Magnusson helped the President to his feet. His face was white. “Are you O.K.? I didn’t think I’d be able to grab you.”
The President took a deep breath. “God Almighty, what a sight! Son, I haven’t been so close since the war. You saved my life for sure. You shook me up some, but I’m all right now. Let’s go and have a look.”
The four men ran quickly back into the dome. On the television monitor the tower pipe was still where it had been. Magnusson hurriedly scanned the gauges. “Sir, it’s looking good. The towers are rock-solid on the bottom and the pipe is up to full pressure. We’ve got a pipeline!”
The President shook his hand and placed his arm on Magnusson’s shoulder. “Harold, you and your team have really done a job up here. A whole lot of people are going to know about it before I’m through.”
Ottawa / 8:02 a.m., EDT
The hush in the House of Commons was complete. The Prime Minister was speaking.
“This may well be the single most urgent and direct crisis, apart from war, which Canada has ever had to face. The United States has not only given us a three-pronged ultimatum, but has specified that the answer to that ultimatum must be given by six o’clock this evening. I have asked the President to extend that time, but he has flatly refused. Therefore, the Commons and the Senate must deal with the ultimatum within the time left to us.
“At twelve noon emergency sessions of the House and Senate will begin. At that time, appropriate resolutions will be placed before both bodies. The form of the resolution has already been made known to all of you.
“From the very beginning, I have thought it absolutely essential that an opportunity be given to every member of Parliament to be informed as thoroughly as possible on the general background of this crisis. I have therefore asked the ministries most directly concerned to prepare a presentation. In this way, you will be informed of the events which have led up to the current situation, Canada’s relationship with the United States and the status of the government’s dealings with the native people of the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. You will also receive reports on the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, the Arctic Islands gas reserves, the question of ownership of the natural gas resources, and the transportation systems being considered with a view to getting the gas out.
“Each minister has been asked to limit his presentation to twenty-five minutes. Fifteen minutes will be devoted to a point-by-point briefing. Ten minutes will be set aside for questions and answers. Questions are to be submitted in writing and given to the pages, who will deliver them to the Speaker.
“We have a lot of ground to cover. This is no time to be attaching blame to any ministry of the past or of the present. Further to this end, I have instructed the ministers and their staffs that in the presentations to be made to you this morning I do not want any opinions given; I just want the facts.
“All parties have proposed that I chair this session. I have agreed to do so, and I have made it clear that I will insist on the time limits being strictly adhered to, both in the presentations and in the question-and-answer periods.
“I would be obliged if the Minister for External Affairs would lead off.”
As Porter sat down he suddenly became conscious of the deep, attentive silence filling the Commons Chamber. This was the moment at which the burden of carrying the full responsibility shifted from his shoulders alone, to be shared by the men and women who crowded that vast hall. They sensed this, they knew it, they accepted the responsibility. And with that responsibility came apprehension and the stimulation of knowing that they themselves were participating in this most difficult of all Canadian crises.
The Minister for External Affairs was on his feet at the lectern.
“Prime Minister,” Robert Gendron began, “Honourable Members, Honourable Members of the Senate, Honourable Premiers, ladies and gentlemen.…”
After reviewing the history of the Arctic resource development, the Minister continued, “Negotiations with the Americans for the acquisition and transportation of natural gas have been going on for years. At the beginning of the seventies we held a series of discussions with them regarding a trans-Canada route for movement of the Prudhoe Bay and Mackenzie Delta gas into the Midwestern States. This resulted in the Mackenzie Valley pipeline which is now undergoing tests.
“But in other areas we have failed to come to an agreement. As far back as the days of Mr. Walter Hickel, the Secretary of the Interior, and his successor, Mr. Rogers Morton, the concept of a continental energy policy between the United States and Canada began to take shape. The Americans clearly wanted to have full access to all Canadian fossil fuels just as if Canada were part of the United States. The effect would be that Canada would share its fuel resources with the United States and take on the U.S. energy shortages in return.
“The Americans have doggedly pursued their attempts to negotiate such a continental energy policy with us. Just as doggedly, Canada has refused, with the result that no agreement exists for the transfer of the natural gas which lies in the Canadian Arctic archipelago.
“If the Americans had been prepared to negotiate with us for the natural gas alone, without attempting to wrap the whole thing up in one continental policy, it is very likely that they would have been given access to one-third of the reserves now proven in the Arctic Islands, and the transportation system would have been in preparation.
“I turn now to consideration of the American attitude toward Canada so that you may conclude what the Americans would be prepared to do to enforce the ultimatum. But first, a few remarks about the American presence in the world scene.
“During the 1950’s, the United States, under President Eisenhower and the Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, accepted the so-called domino theory of communist expansion. Dulles reasoned that if one country in Southeast Asia was to fall to the communists, then the country next to it would fall, and so on until all the nations had fallen into communist hands. This he conceived to be a direct threat to the United States and to the freedom of the world. On the basis of this theory, the United States had a right, indeed even a responsibility, to intervene militarily wherever a communist takeover seemed possible. Thus when the French were driven out of Vietnam in 1954, the United States refused to sign the Geneva armistice, the only western nation to do so. Ultimately the Americans moved to thwart the general election which was planned in that country. It did so on the ground that it was clear that Hanoi forces would win. As a result, the Americans became involved in a direct military intervention on an enormous scale which lasted for a period of nineteen years.
“The point I want to make is that in the case of Vietnam, and before that in Korea and elsewhere in the world, the United States has never hesitated to use, or to threaten to use, military force if it felt that its own national interests or security were threatened.
“The U.S. continues to maintain strategic bases in various parts of the world — air bases, radar sites, submarines and surface vessels, together with a vast armory of sophisticated missiles.
“Granted, then, that the United States has the power and is prepared to use it, what support would Canada have in its struggle with that giant? Very little. Under President Nixon, many of the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, on the one hand, and the United States and China on the other, were substantially eased, with the result that the relationship of the United States to both these countries is on a stable level. Therefore, it would be impossible to expect that in this crisis Canada could depend on any diplomatic or other support from the Soviet Union, and certainly not from China.
“Probably the best we could expect would be the support of world opinion against the action taken by the President. Frankly, I do not expect world criticism to have any effect whatsoever on the President. Canada stands alone, without any hope of defending itself militarily.