Sub-series includes records used to prepare the correspondence - memoranda, notes, briefing material, news releases, agenda, schedules, itineraries, invitations, clippings, talking points, pamphlets, and reports. In addition to 149 volumes of correspondence, the sub-series includes 14 boxes of nominal index cards (vols. 147 - 160). These 7" x 5" cards are divided into three groups: regular contacts (about 12 boxes), important contacts (about 1 box), and third, individuals and their organization and title (about 1 box). Each of the three groups of cards is arranged alphabetically by name. Each card lists all contact with that correspondent, and the date, the writer's subject, and the file subject-number. Additionally, a few words summarize most contacts with most correspondents. For example, there are approximately 120 cards recording correspondence and contact between Gillespie and his Deputy Minister. Those 120 cards, and the other nominal cards in the 14 boxes, not only allow access to the sub-series by correspondent, they also provide an overview and a summary of the correspondence in the following 149 boxes.
The correspondence is arranged by Energy, Mines, and Resources's subject number file code. Details of the subjects and their numbers are in volume 166, file 111-1. Each subject, and its file, was identified by a three digit number: 100 through to 167, General (vols. 161 - 172); 200s, EMR (vols. 172 - 290); 300s, Toronto (vols. 290 - 291); 400s, Other organizations (vols. 291 - 292); 500s, Provincial Governments (vols. 293 - 296); 600s, Government Institutions and Some Policies (vols. 296 - 305); 700s, House of Commons and Senate (vols. 305 - 307); and 800s, Liberal Party of Canada (vols. 307 - 309). More specifically, the 100s subject-numbered correspondence includes personal correspondence (vol. 161, file 100-1); advertising contracts (vol. 164, subject file 103-1); Crank Letters (vol. 165, file 140.5); Speaking Engagements (vols. 171 -172); and Invitations (vols. 167 - 169, file 135.1). These invitations are arranged by date, and are filed with correspondence documenting the reasons for accepting or rejecting the invitation.
The 200 Subject-Numbered Correspondence about Energy, Mines, and Resources is 80 percent of this sub-series. In addition to the issues mentioned above in the series description - resource development, environment, native land claims, alternate energy, the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline and the Berger Commission, wilderness preservation, solar energy, oil companies, wind energy, Atomic Energy of Canada, national parks, Eldorado Nuclear Ltd, and multi-national corporations - a range of additional issues are covered: energy conservation, energy policy, Energy Minister's Conferences and First Minister's Conferences, meetings with foreign dignitaries and heads of state, the minister's trips to the Canadian Arctic, Mexico, China, Australia, and Venezuela, the International Energy Agency, energy conferences, solar energy, oil export controls, off-shore drilling, environmental damage by oil drilling and extraction, federal-provincial energy agreements, exploration and development in the Beaufort Sea, the Bay of Fundy, James Bay, Sable Island, and in Georges Bank, First Nations, Dene, Inuit, land claims, nuclear waste storage, the Nuclear Energy Control Act, the Atomic Energy Control Board, Candu Reactor exports, and uranium production and export.
More precisely, within the 118 boxes of #200 or EMR correspondence, subject 200-1 EMR - General and some subsequent files (vols. 172 - 173) show something of the character of EMR, of public and political interests, and of Gillespie's involvement in EMR issues. His office merged the files on Subject 112, Complaints, Inquires, and Suggestions (not constituents), now volumes 196 - 212, with the files on Subject 210, correspondence with Associations, Companies, Firms, Organizations, Universities, etc A to Z, and formed one large block - volumes 190 - 234. These 44 boxes of correspondence, generally exchanges of information and opinion about energy, document the reaction of companies, non-profit advocacy groups, universities, a wide range of other organizations, and of individuals, including alternative energy proponents to national energy issues. Naturally, the quality of this correspondence varies. An additional part of the company correspondence is in volumes 40 and 41. Subject 225 Conferences, Meetings, Symposia General A to Z (vols 237 - 250), includes International meetings (most of vol 238 - 246), oil pricing (many letters from the DM), Federal-Provincial Conference, and a joint Polar Gas Project with France in the wake of a visit by the French Prime Minister (vol 248, first file).This file includes a letter (with marginalia) from Trudeau about Canada-France relations.
Subjects 240 Energy - Policy (vols. 255 - 260) and 243 Exploration and Development (vols. 260 - 269) document the perspectives of Gillespie, of his department, of other Ministers, and of the public - both the corporate and the alternative energy publics - on high Arctic oil drilling, on the environment, on east coast fisheries and oil in the context of Georgia's Bank. The subjects include Solar Heating Systems and Rights to Sunlight, volume 258, files 240-5; Exploration and Development - Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, volumes 261 - 264, subject files 243-5; Exploration and Development - Indian Land Claims, volumes 265-266, subject files 243-5-5; Exploration and Development - Beaufort Sea, volumes 267- 268, subject files 243-15; and Heavy Oils Project, volume 268, subject files 243-17.
Candu Reactor Sales, volumes 270 - 274, subject files 252-2-1 document international sales, and is followed by other nuclear issues including Nuclear Information Centre, (subject 252-5). That subject shows both the Minister's role, and the division among nuclear energy people - perhaps established views and counter culture views. The file includes the comic book titled, Radiation and Man, published by Canadian Nuclear Association, Toronto (Ganes Productions), 1972, 32 pp (approx 7" x 5"). The records on Oil-Exports and Imports (Pricing) (files 255-2), Oil Prices (volume 277, subject file 255.5), Petro-Canada (vol 277 - 278, subject files 255-7), and Natural Gas (vol. 281, subject file 255-11) all contain extensive correspondence, much of it routine in a curious way, but the issues were important and the correspondence often carefully thought out. Eldorado Nuclear Limited and then various uranium issues are documented in subject files 260-0 to 260-19 (vols. 282 - 287); these records include files on uranium anti-trust (260-13), and files on safeguards (260-14). The Minister's active involvement with these issues is documented in the records.
The last 200 or EMR subjects, in volumes 287 - 290, are about coal (subject files 270-1) and non-energy minerals. The non-EMR subjects are numbered 300 to 800, volumes 290 to 309, and include one file on multiculturalism(vol. 311, file 611.4) and a file of letters from Trudeau. Finally, information on the Liberal Party in Toronto - Metpac,1970 - 1979, (for records of Metpac 1961 - 1969, see vol. 29, files 18 - 23), the 1974 election, and Ontario and Toronto Liberals - including the Metropolitan Life Company leaving Montreal - is in volumes 308 - 309.
