EMPIRE UNITY

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20954, 6 November 1939, Page 7

EMPIRE UNITY

BROADCAST BY MINISTER CALM AND RESOLUTE “WITH YOU TO END” < United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright' LONDON, Nov. 4 The Canadian Minister of Mines. Mr J. A. Crerar, who is representing Canada at the conference of Empire Ministers, delivered a broadcast address yesterday. He recalled the fact that his last visit to England was on the occasion of the Coronation, when Britain was a scene of peace and happiness. Now he saw Britain at war, but, as always, calm and resolute. Mr Crerar paid a tribute to the spirit of the British peoples, which, he said, would triumph once again over difficulties and dangers. “In this war we in Canada are with you, as you are with us, to the end,” continued the Minister. “We are fighting not merely because of a sentimental impulse to come to the help of the Mother country in her hour of need. That feeling is strong, but could not alone account for the dedication of the strength and spirit of Canada to meet the challenge of conflict. Will See Struggle Through “To a great part of Canada the United Kingdom is not the Mother Country. Approximately half the people of the Dominion are not of Anglo-Saxon stock. We are piade up of every race and every people— French, who without emigration from old France have in the last 200 years increased from 50,000 to 31,500,000, Scandinavian, Italian, Ukrainian, Polish, and even German. “German-Canadians are loyal to the best that is in Germany, and are for that reason joining with other Canadians in the fight against the debasing creed of Nazism. “The Canadian nation will see the struggle through, because it is fighting for its own ideals and its existence. Canada is not a colony coming to the aid of the Mother Country, but a State conscious of the help that it can give in the struggle for the maintenance of a decent world order. Partnership in Empire “Since 1914 Canada has grown from a colonial State to equal partnership in the British Commonwealth, and has come into the war as the result of the free decision of its sovereign Parliament—a decision later reaffirmed by the results of the election in the second largest province. Our co-operation is full and free because Canada knows that the British nations were only forced to fight after all efforts for a peaceful settlement had been exhausted. Fight Against Brute Force “The fight is against the very spirit of evil in a Government founded on brute force and the negation of every moral and spiritual value. There can be only one choice for Canada, who stands with Britain for ideals founded on liberty and tolerance. The war must be fought through to a just and victorious peace. To that end Canada will make a worthy contribution. , “In return for joint sacrifices and with the lesson of the years between 1918 and 1939 still in our memory, we may this time not merely defeat the enemy, but on that defeat lay the foundation of a new society—one where war will be outlawed as the barbarity it is, where, instead of the Nazi dream of a world composed of brutal and bellicose despotism, there will be a world of free, self-govern-ing peoples willing if necessary to surrender certain of their sovereign powers in the interests of the peace and prosperity of the whole international community.”