CANADA AND THE EMPIRE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 603, 4 March 1929, Page 1

CANADA AND THE EMPIRE

address to rotary CLUB NO ANNEXATION BY U.S.A. "It is quite untrue that the people of Canada and of the United States desire economic or political unity,” said Mr. W. M. Paterson, of Wellington, a former resident of Canada, in an address to the Rotary Club this afternoon on the subject of Canadian national sentiment. Mr. Paterson criticised the Labour Party’s publication in England which had alleged that Canada wished for closer economic and political relations utth the United States. United States business men had, it was true, established factories in Canada, but this naa simply because they could see advantages in its being a part of the British Empire. For their country to annex it would defeat all their plans. The people of Canada were absolutely loyal to the Empire. They had no desire to be annexed by the United states, but it must not he thought that they were not excellent friends with the Americans. Many Americans had fought with the Canadian divisions in the Great War and ever since, and indeed for many years before, the two people had lived together in perfect harmony. Mr. Paterson assured his audience that the French-Canadians were as loyal as the Canadians themselves. It ivas a common belief among prominent French-Canadians that the link with Great Britain was necessary to the continued survival of French Canada. "The difference between a Canadian and an American is this.” concluded Mr. Paterson. “The Canadian is British through and through and is proud of it. The American is not British through and through and is also proud of it.”

A vote of thanks to Mr. Paterson was proposed by Mr. C. H. Furness and tvas carried by acclamation.