Stagg Editorial- February 1994

January 11, 1994 is the day the Canadian Fisheries Minister, Brian Tobin threw down the gauntlet to the fishing countries of the European Community and told them that Canada is prepared to board fishing vessels in International waters on the Grand Banks to protect the Grand Banks fishery. Tobin had the nerve to make this statement and evidently he has the support of the Prime Minister and the Canadian Government in stating this ultimatum.

Interestingly enough this is in contrast to the constitutionally constipated position of Newfoundland Premier, Clyde Wells who bemoaned recently in a Globe and Mail article that if only Newfoundland were a small independent country like Iceland, then it could practice gunboat diplomacy and enforcement on the Grand Banks. Wells' qualifier is symptomatic of the middle-aged establishment attitude that infected Wells and former Prime Minister, Kim Campbell. The very idea of putting Canada in a position where it might be embarrassed or humiliated militarily for standing up for its own rights and privileges is a horror show that these politicians wish to avoid at all costs.

Tobin is of a different generation and his words at least speak of true courage rather than the flimsy excuses that have been thrown around for years. No matter how highly civilized a country may claim to be, its citizens must accept that military might is still the final foundation for the enforcement of border claims. This is the problem on the Grand Banks and at the very least the Canadian Fisheries Minister has fired the first verbal salvo across the bows of the offending countries.

The crucial test will come if and when Canada's Navy is called upon to live up to the brave words of the Fisheries Minister. Let us hope that the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister are up to the task set out for it by Mr. Tobin.

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