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The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grflce d la g6n6rosit6 de I'dtablissement prdteur suivant : La bibiioth^que des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clich6 sont filmdes d partir de Tangle sup6rieure gauche, de gaurhe d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la m^thode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 .;r'. ■/^J«^ -^jafl ] II (SI I VI NOTE. So ■III. I' t 9^1 DOMINM ELECTION. i^i-'ifd-c 's,l:Jiik'i'-: CAMPAIGN OF 1886. *J».-Wi.^ ^1^ ;;;.i*^.' :ip * ^fr. K..,-r ■•' !}^-'^-^- : } y,};i-t .*?•'•:;■ ', f.1*, TV :?r'";* .s>-.i.-.^ ?*■>/: \ - Hon. EM Blake's Speeches. ',\,, :;i.;-Sii TSTo. 4 ( First Series). ' ' (SIMCOE AND GUELPH).— Federal and Pro vincial Rights. License Law. Escheats. j Ontario Boundaries. The Nova ' : Scotia Difficulty. ; vV ''\ .y •. L-;' NOTE.— See Inside Cover for Idat of Mr. Blake's SpeeclxeB in first Series. Apply to W. T. R. Preeton, Reform Club, Toronto, for Copies of these Speeciies. ,>'> ua V f , ^, '.*> ^ ^■ *^0t0nt0: HUNTER, ROSE & CO., PRINTERS. 1886. > ■ '*< LIST OF SPEECHES IN THIS SERIES. No. No. No. No. No. No. N«. N*. No. 9 No. No. No. Na No. I.— (London): General Review of Situation. Riel Question. (OwsN Sound) : North-West Maladministration. Riel. 3.— (BsAVERTON) : Independence of Parliament The Boodle Brig^ade. 3.— (Cheslky) : Public Finances— Taxation and Deficits— Farmers. 4.— (SiMCOK) : Federal and Provincial Rights— Ontario— Nova Scotia. (Guelph)— Elections near.— Tory Dodges— Nova Scotia. 5.— (OWBN Sound) : Principles of Liberalism— Duty of the Leader. (Welland)— Policy of 'the Party — Functions of an Opposition. (Oakwood) — Sir J. Macdonald on Functions of an Opposition. 6. — £xfr{uts—{Gv%LVH) : Home Rule for Ireland. Y (Berlin): Firebrand Tory attempts to excite Germans. ^ V V (Gai.t & Orangeville) .- Indian Starvation Policy. (Pembrokb) : Maladministration felt at Cut Knife Hill. 7.— ^jc/nK^/— (Kendall) : Business Methods required in Public Affairs — Degradation of Parliament— A few Boodlers. (Hampton) ; Civil Service Reform. (Galt) : Burden of Public Debt (Orangsville) : Burden of Public Debt (Belleville): Burden of Public Debt — The Interest on Debt (Oakwood) : Burden of Public Debt— Our Public Expen- diture. 8. — (Newcastle) : Canadian Pacific Railroad Matters. (LiSTowBL): Canadian Pacific Railroad Matters— The last Sacri* fice of $10,000,000— Collapse of Tory " Boom " Policy. - (St. Thomas) : North- West Lands. (Huntsville) : R.R. Policy— Sir John's Subsidies to " Guinea-Pig " Directors— Assisted Immigration and Railway Frauds. < (Parry Sound) : Railway Policy of Liberals. (Orangkville) : Railway Policy of Liberals. > (Brantford) : The Kansas Slander. (LisTowEL) : The Sea of Mountains. (WiNOHAM) : Blake's Tribute to Mackenzie. (Stayner): Blake's Tribute to Sir Richard Cartwright (Bbantfokd) : Blake's Tribute to Paterson— Duty of Young Mea 10. — (Welland) : Liberal Party, Creeds and Classes. (Orillla): Leaders and Newspapers— The "Mail" Crusade. II. — (Aylmer): Prohibition and Politics. la. — (Toronto) : Interests of Labour — The Tariff. -^ (Welland): To Knights of Labour. (Belleville); Legislation for Labour. ^ ^ (Deseronto) : Workingmen and Parties. _ . ? '■/ (Hamilton): Workingmen and Parties. 13.— (Hamilton) : Provincial Issues— The Religious Cry— Liberals and CathoUcs. ^^,tinv^i}Xi , 14,— (Lindsay) : North-West Affairs — Neglect, Delay and Misman- agement—Race and Creed Cries. FEDERAL AND PROViNOIAL RIQHTS4 Attitude of Sir John'i Admtiilttration. i<(i.r>r~-*-j^\'^!» 'i"'<.Jir>i\',- '■' THE LIOElsrSE] Xj-A."W". QUBSTION OF BSOHBATS. r ,,■ , ■> V Ontario Boundaries. STREAMS BILL. ■.' ,■ V THE FOURTEEN ARBITRARY ANGELS. Re-arrangement of Financial Basis of Confederation. T'EIE ITO^ST^^A. SOOTI-A. dTJESSTIOIT. At Simcoe, after alluding to the shameful gerrymandering of the Norfolk ridings, Mr. Blake proceeded : — I turn now to the subject which it was my especial desire to touch to-day, THE GENERAL ATTITUDE OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF THE DOMINION TOWARDS PROVINCIAL RIGHTS, AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR AD- MINISTRATION OF THE CONFEDERATION AS A WHOLE. I say that the attitude of the Tory party ever since Con- federation towards the Provinces and towards the Confederation, has been inimical to the fedeial principle upon which our Constitution is based, and upon which only it can be properly worked. (Applause). Sir John Macdonald was before Confedera- tion an avowed legislative unionist; he was opposed to the federal system, and was determined that the union should be legislative if he could manage it. He was a legislative unionist on principle, hut finding his principle unpopular, he became nominally, for interest and for office, a federalist ; and he has since that time systematically carried out his principles as a legislative unionist just so far as interest and office would permit. Ue has striven, as far as he thought safe, to impart to our Consti' m t. iU.: , ,., y- j^HH^z^ . 