I SHARE with Prime Minister Pearson the hope that the Great Lakes maritime matter can be settled quickly, fairly, and without further misunderstanding, and I join in his appeal for a responsible solution.
There has been earnest effort on both sides to find a basis for settlement in an agreement between the Canadian and United States labor organizations. These efforts have apparently failed. This is cause for serious regret, but not for mutual recrimination that might 'prejudice future relationships between the two countries.
The United States Government has not and will not express any judgment regarding the legislation which is now pending in the Canadian Parliament. We stand ready, at the same time, to pursue any course of cooperative action which will serve the public and private interests which are involved here.
Note: The White House release, of which the statement was a part, stated that the President and Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson of Canada had that day discussed, by telephone, the difference which had developed regarding maritime union organization on the Great Lakes.
John F. Kennedy, Statement by the President on the Great Lakes Maritime Union Controversy. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/236380