Alter Ego

CANADA Alter Ego

Prime Minister John Diefenbaker last week chose a longtime political intimate to take Canada's foreign affairs portfolio. The new Minister is Howard Charles Green, a Conservative Member of Parliament since 1935 and--since the 1957 Tory victory--leader of the House, Minister of Public Works, and deputy Prime Minister. Three times he served as Diefenbaker's alter ego when the P.M. was abroad.

Green has long served on foreign affairs committees, but he speaks no foreign language, has visited Europe only as a World War I army officer, has never visited Washington. Toward the British Commonwealth, his record is faithful support; toward the U.S., friendship tempered with wariness.

For John Diefenbaker, the appointment, made after the portfolio had lain open three months following the death of External Affairs Chief Sidney Smith, is an almost perfect choice. The position crowns the career of a loyal retainer with no designs on the party leadership. Diefenbaker will set overall foreign policy, while Green will handle day-to-day problems and parliamentary rough-and-tumble. In bypassing younger Tory potentials, Diefenbaker also avoided tabbing any heir apparent.

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