841.796/10–1244
The Ambassador in Canada (Atherton) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 19.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that an officer of the Department of External Affairs assured us today that the meeting in Montreal toward the end of this month of representatives of the Commonwealth Nations to discuss post-war civil aviation matters prior to the conference which is to open in Chicago November 1st was in no sense a move toward forming an Empire bloc at the conference.
He said that the Canadians, as well as some other members of the Commonwealth, had not had sufficient information to form definite decisions as to what routes should be operated and under what conditions. The meeting in Montreal, we were told, was to survey the operational problems in an effort to decide prior to the Chicago meeting what routes it was desired to fly and by whom. He assured us that discussions in Montreal would be on the official level and that no policy decisions would be made.
In the Pacific, for instance, the Canadians did not feel that they had enough information to determine the desirability of a Canadian service and they wished to get together with the Australians and New Zealanders to discuss informally their plans with an idea that it might possibly be desirable to establish a combined service.
The officer in the Department of External Affairs remarked that the British were still toying with the idea of an Empire organization but he insisted that Canada’s position was still definitely opposed. Where circumstances seemed to warrant, he said, Canada would be willing to join with other members of the Commonwealth to operate joint services, but she was unwilling to place all of her international civil aviation services in one Empire basket. As we have previously reported, the Canadians contemplate operating a service over the North Atlantic and one to the Caribbean area. They fear that the Trans-Pacific service would be too costly if operated as a purely Canadian one and there is every evidence that they contemplate joining up with the Australians and New Zealanders for the operation of such a service.
Respectfully yours,