and was gone.
When the Prime Minister arrived back at his office, he found that Senator Thomas had left.
“He didn’t feel comfortable in your office, sir, so he went back to his own,” Scott explained on the intercom. “He said to call him when you want him.”
“O.K. Where are the premiers, Tom? Have they arrived in town yet?”
“They’re all here but Post of Nova Scotia. He’s somewhere in Europe and they can’t find him, so Margaret Cameron, the acting premier, has come in his place. I’ve booked them all in at the Chateau Laurier. They’ll be here at six. I’ve set up the Cabinet Room for you.
“And whether you like it or not, sir, I have arranged for steak to be brought in at seven. I know that you will want to get right on to the final preparation of the nine o’clock statement. Do you think you’ll be through with your meeting with the premiers by that time?”
“Yes, I must be clear by then. If the meeting hasn’t broken up, come in and get me. Say another emergency has arisen so that I can wrap it up. Arrange for some food for yourself; then the three of us can have a bite to eat together and you can bring us up to date on what has been going on.
“After that, we can go over Senator Thomas’ draft. Have my secretary stand by to retype as we put on the finishing touches. Would you remind her to use the extra-large type so that I can read the speech without my glasses?”
Tom Scott laughed. “I’ll tell her, sir. I don’t think she would ever forget, though.”
“Have there been any urgent calls?”
“No, none that are really urgent. I’ve had several calls from your ministers and a lot of other people, but there have been no direct calls for you. I think people realize the importance of the situation and don’t want to bother you.”
“Good. I’m going to take the next few hours to make some notes about what I want to say in the House tomorrow.
“By the way, have you heard anything from the Minister of Justice about the draft resolution? We should have that by now.”
“It’s just arrived on my desk this moment. Shall I bring it in?”
“Yes, please do.”
By six o’clock the Prime Minister had gone back and forth over the draft motion and made a few minor changes. He called in Tom Scott. “Here’s the motion, Tom. I’m satisfied that it’s in acceptable form now. Would you please have it retyped and deliver it back to the Minister of Justice as quickly as possible. He’s going to circulate it to the other Cabinet ministers. If they will let him have their comments by nine o’clock tonight, he should be able to give me a final draft by 9:30. It might be a good idea if he sent a copy to the party leaders at the same time so that we can arrange a meeting if they have any objections.”
“Will do, sir.”
The Prime Minister stood up. He looked pale and tired. Scott said, “You’ve been under a terrible strain today, sir. Are you going to be able to get some sleep tonight?”
“I’ll try, but it will have to be here in this office. I want to be near the hot line and close at hand in case I’m needed.”
The Prime Minister glanced at his watch. “Good Lord, I’m five minutes late for the meeting with the premiers. They’re a sensitive bunch at the best of times, so I’d better get going. Remember to come and get me, Tom, if the meeting hasn’t broken up by seven.”
Air Force One / 1:14 p.m., CDT
After leaving Churchill, Air Force One climbed back up to 40,000 feet. The President levelled it off and turned the controls over to the pilot, then went down to the office to be briefed on events as they were happening in Ottawa. He scanned the summary of the Prime Minister’s remarks made in response to his own, snorted a couple of times, and said to Wolf and Johnston, “Well, you’ve got to give that young fellow credit. He’s certainly trying hard.”
They had reached the south end of the Boothia Peninsula and were starting down. The cloud cover below had disappeared and they were able to see the vast reaches of the Canadian Arctic eastward to Baffin Island and westward towards Victoria and Banks Island. Stretching out in front of them was the great channel which separated the mainland from the Arctic Islands — the historic Northwest Passage.
The President pointed out the channel and said, “I came up here to see the Manhattan sail past Resolute Bay in September ’69 with a group of people from Montreal who were making the trip at the invitation of Nordair.
“We found her to the west of Resolute Bay, steaming through a great pan of ice. She was a pretty sight, looked right at home in that setting, but the Canadians weren’t very happy that she was here. She represented a threat to their claim that the waters of the Northwest Passage belonged to them. They’ve passed all sorts of legislation since, claiming sovereignty, which they can’t possibly enforce, but the voyage gave notice that we intend to back up our position that the Passage is high seas.”
Soon Air Force One came in for a landing on the new 10,000-foot runway at Resolute Bay. In the years since his last trip, only the centre core of Resolute had changed appreciably. The single-storey, red-coloured prefabricated buildings that had been brought in by ship to serve as offices, hotel, and administrative buildings were still there, but there was now also a high-rise building like the one in Frobisher. And there were several new hangars lying to the west of the runway, and a great many more fuel-storage tanks.
Resolute Bay had become, in fact, an Arctic boom town. Though it was a poor airport because of uncertain weather conditions, it made an excellent naval base, and had developed into the major regional centre serving the growing gas and oil developments in the Sverdrup Islands. The recent discovery of a massive pool of oil on Melville Island had added to the already enormous discoveries of gas on the Sabine Peninsula and on King Christian, Ellef Ringnes, Thor, Axel Heiberg, and Ellesmere Islands. The number of rigs drilling in the area had increased from thirteen to fifty within a ten-year period. Resolute was for the President just a transfer point, however, the last possible landing space for the giant 747 in that part of the world. With no more than a quick look around to survey the changes which had come about since he was there before, the President went aboard the Hercules transport that was ready and waiting for him. Wolf and Johnston and the rest of the staff would remain on Air Force One to provide the link between the President and the outside world.
The Canadian fighter planes, the fifth pair to join them, scrambled to refuel and took off shortly after the President. It was by then four o’clock in the afternoon local time, but the sun was still high in the sky. The weather was “ceiling and visibility unlimited.” The Here flew low at 2,000 feet so that the President could clearly see the geological formations, especially the huge salt domes which dotted the islands from Melville to Ellesmere. It was at the edge of these domes that the oil and gas finds were occurring with such remarkable frequency.
They had taken off in a northerly direction, but at Bathurst Island they turned left to swing over the Magnetic North Pole and then due west toward Melville Island. The President wanted to take a look at the main base of Panarctic at Rea Point and at the work going on at Drake Point and Hecla, where development wells were now being drilled.
When they reached Drake Point the President said, “Circle around, Captain. I want to have another look. It was right about here that the first big gas discovery was made in January ’70. It came up under such enormous pressure that it blew. It took
