Canada's Rôle in the Second Assembly

Abstract

Flushing Meadow a nation which pleaded no geographical principle and marshalled no voting bloc won decisively on the first ballot in elections the Security Council. Canada's qualifications for a post of onerous responsibility are written in the records of the Second Assembly. The underlying reality at Lake Success was the hostile and unyielding confrontation of Titans. On occasions the town meeting . . . tended, in Mr. Lester Pearson's phrase, to become an ideological brawl. When conciliatory moves were seized upon as confessions of weakness, there was little room for effective manoeuvring by well-meaning Middle Powers. Any fair assessment of Canada's role must take into consideration, not only the heavy atmosphere of the Assembly but also the political conditions in a strife-torn world beyond its portals. Both camps had their satellites in the Second Assembly but Canada was not one of them. Her policy was cautious, realistic but strongly independent. Most of the great political issues were related phases of one central power struggle. The appeal of Greece against her northern neighbours had led, through the Balkan Enquiry Commission, Soviet vetoes in the Security Council. From the resultant frustration was born the demand for an effective