3 DECEMBER 1937, Page 2

* * * * Canada and a Trade Agreement The

striking Liberal victory in the by-election at Victoria, Vancouver, for the Canadian Federal Parliament, is a fortun- ate augury for the progress of the Anglo-American trade negotiations. If the talks are to succeed, the Canadian Government will be required to make some sacrifice of the trade advantages granted to Canada by the Ottawa agree- ments. It demands vision and courage, which Mr. Mackenzie King fortunately possesses, both to see that the sacrifice is justified by the economic and political results to be expected of the treaty, and to defend such a policy before the electorate. The Liberals had no opportunity to evade the question in Victoria. The ex-Prime Minister and Conservative leader, Mr. Bennett, fought a vigorous campaign against the Govern- ment and asserted that a Liberal victory would be interpreted as a mandate for sacrificing the advantages gained at Ottawa. It is fortunate for Britain and America that Mr. Bennett is no longer in power and that Victoria has rejected his argu- ments ; and it is to be hoped that Mr. Mackenzie King will in fact interpret his victory in the light of the criterion Mr. Bennett laid down. The Liberal success is the more remark- able because for the last thirty years Victoria has been a Conservative seat.