7B7- , r'l|y iii»»*»»»i^»^ i* i > y! "" '»~||r- 102 ii-i tntion the features of legislative union and to rainimize its ^^ federal elements. This has tendetl, of course, to impair and ' : disparage the federal character of the union. The Liberal party, as I understand its policy, is in favour of the federal iniuciple. (Cheers.) It believes in a system of . LOCAL LIBERTIES AND LOCAL POPULAll RIGHTS " 'I 'fli of a large and extensive character for all the Provinces of the Dominion. We believe that in a country so wide in its area as Canada, so sparsely settled as Canada, divided a« Canada has been into Provinces, inhabited as these Provinces are, notably in the case of Quebec, by populations niaiuly of one race, and of one system of laws, different from and isolating them from the other Provinces, and dividing those Piovinces I'rom each other, inhabited by populations liol-'iiig different views upon many subjects, and unaccustomed to have their local affairs tieated otherwise than locally ; we believe, I say, that the true and the only method of eKiabllshing a union of heart and feeling between tlte di(f'erent j>artH of our great country, from the Atlantic to the FacifiCyis frankly to recognize these circumstances, and to meet them by the establishment, upon a firm and substantial basis; of a large measure of provincial and local liberties ; to give us, in fact, Home Rule for each Province ol the Dominion. We believe that here was found the main difficulty under which we labouted in the old union between the Canadas, where the two Provinces had joint control of local afi'airs, concerning which Ontario did not well understand the wants and wishes, the habits and customs, the passions and prejudices, of the sister Province, and so with Quebec as to Ontario. It was largely in order to remove such dilftculties that the Confederation was pro})Osed, and we desire to avoid them still by continuing and, if need be, confirming the federative spirit of our constitution. (Cheers.) But there are other obvious reasons for this view. , EFFECTS OF THE CENTRALIZATION POLICY. Centralization at Ottawa, the management by one authority of local afi'airs in a country spreading for four thousand miles, from ocean to ocean, would inevitably be the fruitful parent, not inerely of discord, but also of federal jobbery, delay, favouritism, blunders, and mal-admiuistration. If you want an example of the dangers, the difficulties, and the failures of on attempt to administer from a great distance the local affairs of a vast territory, read the LAMENTABLE STORY OF THE MANAGEMENT OF NORTH-WEST AFFAIRS BY THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION. It is in order to obviate these (4) ••A^ ■ l! - 108 difBcuIties, to promote the real and cordial union of the country in matters common to us as a whole, to secure good government for the Provinces, and good government for the Dominion too, that we Liberals insist so strenuously upon local management of local affairs. Local management will be quick and responsive to local public opinion. It is not troubled by a consideration of the views, objections, prejudices, and ignorance of those not concerned in such affairs and belonging to other Provinces. Besides, -'■*«'*■» )ns of )m irs, irs, lorn Ihe lese LOCAL INSTITUTIONS HAVE EVER BEEN, UNDER THE BRITISH SYSTEM, : , . THE QRKAT NURSERIES OF FREEDOM. They are the trainers of the people at large, and especially of those who are to be the people's leaders in the larger ai'ena ; and so highly are these local liberties valued, that they are held by the wisest men to be the real root of the British constitutional system. We, therefore, hold that their true dignity and importance ought to be conceded to the local authorities, and that the wide sphere of Provincial action under the constitution should be fully, frankly, and ungrudgingly recognized by all concerned. We desire that those important matters of common concern, by the wise regulation of which we may foster and increase our com- munity of thought, feeling, interest, and affection throughout Canada, and so become one people, should be dealt with, and that these alone should be dealt with, at Ottawa. In these we are partners ; the regulation of these so as to produce harmony and good feeling is itself difficult. To that task we should address ourselves ; and to turn to other and local matters, to attempt to enlarge our sphere, to increase the number of, I do not say