A Richard Rohmer Omnibus. Richard Rohmer
incredulous.
Without pausing for comment, the Prime Minister continued quickly, “We will, of course, discuss the situation in detail at the full Cabinet meeting later today. Now I want you to prepare for a briefing to be held tomorrow morning at eight o’clock.
“The briefing will be for all members of Parliament, including the Senate, and the provincial premiers who can get here. It should be a crash course for everyone on the status of the Arctic Islands gas and oil discoveries and development. For example, it should cover the number of rigs in operation there, the number of people involved, the ownership and control of the gas and oil fields, the interests of Panarctic, and the position of Tenneco, Columbia Gas, and other major American firms that have been advancing money to Panarctic for exploration work. It should deal with the estimated reserves of natural gas and oil and the commitments made by Panarctic and the other owners in the islands to United States firms. And it should also give the National Energy Board’s figures on what they calculate will be surplus to Canada’s requirements.
“Then I want the same information for the Mackenzie Delta region, and I want growth and demand figures for the United States itself, an analysis of their energy crisis and of the long-term efforts they’ve taken to cope with it.
“The next thing we’ll need is a status report on the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, the problems that have occurred, both in building it and financing it. We should also be brought up to date on the state of the government’s discussions with the native people concerning aboriginal rights, and on the sabotage which has been taking place.
“Then I would like to have an informed guess on the type and scope of the economic sanctions that the United States might impose if we refuse to give in to their ultimatum, and a review of the sanctions and other measures they’ve used in the past two decades to protect their economy and world trading position.
“A similar survey showing what forms of military pressure have been invoked by the United States in various parts of the world since 1945 would be useful. External and National Defence could work that out for us.
“Finally we should have a review of the United States’ position concerning our sovereignty in the Arctic, dating back to the Manhattan voyages in 1969 and ’70, and the enactment of the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act at that time.
“The objective I have in mind, gentlemen, is to give every member of the House a factual briefing on the background behind each element of the ultimatum. I think you’ll be surprised at how little most members know about what is going on in the Canadian Arctic about oil and gas, and about our ongoing relationship with the United States and with our native people.
“The briefing will be in the Commons Chamber. As I said, it will start at 8 a.m. Each of you will have twenty-five minutes to make your presentation and answer questions. That’s really very little time, but it’s the best we can do under the circumstances. I want the briefings to be precise and to the point. They must be finished by eleven o’clock because the House will sit at twelve noon to debate the ultimatum. I have no objection if a deputy minister rather than the minister makes the presentation, and of course you can be assisted by any other advisers you wish.”
At this point, Tom Scott entered the room and spoke quietly to the Prime Minister. After receiving instructions, he nodded and departed. The Prime Minister turned back to his colleagues.
“Mr. Scott has just informed me that the office of the President has been on the line. He requests permission to make a flight over Canadian territory to inspect the Polar Gas Study experimental station on Melville Island and to inform himself of conditions in the North generally. I can see nothing to be gained by refusing this permission. Indeed, we may gain by granting it. The President may have more understanding when he sees the difficulties under which we’ve been operating. I’ve therefore told Tom to give the President clearance. I trust this meets with your approval.”
There was a general murmur of consent, and the Prime Minister continued. “Now to get back to the briefing session: Bob, I want you to start off.”
The Prime Minister was speaking to Robert Gendron, Minister for External Affairs. Gendron was the Prime Minister’s right-hand man in the Cabinet, the leader of the Quebec sector of the party, and by far the most experienced of all the ministers.
“I think it’s important for you to give a broad overview of our relationship with the United States. I don’t care who follows after that. It might be a good idea if you carried on with this meeting now to sort out the details. There is to be a full Cabinet meeting at 12:15, so as soon as you can get your staffs going on the briefing material the better.
“I have asked for a meeting with the Leader of the Opposition and the other parties. They should be waiting for me now. I hope you will excuse me.”
Near Aklavik / 7:48 a.m., MDT
Sam Allen bent over to strap on his second snowshoe. As he did so he said to Bessie, “We’ve got a tough day ahead of us. I’ve planned to set these last five charges along a fifteen-mile stretch. We’re going to have to hurry to finish and meet Freddie at Rat Lake at six.” He straightened up and looked southwest down the 120-foot swath cut by the pipeliners to where the pipe emerged at the river’s edge. Although the pipe had not been buried completely in the permafrost and tundra, it had been sunk halfway down, and the part above the surface covered over with a mound of earth or “berm” of gravel and soil so that the natural vegetation could grow and cover over the pipe. In this way it was hoped the wildlife would not be impeded and that the whole corridor could return to an apparent state of nature. Because of the covering, Sam had had to set the charges at water-crossings. He knew there was no natural gas in the pipe yet but that it was under pressure for testing, and that the moment the first explosion went off, the company would get reconnaissance helicopters out to locate the break and find any other explosives which they had set. This was what had happened when the first set of five bombs had blown the pipe successfully two weeks before.
Sam and Bessie slipped their heads through the holes in the white sheets which they had brought to provide some camouflage against a possible survey helicopter patrolling the line. Bessie said, “I’m ready to go. Shall we leave the tent and packs here, Allen, while we set this charge?”
“I think so.” Sam reached into the small tent and dragged out an old and much-used knapsack. From inside he carefully drew out a small blue plastic bag. The package was about the size and weight of a 32-ounce bottle of booze. But, as Sam had said to Bessie, it packed one hell of a lot more wallop. The plastic explosives were powerful enough to rip out a five-foot section of 48-inch steel pipe cleanly. Attached to the explosive was an arming device and a timer mechanism, both of which had to be delicately engaged once the bomb was in place.
With the timer, Sam had planned to set the bombs to go off at random intervals down the line over a twelve-day period. Although this bomb was the sixth to be placed, it actually would explode two days later.
The arming mechanism had a fail-safe device designed to prevent anyone from disarming the bomb once the charge was in place and the timer set. Projecting through the casing of the unit was the rim of a small wheel. To disarm the bomb, the wheel had to be turned fully clockwise and the connecting wires removed between the explosive and the timer. If the wheel were turned counter-clockwise it would detonate the explosive charge and, with it, the person turning the wheel.
When they reached the pipe, Sam handed the explosives to Bessie and, taking the shovel, chopped away at the snow around the base of the pipe where it re-entered the berm. Then he laid the plastic bag out on the snow between his snowshoes, squatted down on his haunches, and set out the arming device, timer and plastics in front of him. He connected the two wires running from the plastic charge through the detonator to the timing unit and pulled back his sleeve to check the time. It was 7:50. He reached inside his pocket to fish out the piece of paper on which he had marked the locations of the ten bombs, together with the date and times selected for their explosion. The list confirmed a time of eleven o’clock two days from now.
He set the timer for 51 hours, and then wrote down on the list the number and date of the bomb, the time at which it was planted, and