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Shades of Gray? "The Foundations of Canadian Policy in World Affairs" in context.

Article Excerpt
Sixty years ago, Louis St. Laurent, then secretary of state for external affairs, delivered one of the most famous speeches on Canada's foreign policy: it was the first address by a Canadian foreign minister to outline the principles upon which Canada's relations with the rest of the world were based, and to delineate the key instruments for the application of those principles to international affairs. (2) From the outset, St. Laurent's elaboration of "The Foundations of Canadian Policy in World Affairs" was acknowledged by journalists and academic commentators as both an important pronouncement and a possible indication of how the new minister would guide the Department of External Affairs. (3) Memoirs by former diplomats and policy advisers have recalled the "Gray Lecture" as a manifestation of fundamental change in the direction of Canadian foreign policy. (4) Accounts of Canada's policies and actions in world affairs in the early years of the Cold War have frequently relied on its text as a valuable indication of what mattered most not only to the makers of Canadian foreign policy at that time but also to Canadians generally. (5) In surveys of the development of Canada's international relations, the speech has been interpreted as a forward-looking tour d'horizon that anticipated the cardinal features of Canada's alignment and alliances in the primordial global clash of values and interests that so divided the postwar world. (6) Especially because the speaker would, within two years, become prime minister of a government generally identified with prosperity and active international engagement, the text has also been seen as an implicit--or explicit--repudiation of the relatively timorous policies and actions (or inactions) that characterized the era of William Lyon Mackenzie King. (7)

In other words, the remarks have typically been seen as manifestations of a transformation in leadership and direction, one that is almost invariably depicted in favorable terms. This iconic use of the lecture has meant that it has often not been assessed in its contemporary context but rather has been viewed generally in the light of what came later. The purpose of this article is to take another look back at the Gray Lecture, to examine its purpose and its content, particularly as these were regarded by the speaker and by the author of the text, and to evaluate its significance. (8) To what extent did the speech herald a departure in Canadian foreign policy--and the rhetoric associated with it--and to what extent did it simply represent a reaffirmation of Canada's values and interests in international affairs?

For St. Laurent, this was his first major speech as secretary of state for external affairs, a portfolio held since 1912 by the prime minister. The fact that King was still prime minister--and that he scrutinized the work of his former department--should alert us that no clarion call to revolution was likely from this podium at this time. (9) Nor was St. Laurent personally inclined to issue one: he had much less experience in national politics and international relations than his predecessor, he was new to the portfolio, his appointment was initially seen as temporary, and he did not have a professional background in diplomacy (as did his closest adviser and eventual successor, Lester B. Pearson). (10) A prominent and successful lawyer before he entered politics, St. Laurent had joined King's wartime cabinet out of a profound sense of national duty--a sentiment and conviction to which King appealed often to keep St. Laurent in government and ultimately to persuade him to stand for the leadership of the Liberal Party and succession as prime minister. Seen in that light, as well as in the context of King's determination to reduce his own workload, St. Laurent's shift to responsibility for Canada's foreign affairs made political sense. (11)

Neither by temperament nor from experience was St. Laurent likely to risk the wrath of the cautious prime minister by a bold and novel statement. Indeed, the challenges of adjustment to his new position and its demands were reasons why St. Laurent initially declined the invitation to inaugurate a University of Toronto lecture series endowed by George Leishman Gray to honor the memory of his dead sons, Duncan and John Gray. The stated purpose of the endowment was "to foster a clearer understanding of the contribution that the French element of [Canada's] population has made and is making to Canada" and to promote Canadian unity. (12) He reconsidered only when Pearson intervened on behalf of his friends and former colleagues in the Department of History at the University of Toronto. In his efforts at persuasion, the under-secretary of state for external affairs underlined the emphasis in the Gray bequest on national unity, as well as the willingness of his alma mater to schedule the event to suit the minister. (13) On the understanding that Pearson would arrange to "have a first draft prepared that would not leave me too much work to do to get ready an appropriate lecture," St. Laurent agreed to speak. (14)

That text was written by another former member of the Department of History at the University of Toronto, Gerry Riddell, who had taught there for eight years. After a brief stint at the National Research Council with the Examination Unit, Riddell had joined the Department of External Affairs in early 1943 as one of a number of special wartime assistants recruited from academe. (15) When the war ended, Riddell stayed on in the foreign service, particularly focusing his attention on the work of the United Nations (UN) and quickly developing a reputation as "an exceptional speechwriter who gave a philosophical cohesion to Canadian foreign policy in a period when the department was actively seeking to shape public opinion." (16) Sadly, Riddell was only 42 when he died suddenly in March 1951 of a heart attack while on a brief holiday after a strenuous session at the UN. "I have known no one who combined more completely or more easily in his own person the qualities that make for true greatness," Pearson wrote in an obituary. "He had outstanding ability and wisdom and good judgment, but he had also the greater gifts of simplicity, unselfishness and goodness." (17) Pearson later recalled Riddell's draft of the lecture as "one of the best things Gerry ever wrote." (18) Riddell consulted not only his current diplomatic colleagues but also his former academic associates as he drafted and revised the remarks. (19)

Beforehand, Riddell sketched for Pearson what he intended to write, which would provide "a general outline of what [St. Laurent] regards as the basic elements in Canadian foreign policy." The text would be linked to the purpose of the endowment by noting that "one of the most important problems" that French- and English-speaking Canadians "have faced together has been that of conducting our external relations." After listing some likely elements, Riddell observed that "there would be nothing very new or original in an analysis of this nature, and I may be over-optimistic in thinking that such an address could be both constructive and non-controversial." In other words, Riddell intended to "look back" at the origins and development...

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