gain kudos from a group of agitators. He charged him further with failing to rise when the National Anthem Was sung. Mr. Woodsworth denied this. Amid a pandemonium the Speaker directed Mr. Kennedy that he must accept Mr. Woodsworth's denial, but Mr. Meighen hotly told the Speaker that the.Rules of the House could not force a member to go contrary to his own eyesight.