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Ottawa / 1:03 p.m., EDT

As the Prime Minister and Senator Thomas returned to the Cabinet Room, there was a wave of applause and congratulation as everyone stood while the Prime Minister moved to his chair at the head of the table. When the commotion had died down, he motioned them to be seated and sat down himself.

“Thank you, gentlemen, I appreciate your support”

“Prime Minister,” said the Minister for External Affairs, “you can see that we’re pleased with what you said. We support totally the position you took. We’re proud that you’re the leader of our party at this critical time.”

“Thanks, Robert. Thank you all. Now let’s get down to business. There’s a lot to be done.

“I’ve told you that there will be a major briefing starting at eight o’clock tomorrow morning. I have asked each of the ministers responsible for the departments most directly concerned to prepare a status paper for presentation at that time. The Ministers for External Affairs, Energy Mines and Resources, Northern Development, Transport, Environment, Finance, and National Defence will all make presentations.

“A question period will follow each briefing. Since we have only three hours, I’ve suggested that the combined statement and question period should not exceed twenty-five minutes per ministry. I have asked the Minister for External Affairs and his deputy to lead off.

“I met with all the ministers concerned and their deputies this morning. I assume that preparations are now well under way. Is this so, gentlemen?”

The seven ministers and their deputies all nodded.

“Good. The House will sit at twelve noon. I will introduce a motion made jointly by myself, the Leader of the Opposition, and the NDP and Social Credit leaders. I’d like the Minister of Justice to draft the motion.

“Could you do that for us, Ken, in the next few hours?”

Kenneth Locke, down the table on the Prime Minister’s right-hand side, said, “Certainly, sir.”

The Prime Minister continued. “I suggest, Ken, that the motion restate the ultimatum and move that it be rejected. This of course is a matter of form. The fact that I present it does not necessarily mean I support it. I want to listen to the debate in the House, to hear the briefing, and to talk with quite a number of people before I decide whether to vote for or against the motion. The stakes are far too high for me to make up my mind conclusively one way or the other until I have had a full opportunity to assess every aspect of the situation.

“As soon as you have the motion drafted, Ken, I would be obliged if you would bring it to me. We can work it over together and then perhaps you could take it to the leaders of the other parties for approval or amendment.”

Otto Gunther, Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, spoke up. “Prime Minister, I think it would be appropriate to suggest that the Cabinet have a look at the wording of the motion before it is taken to the leaders of the other parties. While I am quite sure that what you and the Minister of Justice put together will be satisfactory, I think it would give the motion added weight if it carried the approval of the entire Cabinet.”

The Prime Minister thought for a moment and then said, “All right, Otto. Once Ken and I have settled the draft and before it goes to the other parties, copies will be delivered to each of you with instructions that your comments will have to be back in Ken’s hands within an hour.

“The final thing that we have to discuss at this point is the list of speakers from our party during the debate on the motion. The number of speakers in each party will be in proportion to the number of seats held in the House. There will be eleven from our party. According to the plan agreed on with the other parties each speaker, apart from the party leaders, will have ten minutes.

“I suggest that James Campbell, as House Leader, be responsible for organizing the speakers for our party.

“Jim, you might want to consider asking all the members who wish to speak to let you know by a certain time. After that, the choice can be made by lot. This may be an unusual approach, but it will be a fair one under the circumstances.

“Now, gentlemen, I’ve been doing a lot of talking and you’ve been doing a lot of listening. Do you have any comments on the course of action I’ve outlined?”

As he was asking this question, Tom Scott entered the room and handed the Prime Minister a note. Porter scanned it briefly and nodded to Scott, who left the room.

Silence had greeted the Prime Minister’s invitation to comment.

Gendron of External Affairs broke in. “Obviously, Prime Minister, the fact that there are no questions indicates general agreement with the steps you have proposed. Might I suggest that if any of us do have comments or questions we get in touch with Tom Scott. He can pass anything straight on to you if required.”

“Thank you, Bob. That’s a good suggestion.”