the links of love, but the coercive bonds of connection, is not really to promote our union. It is to produce discord and difficulty, AND TO sow THE SEEDS OF SEPARATION. But, sir, the very opposite of these notions has prevailed at Ottawa for years past. Centralization has been the dream of the powers there. Every effort has been made to curtail the just Provincial rights, and there has consequently existed a constant struggle on the part of the Provinces, and notably of Ontario, not to obtain more than their constitutional rights, but to hold their own under the constitution. (Cheers.) Take for example ':i K: \ THE LICENSE LAWS. Every Province had always passed license laws, and for many years those laws had remained unchailenged. For years it was generally believed that the Provinces alone had power to pass such laws. At length it seemed to Sir John Macdonald that a (4) n ';'■■ 4 .It. i i I § % L^E 104 favourable opportunity had occurred to attack that right. Ee declared v ....^..^^.■^.;. ^. (i .'5-: ■%■>•: / ! I i I i 108 Carthy, member for North Simcoe, arranged with the Dominion Government to pay the costs ; he took the case ; they have paid him so far ; and he is to have $5000 frofii the Oovernment to go over to England and argue the case for their contention, and against that of Ontario. But I am glad to be able to tell you that these lawyers who made up the estimate of probable cost were so little confident of success that they estimated $20,000 as the costs. Uiey said it wa^ luell to estimate for the costs of both sides on the assumption that it wasprobable they would lose the case, and 80 be called on to pay all the' costs. (Cheers and laughter.) But the Dominion Government decided not to ask the balance last session — that is reserved for next session. (Laughter.) Now we come to the case of ' ' - \^; , >, , ^ ' THE STREAMS BILL, . * ' and this I have always considered to be, of all the controversies between the Dominion and the Provinces, by far the most im- portant from a constitutional point of view ; for it .involves the principle regulating the use by the Government of the power of disallowing Provincial legislation. This is a vital question as affecting our local liberties. (Cheers.) I maintain that under our constitution, 'properly interpreted, the Provinces have the uncontrollable power of passing laws, valid and binding laws, upon all those matters which are excluMvely within their compe- tence, except possibly in the rare cases in which such legislation may be shown substantially to aflfect * Dominion interests. If you are to admit the view that the Dominion Cabinet may veto and destroy your legislation on purely local questions within your exclusive competence, you make your local legislature a SHAM, you declare your Provincial liberties a fraud, and you had better openly, honestly, and aboveboard, do that which the other system aims at in a secret and still more unsatisfactory way — create one central legislative power, and let the Parliament at Ottawa do all the business. (Cheers.) The case to which I have referred arose out of an Act of the Local Legislature of Ontario, known as the Streams Bill. That measure affected only local streams, and did not pretend to touch the streams in other Provinces, nor did it affect any Dominion interest at all. It was purely local and exclusively within the competence of the Local Legis- lature. The Legislature thought it well to interpret and de- clare the true and intended meaning of an older statute on this subject, and in doing so to give to the proprietor of improvements on a stream, of which he owned the bed, compensation for the use of those improvements, when others, under the law, availed them- selves of the improved channel to run timber down the stream. Sir John Macdonald declared that the Local Legislature misinter- (4) -)... . .■(■■ 109 preted the older law ; that the timber owner had no right to use the improved channel at all ; that the Act was not legislation, it was roobery of the proprietor of the channel ; and, moreover, he declared it was worse than ordinary robbery, for it was a robbery of the Tories by the Reformers. (Laughter.) He said that the Act was passed simply because Mr. Caldwell, a Reformer, wanted to run his timber unlawfully over the improvements of Mr. Mc- Laren, a prominent Tory, and he said Mr. Mowat had prostituted the Legislature for the purpose of enabling the Reformers to rob the Conservatives, and moved by a high sense of justice — (laughter) — feeling that the interests of the whole country were concerned, he disallowed this act of robbery. Well, the Local Legislature did not think it was robbery at all, and they PASSED THE BILL AGAIN. The Federal Government disallowed it agaAn, but the Legislature — a new House, I believe — was not con- vinced of the error of its ways, and passed a similar bill once more, and yet once more. In the meantime the slow process of the law was going on, and the final tribunal, the Privy Council, decided in the end, shortly after the bill had been passed for the last time, to the effect that the interpretation of the Local Legislature was right, and, therefore, that their bill (whatever might have been said otherwise, which I need not consider) was not robbery at all, but, on the contrary, was a protection to Mr. McLaren, the Tory, en- abling him to get compensation for the use of his improvements, which he might not have been able to get under the old law, and THE RESULT IS THAT THIS LAST ACT HAS NOT BEEN DISALLOWED. [S- le- ^is Its Ise (Cheei-s and laughter.) For the time, therefore, the difficulty is at rest. But the principle upon which the Federal Government acted is general in its nature, and may be acted upon by the Grovernment at any time unless we restrain them. I call upon you to say whether you, will permit, whether you will send representatives to Ottawa to sustain, a course of action which must result in ren- dering nugatory your Provincial Legislation. In condemning the action of the Government, I said in Parliament that I care not whether jhe Act is just or unjust, whether it is right or wrong, whether it is good or bad, whether it is robbery or not. I inquire as to this only, is it a law passed by the Local Legislature, within the exclusive competence of that Legislature, and not substantially affecting Dominion interests ? If so, you have no right to touch it. (Cheers.) I admit and I rejoice that there is an appeal from the power that made that law. But I will state to you where the appeal lies. That appeal is from the Legislature which PASSED the law TO THE PEOPLE WHO ELECTED THAT LEGISLATURE, and who can elect another to their minds. (Loud cheers.) The }y* S (4) ■S---i-:-y no \.\ \': W- appeal with reference to your own Provincial laws is to youi'selvefiu- 11 a law is passed by your Legislature which is unjust, which i» bad, which is inexpedient, which is a robbery, you have the power to consider the conduct, of the members who passed that law, and to return men to Parliament to repeal that law, to amend it, or to mould it according to your notions of what is just, good, expedi- ent, honest and in the public interest. Are you not satisfied to live under the rule of your own people ? Are you not equal to self-government ? Are you not content to rely upon the sense of fairness and right, of honesty and expediency of your fellow- citizens of Ontario in reference to their and your own affairs ? Do you feel so doubtful as to your own knowledge of what is just, expe- dient, honest and right, that you must allow governors to set them- selves up over you to determine for you whether your laws are good or had? Would you say : Here is a superior body whom we respect, whose views we prefer to the judgment of our own people ? Here they are, fourteen men at Ottawa, of whom only four or five be- long to your Province, the jest coming from the other Provinces,, not knowing your ways or customs or affairs, not mainly, hardly at all effectively, responsible to you, whose duties ought to be con- fined to ihe common concerns of Canada, and who have nothing to do with your local affairs. Here they a,re, fourteen men who, when they deliberate upon a fairs of State, retire into a room, lock the door, post a sentry without, to prevent the too near approach of the common herd, who swear an oath that they will not reveal their secret counsels, and who, with these precautions, and after these methods, asswme to decide for you, whether your laws art good m' had, right or wrong, jv^t or unjust, expedient or i/nexpe- dient. Even if they were angels from Heaven, infallible and all-wise personages, I would prefer, for my part, that we should our- selves, with all the risk of sometimes making mistakes, engage in the inspiring and ennobling task of self-government, in that task which, involving the existence of a free choice and fre^ decision, involves too, of course, the possibility of error or even of wrong, but which embraces also the glorious right and duty of repairing^ error and redressing wrong. I would prefer it, with all its troubles,, outweighed as they are by its merits and by its elevating charac- teristics, to being governed by fourteen angels or infallible men, who might indeed decide for us rightly, but who would deprive us of the right, the duty, the responsibility, and the educating and glorious attributes which belong to self-government, to a government of the people, by the people, for the people. (Cheers.) But these are not fourteen angels. (Laughter.) Their wings, at any rate, kave not groM/!n yet. (Loud laughter.) They are not infallible men. Their judgments r^ay be wrong, for I have already given T ^: (4) ■•'/>-■ .