CANADA: Joint Defenders

In any future attack by manned bombers on the North American continent, U.S. defenders would hope to engage the enemy with fighters and missiles far to the north of the U.S., over the Canadian Arctic. Last week, in a grave speech to the House of Commons in Ottawa, Tory Prime Minister John Diefenbaker cleared the way for an almost total merger of Canada’s air defenses with those of the U.S.

For reasons rooted in economy as well as military necessity, Diefenbaker called off development of the CF-105 Arrow, a 1,500-m.p.h. interceptor designed and test-flown by Toronto’s A. V. Roe Canada Ltd. Instead of the Arrow, whose production abort will cost the Canadian taxpayers some $500 million all told, Canada will rely for antibomber defense during the next few years on U.S.-built Bomarc missiles. Canada will share the cost of launching sites with the U.S., control them jointly through the North American Air Defense Command. Later, NORAD-controlled U.S. fighters may be stationed in Canadian Arctic bases.

Canada’s increased reliance on the U.S. caused misgivings among Canadian nationalists. It might also aggravate one of the nation’s more galling economic problems: the chronic trade deficit with the U.S. To ease the strain, U.S. defense authorities have agreed to buy more defense supplies in Canada. Seattle’s Boeing Airplane Co. has already placed an order for Bomarc components with Montreal’s Canadair Ltd.