“Well, there’s one thing that bothers me, Prime Minister.” It was Otto Gunther from Newfoundland again, Robert Porter’s main competitor at the leadership convention eight weeks before. Gunther’s defeat by Porter still rankled. After all, he was an older, more experienced and senior member of the party, and as far as he was concerned Porter was only a johnny-come-lately. “What I don’t understand is that you haven’t given us any indication of what you think about this ultimatum. It’s all very well to say that you want to wait until you’ve heard the briefing and the debate, but I don’t think that’s good enough. We’re in a difficult situation and you ought to exercise some leadership and give the country some direction.”

Porter smiled a tight, hard smile. “I suppose what you’re saying, Otto, is that if you were the Prime Minister you’d be telling us where to go.”

“You’re damn right I would. The leader of this country has to be prepared to show where he stands, not wait for somebody else to make up his mind in a debate.” Otto Gunther returned the smile, but he meant what he said.

Porter nodded. “I understand your point of view, but I must say I don’t agree with it. I feel very strongly that I should stand by my intention of hearing and considering every opinion and every factor before I state my position.

“Now, gentlemen, if there are no other comments, I have one final thing. In my television talk I spoke about the importance of keeping calm and unemotional. May I suggest that when you are talking with the press you make no derogatory remarks about the United States, the President, or the action they are taking. Anything you or I say at this time which is inflammatory can only serve to harm the interests of Canada, and severely damage our ability to negotiate.

“I have just received word that the Governor-General has arrived from Victoria. I want to see him as soon as possible, so I will leave the meeting in the hands of the Minister for External Affairs. Thank you.”

Neither Robert Porter nor John Thomas spoke as they walked quickly back to the Prime Minister’s office. There Porter called his secretary and instructed her to have his car ready and standing by in front of the East Block. Then he asked Tom Scott to phone Government House and find out whether His Excellency could receive him in about twenty minutes.

Scott replied, “I’ll do that right away, sir, but first I should tell you that the Chief of the Defence Staff called about two minutes ago and said that he had information he wanted to pass on to you personally.”

“O.K., have somebody get him on the line for me as soon as possible.”

As he turned away from the intercom, Thomas said, “I don’t know about you, Bob, but I’m hungry as hell. Do you think we could have something sent in? We haven’t had a thing to eat, not even coffee.”

Porter laughed. “Too bad, John, you probably could stand to lose a few pounds anyhow. I don’t think I’m going to have anything, but I’ll get my secretary to find some sandwiches and coffee for you.

“While I’m seeing the Governor-General, do you think you could rough out a sketch of what I might say in my television address tonight? I want to tell the people exactly what’s going on and how we propose to deal with the situation, and I want to stress again the need for a calm approach. You might get Bob Gendron of External Affairs to give you a hand. He’s a pretty wise old bird, and he’s had lots of experience. Also, he understands the Americans very well.”

“Sure, at least I’ll make a stab at it. I can’t guarantee anything, but having listened to you for a good part of the day and watched what’s going on, I’m sure I can get something down on paper. It won’t be the first speech I’ve drafted for you.”

“Thanks, I’d appreciate it.”

Porter turned to gaze out the office window. “I’ve got something else on my mind. I wonder how we could get a good reading of what the people of Canada think we should do about this ultimatum. Surely with the fantastic communications systems today there must be some way to do a representative sampling of opinion fast. Maybe Davies of Bell Telephone would have an idea. He’s a good friend of mine. You know him, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do. I met him in Montreal with you just before the leadership campaign started. We had lunch at the Beaver Club in the Queen Elizabeth.”

The intercom buzzed. It was Tom Scott. “Sir, the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Adamson, is on the line.”

“Thanks, Tom.”

The Prime Minister picked up the telephone. “General, you were calling me.”

The General answered. “Yes, sir. Two things: First of all, I want to report that the airlift for the members of Parliament and the Senate is going very well. We should have everyone in for the eight o’clock briefing tomorrow morning except for those who are too ill to travel — there are a couple — and three from the Senate who are out of the country and can’t make it back in time.”

“That’s a very good turnout.”

