VISIT TO THE U. S. AND
CANADA 1969 718
CANADA
STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER, ~ I
MR. JOHN GORTON, ON ARRIVAL IN OTTAWA
2 APRIL 1969
My wife and I are delighted to be in Canada. I much
appreciate this opportunity again to meet your Prime Minister, Mr.
Trudeau, so soon after our talks in London.
I look forward to our discussions here in Ottawa, and
I am sure they will be of benefit to both our countries. I shall not,
in a statement on arrival and before I have talked with Mr. Trudeau,
presume to detail what we are likely to discuss.
But some of the subjects of common concern are obvious.
Canada and Australia have an interest in world peace and security so
that all nations, no matter how small, can be free and live without
fear. As Pacific nations, we are both concerned to see
stability and progress in Asia, with genuinely independent, economically
developing, self-reliant states, and we in Australia have played and
will play an active role in regional co-operation.
Another field for discussion could be the development
of further contacts between Canada and Australia. The more we visit
one another the better. I am very happy to accept Mr. Trudeau's
invitation to visit Canada, and he and other Canadian Ministers will
always be welcome in Australia. In fact, we are looking forward to a
visit very soon from the Canadian Minister of Trade and Commerce,
Mr. Pepin. Our two countries need to keep in touch and work together
whenever we can. Although many miles separate Canada and Australia, we
both have much in common. We both have a Pacific coastline and are
both developing an industrialised society in a harsh environment. We
both depend heavily on primary products to earn foreign exchange and
are therefore greatly interested in freedom of access to markets for
primary products and in realising payable prices for such products.
And we both have large scale immigration programmes. / 2
-2-
Our friendship is of long-standing and we share a common
purpose in many international activities. We have been comrades-inarms
in two world wars, in the fighting in Korea, and we have taken
part together in U. N. peace-keeping operations.
We were proud to take part in your centennial
celebrations at Expo ' 67 in Montreal and we acknowledge the imagination
and vision that made it such a success.
As Pacific and Commonwealth partners, we should build
an even closer relationship in the future. I am sure we will.