CANADA TO-DAY

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4875, 25 July 1936, Page 2

CANADA TO-DAY

GOOD WILL TO AMERICA. THE TREND OF YOUTH. Vancouver, June 3

The' soul-searching process that is being undergone as a consequence of events in the past decade—Japan's absorption of North China," Germany's abrogation <sf treaty obligations, and Italy's conquest of Abyssinia—flnds Canada tending towards strengthening her association with .the United States, even at the risk of neglecting what were once regarded as sacred obligations to the Motherland and the Empire.

The immediate defeat of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Government twentyfive years ago on its negotiation of a reciprocity treaty with the United States is in sharp contrast to the effect on Canadian public opinion of the consummation of a similar treaty by Laurier's protege, Mr. Mackenzie King, who made it his first task on his re-election to office in September last. The treaty has been accepted throughout Canada without protest. The subsequent debate in Parliament reflected the favourable attitude of the electorate towards reciprocity. The Senate, despite its strong Conservative majority, offered practically no resistance. By contrast, there will be few concessions available for the United Kingdom when the Ottawa Conference agreements come up for review shortly. It is well known that Canada, even under a Conservative Government, drove a hard bargain at Ottawa in 1932. Subsequent trade figures shaw how she has benefited in her exchange of commodities with all parts of the Empire. Persistent complaints by the English textile industry, initiated at the passage of the trade treaties, have taken four years to redress. The effects of the United States reciprocity treaty to date will prove an insurmountable barrier to the granting of increased trade benefits to the rest of the Empire.

The proposal of the New York Democrat in Congress that a committee examine the prospect of union with Canada met with only perfunctory opposition in the Press of the Dominion. Some newspapers refrained from referring to it editorially. There is no doubt that President Roosevelt's "Good Neighbour" policy has had a profound influence on ! Canada.

j Canada has lost patience with the | League of Nations. The prevailing I attitude is one of cynical indifference and of belief that the United States was right in refusing to join it. The younger generation entertains a negligible regard for the ties of Empire. Spokesmen of youth, the most apathetic group, say they did not forge these ties and should not be expected to regard them as binding. The gift of nationhood to Canada, conferred by the Statute of Westminster in 1926 has not strengthened British sentiment; on ihe other hand, it has tended to weaken it. The spirit of filial reverence has been replaced by an attitude intended to be sharply critical. There is a feeling that Canada's position in relation to the Empire is becoming incongruous.

The American Press and the radio combine to wield an enormous influence on Canada. Papers and magazines, hotels and pleasure resorts, universities and social service clubs, women's fashions and activities, law px'actice and the spoken word, motion pictures and the theatre follow closely the American pattern. Another decade will find Canada more American and less 'British.