In a New York Times story about aspeech of Britain’s Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin at Paris was the statement: “It must always be kept in mind that Mr. Bevin . . . is talking not only for Great Britain but for the whole British Commonwealth.” This apparently innocuous statement was not taken that way by Canadians.
In the House of Commons at Ottawa, Maxime Raymond of the nationalistic Bloc Populaire rose to ask Prime Minister Mackenzie King a question: Is it correct that Mr. Bevin spoke for the whole Commonwealth? Did Mr. Bevin speak for Canada?
The Prime Minister answered the way that Maxim Raymond, and every other M.P., knew he would. Said he crisply: “My understanding is that [Mr. Bevin] is representing the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom only.” Members on both sides of the House thumped their desks in approval.
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