Desert Sun, Volume 40, Number 305, 26 July 1967 — DeGaulle Visit Ends In Flurry of Anger [ARTICLE]

DeGaulle Visit Ends In Flurry of Anger

MONTREAL (UPI)-French President Charles de Gaulle, angered by a rebuke from the Canadian government over his conduct on his visit here, decided to call off a scheduled trip to Ottawa and to return to Paris later today. De Gaulle had been scheduled to go to Ottawa this afternoon and to confer Thursday morning with Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson and his cabinet. Pearson Tuesday night issued a statement sharply critical of De Gaulle’s speeches exhorting French Canadian nationalism which he had delivered ever since his arrival in Quebec City Sunday morning. Pearson said that Canada was already free and did not need France to liberate her. A press officer in De Gaulle’s party announced abruptly this morning that the President would return to Paris by plane this afternoon. A statement by De Gaulle replying to Pearson was expected before his departure. De Gaulle touched off an uproar in Canada Monday night at his reception at the Montreal city hall when he shouted the slogan”Vive le Quebec libre” (Long Live Free Quebec). It is the rallying cry of the separatists who would split the 80 per cent French speaking province of Quebec from the remainder of Canada. After a cabinet meeting and hours of deliberation, Pearson Tuesday replied bluntly that De Gaulle should stay out of Canada’s internal affairs. Pearson was informed of De Gaulle’s decision at 9 a.m. and he summoned the cabinet into session. A statement from the Prime Minister was expected later. De Gaulle, for his part, went on with the scheduled remain-

der of his visit to Montreal, including a ride on its subway, new and one of the most beautiful in the world. The 76-year-old French President was also scheduled to speak at the University of Montreal, traditionally a hotbed of French Canadian separatists. De Gaulle’s “Quebec Libre” speech had resulted in a rash of threats against his life. There had been a flood of telegrams and telephone calls to Pearson’s office, many of them from French-Canadians angry at De Gaulle’s actions.