Handbook for Neighbors

On their first study mission to Canada for the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee last May, Representatives Brooks Hays of Arkansas and Frank M. Coffin of Maine found a disturbing strain in the traditionally good relations between the U.S. and Canada. Last week Democrats Hays and Coffin, who traveled 7,000 miles talking to Americans and Canadians, produced a more detailed report. Conclusion: while relations have "improved" since spring in the sense that both nations are aware of their differences, that awareness has led to "the discovery of an ever-enlarging number of problems."

Some Hays-Coffin observations and recommendations :

DEFENSE: In view of Ottawa's decision to downgrade the Avro CF-105 Arrow jet fighter in favor of U.S. missiles, Canadian industry should have "ample opportunity" to compete for U.S. defense subcontracts, now sharply limited by the "Buy American" Act.

FISHERIES: The extension of offshore-fisheries limits from three to twelve miles, as Canada insists, would injure the U.S. Northwest fishing industry. "Unless Canada follows a more flexible policy, cooperation between the two countries on many other levels might be prejudiced."

OIL: U.S. barriers designed to protect domestic industry cast a pall of uncertainty over Canada's oil future, should be revoked. "If oil is needed for defense, there is no legitimate distinction between the wells of North Dakota and Texas, of Alberta and Saskatchewan."

CULTURAL RELATIONS: "There is no substitute for increased sensitivity on one side and the avoidance of shrillness on the other." Congress should consider a Fulbright-type scheme to allow U.S. scholars to study and lecture in Canada.

Hays and Coffin summed up: "Each problem exists in the context of an intense Canadian desire for recognition of its separate national identity. An apparent attitude of bland indifference by the U.S. has been a source of greater irritation than the economic policies themselves."

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