Canada: Sidestep

“Canada,” said External Affairs Minister Louis St. Laurent a fortnight ago in a fine burst of international spirit, “will be confronted with new . . . responsibilities” in the U.N. One of them would be helping to settle such problems as that of Palestine.

St. Laurent’s Under Secretary, Lester Pearson, had already done an able job as chairman of the U.N. Assembly’s special committee on Palestine. Last week, U.N. delegates talked about giving him that job again. But Minister St. Laurent sidestepped. “Mike” Pearson was needed at home. Said the Toronto Globe & Mail, acidly: “If Mr. Pearson could readily be spared from Ottawa, he would not be the kind of man whose services are in demand for major U.N. undertakings.”