“The second thing is that I think you should know that in the past twenty-four hours we have noticed a substantial increase in the number of practice flights carried out by USAF bombers over Canadian territory. The same thing applies to fighter interception practice. As you know, Prime Minister, under the NORAD arrangements, the Americans have to get final clearance from us to overfly Canadian territory. They’ve been doing this, so there’s no secret about the flights, but I thought I ought to draw the matter to your attention.

“We have no intelligence that there is any ground activity, troop movements, or anything of that kind anywhere in the United States, but there certainly is a lot of activity in the air.”

“Thank you for telling me, General. The President knew very well that you would report to me the increase in the overflights. Obviously it’s another piece of pressure.

“Since I have you on the line, General, there’s a matter I should take up with you. I have been quite concerned that the military be ready to come to the aid of the civil power should any anti-American reaction develop in the next few hours — protest parades, or acts of violence against American citizens or property in Canada. I understand that the emergency structure that was set up in the early 70’s after the FLQ trouble in Quebec is designed to cope with this kind of situation, and I just want to make sure that the military are on the alert.”

The CDS responded, “We certainly are, sir. I’ve already issued instructions and the machinery is in operation. I’ve kept the Minister of Defence and his deputy fully informed, including the information I have just passed on to you, sir. They have approved of what we’re doing.”

“Thank you, General. Keep a close eye on the situation. For what it is worth, I think the Canadian mouse should put all its military forces on the alert in case the American elephant decides to get nasty, although I can’t conceive of such a possibility.”

The General chuckled. “I will, sir.”

The Prime Minister hung up and said to Thomas, “I guess you could gather what that was all about. The Americans are rattling their planes at us. And the members and senators are on their way back.

“Now I should be off.”

He touched the intercom. “Tom, is my car ready?”

“Yes, sir, and there are four RCMP officers here waiting to escort you through the gang of reporters and photographers lying in wait out in the hall.”

“O.K., I’m leaving right now.”

As he headed for the door, Porter said to Thomas, “I suggest you stay and work here, John, rather than go back to your own office. You can use any of my staff. But suit yourself.”

The Prime Minister went through the reception area, where he collected the four RCMP officers, resplendent in their traditional red-coated uniforms. Two of the men preceded him and the other two walked one on each side.

As they opened the door to the corridor, the Prime Minister was confronted by a mass of pushing reporters, most of them holding out microphones. All were shouting questions, none of which he could make out. The Prime Minister and his bodyguard wedged their way through the milling throng to the top of the staircase, but there they were blocked. Finally Porter held his hands in the air and waved vigorously. Gradually the commotion died down and the shoving subsided. The RCMP officers cleared a space of a few feet between the Prime Minister and the reporters, but he still had to shout to be heard.

“If you will all be quiet for a minute, I’ll tell you what I am doing and where I am going. There’s no time for interviews at this point.”

A score of hungry microphones were thrust toward the Prime Minister, and television cameras ground away.

“The Governor-General has just arrived back from Victoria and I am on my way to advise him of the ultimatum and to let him know what steps the government is taking. Also, of course, I will seek his advice. I’ve known His Excellency for many years and there is no man in the country whose counsel I would value more at a time such as this.

“I have nothing more to add to what I said on television a short while ago except that all the machinery is in operation to ensure that a decision will be made by Parliament within the time frame set down by the United States.”

Someone shouted, “How are you going to vote on the ultimatum question, Prime Minister?”

Porter did not respond immediately. When he did, he spoke slowly. “I am not in a position to say how I will vote, and will not be until the House has completed its debate tomorrow afternoon. By that time I will have heard what the members of the House have to say, I will have had opinions from all across the country, and I will have had counsel from the premiers of the provinces. When I finish off the debate in the House tomorrow, you will know my decision on the ultimatum.”

Another question. “Prime Minister, do you think the Americans are justified in putting a gun to our heads?”

This was a question that the Prime Minister clearly did not want to answer. He held up his hands and said, “Sorry, I can’t take any further questions. There’s no time.” With that he turned and moved quickly down the stairs and out the heavy doors into the waiting limousine. An RCMP car with the four officers in it followed the Prime Minister’s as it moved away from the East Block.