https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/c0eb1acf5c74beff8634192e8782936f.pdf 1668e25988ad81e7520f43c15efa1f2d PDF Text Text qocument disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue'en vertu de la Loi sur I'acces a I'information D E P A R T M E N T OF E X T E R N A L AFFAIRS Bile* 50210-F-kO. Subject.; Nuclear Weapons Wl^.!^^^ Eost-Wesf Struggle At Grove lmposs&, PM Warns Commons : Pols cy 0 From Page. One - scheduled visit to North Bay and a press conference.at the station. Ready for nuclear warheads are the Canadian-based Bomarcs, the CF-101 Voodoo jet interceptors now in service iri Canada, the CF-104 strike-reconnaissance aircraft now being delivered to the eight RCAF squadrons operating Within the North Atlantic alliance in Europe, and the Honest John artillery rocket attached to the Canadian brigade in Europe. v • • • , . * . . • By WALTER GRAY i Globe and Mail Reporter Copyright 1962 OTTAWA, Oct. 16—The Federal Government, watching the Berlin crisis closely, is ready to announce its decision to acquire nuclear weapons for its armed"forces. Timing 'of the announcement depends ,upon the speed with which {the crisis develops but officialconfirmation of the-decision {will come probably in mid-November. • This was learned outside the House today after Prime Minister. Johi} Diefenbaker warned members of Parliament of theApossible gravity of the situation. In some of the strongest language used by any head of state in recent days to describe the .gathering storm over Berlin, Mr; Diefenbaker said: v , "In so far as Berlin is concerned. Western policy has 'not changed in spite of the fact that there have been some indications that the Soviet Union may shortly precipitate a new? if not a grave,'crisis in thai; city. The basic essentials of Western policy are the maintenance of Allied rights of access, the continuing presence of Western troops and the freedom of the people of Western Berlin. Canada fully supports,,.the Western powers in their desire to negotiate on this important matter and will also co-operate in any compromise on less essential points." In a postscript td a prepared reply to a question sent to him by New Democratic Party House Leader H. W.. Herridge an hour before the Commons went into,session, Mr. Diefenbaker said the answer to the Berlin question rests with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Mr. Diefenbaker's strongly worded reply was' seen ;by leading members of the Opposition parties and Government sources as the tip-off that the1 cabinet had finally agreed to take the plunge on the big defense issue of the past few years. \ . It is believed the Government's decision was communicated to-General John K. Gerhart, commander-in-chief of North American Air Defense Command by Defense Minister Douglas Harkness during a brief visit in Ottawa yesterday. 1 Mr. Harkness was asked in the House today by Liberal defense critic Paul Hellyer about the conversations and if any decision had been taken regarding the arming of the Bomarc ground-to-air' missiles now in position at the new Royal Canadian Air Force bases at North Bay and La Macaza, Que. j \ "I did indeed talk yesterday with'Gen. Gerhart, but we did not discuss the Bomarc squadrons," Mr. Harkness, replied. Shortly after their meeting, Gen. Gerhart cancelled a NUCLEAR—Page 2 n The Government's decision to would decide whether or not acquire 'thewarheads is based t o f i r e the weapons. on the considered opinion that n V\? ^ u v e ™ m e " t ' s i ' ^ ^ tu- •_ J- m -D .• . . ,,, position has been that Canada the impending Berlin crisis will w o u ld not acquire nuclear warbe of farAgreater consequence heads as long as there was a than ever before. In the Gov- chance for disarmament. Durernment view the situation is ing the election campaign last much more ;serious than last May, External Aff airs Minister year when the Diefenbaker ad-1. Howard Green said in an interministration, in the light of the view at , Niagara-on-the-Lake .„,..„ deteriorating international, situ that Canada was prepared* to ation and world tension, ordered take nuclear weapons if world an increase of 15,000 in the size conditions deteriorated, but of the armed forces, from 120,- would do so unwillingly because 000 to 135,000. of the Government's dedication As tensions subsided, the re- to stopping the spread of cruiting drive tapered off and nuclear arms. all but dried up with the Gov- Mr. Green, who has been ernment's austerity program largely responsible for the Government's decision to hold Off brought in last June. The question of control, long the acquisition of the warheads the key issue between Canada for the multi-million-dollar inand the United States, which vestment in installations and manufactures and insists on re- equipment, said at the time that tention of custody of the the Communist countries gave weapons, is apparently Settled. Canada full marks for being The compromise is believed to sincere about disarmament, and be the same arrahgeemnt as that she was keeping a measure that governing control of U.S. of sanity in a crazy world while nuclear weapons in Britain and spending millions of dollars to keep up its defenses. f [European NATO countries. Mr. Harkness, 'on the other j Under this two-key arrange- Hand, has been publicly stating. lent, as it is popularity known, that Canada's military effective- i ;he U.S. President, must first ness could only be achieved by j issue the authority to use the arming its headless weapons | luclear warheads. Then Canada with; nuclear warheads. • 002448 � 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 CDNW17423 Title A name given to the resource News clipping from Globe and Mail Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 17-Oct-62 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Continental defence - Atomic capability, RG25-A-3-b, Volume number: 5931, File number: 50210-F-40, File part: 8.2