https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/936f2aa57d1b328acf83cd42d7d2a668.pdf 7c36becd6b570b873e13d015fc11cf1c PDF Text Text •j—---* Document disclosed under the Access to Information ActDocument divulgue en vertu de ta Loi sur I'acces a I'information rtryrrtT D.L.(l)J.Teaklea/j.Lefcer&^ ffi, ±> tft^tff ~/6 " •••• - - - f • ' • T | - C B H [Time114, 1955. " 7 £ Canadian Defence Commitments In The situation which ia arising out of the oonfliotlng demands on our defonee resources ia very curbing. 3o tho one hand, the thojraonuclear threat to Forth America Is obliging aa to levoto ever lar« same of money and numbers of men to continental defenoe, we have now reached the point where, unleas we are prepared to obtain additional resources of men and money froa soma other source, we shall have to accept the necessity of banding over in increasing maesuro to the Halted tates forces tba affestiva control and Banning of defences la our territory, Karly warning lines are only the flrat and by no means the aoet difficult of these aaw continental re-iuiremamts. e are dally learning of new projects which will involve the establishment and opera tlr-n by the United States of additional defeaea faellltiea la Canada. 2. Oa the other hand, there la mounting evidence that toe Soviet Government has embarked, upon a deter* mined campaign to ~>rlng about the withdrawal of North Aaarloan foroaa from astern Euro pa, or from Germany initially, as the price for German reunification. a disruption or the serious weakening of the Atlantic elllance would be the probable result of 3ovlet suooess in this ounpalga, accompanied by reaawad agitation for "Itopular Pront" goveramaata ia France aad Italy. 3. It is doubtful that the present Herman Government would aaeapt reunifloetion on such terms at this stage; but it may be that an offer of reunification will be linked vlth ansa oviet schema for Furopean "security aad disarmament. The proposal a for a European Collective Security Pact made by mv. Btolotov at the laat ft>ur-lower meeting in February 1954 were fatly reJaoted by the astern ministers on the ground that they involved the dissrlutlon of the eatern security system while leaving Intact the military power of tba Soviet bloc la Europe. In the milder atmosphere induced by the nam Soviet taetles, however, it may be difficult for European public opinion, and Indeed for Worth American public opinion, to waigh suoh proposals dispassionately and to 000278 ea tern s e o u r l t y * ^p... �Document disclosed under the Access to information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la l o i sur i'acces a i'information - £ - 4, In a s i t u s t l o a of r e l a t i v e euphoria in .Vaasaa a n aajoj v .<t'n: in our ini nac M II!nanuli I ire wcy'fi >o 1 ^ees • i t of a l l pr :e alaa of the forcaa Jnvolvei. i}y the ifciropeanu i t xvould be taken t o nlfy a lessen! nteraat. r ie security of V e t e r a Europe; for the Americana I t might provide an axouae to reduce their cms forces •^vers<i"»; fron tha point of view is a whole drawal of any North American forces would entail the very ^eakoning o f the allianoe which I t i s a major objective of >oviet policy to achieve. 5. -cower, i f there ware to be a wi;. of United tftafcee force pa, t h i s w. • "he absence of an ional agreement radically changing and afi rely onntm •.lap Soviet military c a p a b i l i t i e s ) diminish tha apprehension of a possible uprise at : on North Amaric ada**d, tha greater the Worth American viithdrawal from *uiv>pe, the mora Canada would represent i f uofc ,**st tha main buffer area between «ae United the Soviet union; sad in this continental i s o l a t i o n , .-.meriein at rehoasioaa would tend to lead for sens time at leaat to ever-increasing demands upon aa for further measures of defenoe. we mould find ourselvea looked in the embrace of the united s t a t e s in a continental fortress of North America, b r i s t l i n g with atomic armament as i t s mala means of d e f e n c e This s i t u a t i on could only he chang td aa a result af the aeeeptanee of a fool-proof disarmament plan. 0. Tn handling s p e e i f i o currant requests from the United States Government for f a c i l i t i e s la or over Canadian territor y or for Canadian participation la joint defence meaaares, we have beea taking the poaltlca that Canada should at l e a s t have some pa* fc in continental defenee measures, end should reserve the right l a a l l eases to assume respond b i l l t i e s for defeaae a a t i v l t l e e on our s o i l . If t h i s approach to the hunlllng of s p e c i f i c . . requests were pressed to the point where i t would n e c e s s i t a t e a substantial withdrawal of Canadian forces from Western Europe, ould be e s s e a t i a l t o examine vmrr carefully the e f f e c t s of such a course not only on Canada but an Western security as a whole. 000279 ... 9 �Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la loi sur i'acces a I'information - 3 7. - This ia one L11 he Defence on cur aati security i c y . ?.'s~Jiwhile, ia view ef the rapid end .ojwenta i n Europe durinx the next tt be w>at w, I unwise to sags f mx ewea at i y PO sartaaye t Canada la be aeaalalllty of n^ major re is eo>smi''Mo..-. oe. The ai&attl rent in the near future i ' ) i ua are crucial. the A tiw va< •WLES L E G E R , co: D.L.(I)-through . .A.MacKay and M.H.Wershof European-thruu^.h J. A. chapaelaiae 000280 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDNW00112 Title A name given to the resource Memorandum for the Minister, J. Leger, "Canadian Defence Commitments in North America and in Europe" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 6/14/1955 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Study on Canadian National Security Policy, RG25, file 50333-40, LAC. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Department of External Affairs Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Canadian Crown Subject The topic of the resource Early Cold War, Canadian National Security Description An account of the resource Department of External Affairs, Ottawa Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Canada Declassified Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource en