Canada's Stake in the War and the Peace

Abstract

THE RAPIDLY EXPANDING INTEREST of Canadians in Pacific affairs is a most rational and heartening development. Canada, they are now coming to realize, faces not only the Atlantic but the Pacific. Moreover, Canada's geographical position in the very cockpit of the world-with the United States to her south, the U.S.S.R. across the Arctic and North Pacific, Great Britain at the gateway to Europe, and a new powerful China arising beyond the Pacific, all great Powers close about hergives her a potential influence on the present and future international stage far beyond her numbers. Hitherto, her interest in political and economic affairs in the Far East has largely been determined by her geographical proximity to the United States and her membership in the British Commonwealth of Nations. Henceforth, she will have an unique role to play by virtue of her strategic position at the aerial crossroads of the world, her Old World British and New World American inheritance, her recent and almost incredible industrial expansion, her vast undeveloped resources, and her complete lack of imperial acquisitiveness. That role undoubtedly must be a constant striving after the closest cooperation and friendly understanding of each of her powerful neighbors, one with the others. Unique in her present knowledge of the British, Americans and Australians, national interest alone will require Canada to do all in her power to match it with a sound and sympathetic understanding of the customs, philosophies of life, achievements and aspirations of her two other great neighbors-the Russians and the Chinese-if she is to attain her goal and contribute her utmost to the future peace and stability of the world. The above summary statements on Canada's position and external policy in the post-war world can hardly be understood unless one realizes that whether or not the world is aware of it, the Canada of 1939 no longer exists. Despite the wartime veil of secrecy which surrounds Canada's industrial expansion and production, sufficient information is available to suggest not only the tremendous changes which the war has