■) Ill you many lamentable instances of mistake on tlieir part. In all the,se wMters in which we have taken is^ae with tnem, they were 'proven wrong and we were proven right. VVe are bound, it seems to me, to insist that this question of disallowance shall be settled upon a firmer and more stable and more coi«stitutional basis than that on which under the Tory doctrine it now rests. There are '. !'"' :Tr..V;"V-* ;^V ' '"''^'' 'i-: 'several OTHER INSTANCES '.y'^y "^••''•%''' " of a similar tendency towards centralization. For example, three or four sessions ago the Dominion Parliament passed a law which practically assumed control of all those Provincial railways which had been chartered by the Provinces, an ■:,.. ^ ..•■ ■■''^- ; ■ ■ ■■•■ r ■ ■ (4) • t'-r^:' 113 I believe that the proximity of the countries, the similarity of the characteristics of the people, the size and shape of the ter- ritory, the numbers of the population, the close community of in- terests, and the identity of the principal industries, all pointed to the fact that they together would form one strong, powerful Pro- vince by the sea, which might be constructed with all due regard to the efficient management of local affairs, to which I have re- ferred, and which would have been better for them and for the other parties to the federal union than their entry into that re- lation as three comparatively small Provinces, each retaining its local identity, and each having a distinct federal relation to the others of them and to the Central and Western Provinces. But in this and other matters everything else was subordinated to the one idea of consummating some scheme of confederation quickly — itself an error ; for the gestation of a nation, as has well been said, is not like the breeding of a rabbit ; and, besides, time was on our side. This was a grave error, yet it was only an error of policy. But worse followed. There followed a most serious ^. BREACH OF CONSIITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE. Nova Scotia was forced into the Confederation under a resolution passed by a House not elected with any reference to that most important and fundamental change. That Legislature, unhappily, grossly misinterpreted the feelings of the people upon the sub- ject, and the people believed they were betrayed by their repre- sentatives, in being resolved into confederation without being given an opportunity to express their opinion at the polls. I am afraid this course was pursued, not because an election was thought unnecessary, which was the allegation as to old Canada, but be- cause it was feared that an election would result in a popular con- demnation of the plan. And, if that be so, I say that those who forced the Province into a constitutional change like Confedera- tion without an election, because they feared an election would result in an adverse popular vote, were guilty of a great public crime against the liberties of a free people. (Loud cheers.) Not only was it a great crime, but it was also an enormous blunder, because the feelings which that step necessarily aroused, the pas- sions it excited, and the prejudices it evoked were calculated to greatly impair the chances of success of the union itself. It created a bitter feeling in Nova Scotia, a sense of wrong, a sense of injus- tice, a sense of coercion, a feeling strongly hostile to Canada, a feeling which caused every proposal emanating from Canada to be suspected and disliked, just because it came from those who were supposed to have forced the Province into the union. Better far to have followed the constitutional course of an appeal to the ... ,- ,.,.. . .,, -, - , ■ - , ■-■..(* --.• '?"l \- I »♦ people, and, if unsuccessful, of a repeated appeal after an inter- val, as y» ' WAS DONE IN NEW BRUNSWICK. The result in that Province is that, whatever grievances the people may think they have to complain of, they have not this at any rate — they cannot say they did not enter the union by the will of th-. majority of their people express'^d at the polls. You can see, therefore, that the experiment of Confederation has had in Nova Scotia no fair chance. This feeling has never died out. The sense of injustice and wrong lingers for many years, and it was sure to impede our progress toward a real union. Now, when eighteen out of nineteen men came from Nova Scotia to Ottawa opposed to Confederation, an effort was made to arrj,nge for an alteration of the financial terms of the union with Nova Scotia, and so to conciliate the Province, through the intervention, as the other parties to the bargain, of some of these same msm- beis at Ottawa, instead of trying to come to an agreement with the Local Government and Legislature, which was the real repre- sentative of the Provincial as distinguished from the Dominion interest. This, again, was a harmful blunder; the Provincial Government should have been respected and treated with as the lawful and constitutional representative of the Provincial interests. As to these financial terms, you perhaps know that 1 never ad- mired th-e plan of the Provincial subsidies. It would have been preferable, as I have always thought, that the Provinces should have some sources of revenue of their own, so that they might have the power and responsibility of settling the scale of both income and expenditure. There is a good old rule which would have applied in this case — ^ , > j -■■• . ■ *■ , *• f ;...?.■ !..-' ,,^- _,, , "WHO SPENDS SHOULD PAY. . . . ^ , If one man spends and another pays it is extremely likely the expenditure will be on an extravagant scale. But it was thought quite impossible to overcome the difficulties existing at the time of Confederation, and the system of grants to the Provinces was adopted simply as the only practicable plan. This arrangement was said to be a fiinality ; it was said that the local Governments would have to supply any deficiencies by local taxation them- selves. But this notion was entirely destroyed and all chance of finality done away with when, without the consent of the other Provinces, an alteration was made in the financial terms of union. I foresaw this result and objected strongly to any alteration in the financial terms without the consent of the Provinces. I said : — *' All the Provinces are parties to the bargain ; one of the terms • ^ -^" '^ ' (4) • >' '■' ■■ " . < *». • . •.■'■ M . 115 -Ji- of the bargain is that relating to the division of so much of the general revenues to each of the Provinces. If this is to be altered, all the parties to the bargain ought in some form to be consulted. It cannot be altered at Ottawa without discontent and possible injustice, and certainly, it it is altered for one, the time will come when there will be a call which you will not be able to resist for alterations for others, ttnd so the element of finality will be taken away by what you propose." No, they said, it will be all right. Rut the result J of their course have become manifest since, and they have been very serious. Many o^ the Provinces have since been looking to Ottawa for increases of their grants, and large ■expenditures and DEPENDENCE UPON OTTAWA , \' have been the issue. I should be very glad if I were able to pre- sent to you a plan for the reorganization of our system ; removing this radical weakness, but the difficulties which were thought to be insuperable at Confederation have become greater still since that event ; and I see no clear solution. But I believe, not the less, that a rearrangement ought to take place, and in connection therewith a constitutional provision ought to be obtained requir- ing the assent of the Provinces to any further disturbance of the compact. So only can you reach that finality which was pro- mised to us, but which, it is too clear, we cannot now expect under the existing system. I never proposed to abolish the Provincial subsidies, as has been untruly represented. I have been unable to propose a substitutionary scheme ; and I am not in the habit of proposing in opposition, measures which I do not see my way to carrj'ing out were I to be entrusted with the reins of power. In thejirst session of Parliament, the members from Nova Scotia asked for a repeal of the union. The Liberal proposal at that time was that a committee should be formed to consider the grievances of Nova Scotia, but that proposal was rejected. I, in my place in Parliament, asked the people and representatives of Nova Scotia to wait for the term of that Parliament, and to try for that length of time the experiment of the union ; but I de- clared, speaking, of course, as a young member and for myself alone, that if the next appeal to the people of the Province should result in an unequivocal declaration against the Province remain- ing in Confederation, I did not see my way to holding in bonds to which they had .. -o„ '■ NEVEB CONSTITUTION .VLLY CONSENTED, " ^'•& free people. But I asked them honestly and fairly to try tht experiment for the term of that Parliament, and to give the (4) ''i 116 union thafc chance. I believe I was almost alone in the view I held, but I thought then that I was ri^ht, and I think so still. (Loud cheers.) Time went on. Several of the Nova Scotia leaders were won over by the Government. Mr. Howe, the leader of the secession party, Mr. McLelan, the present Minister of Finance, and Mr. E. M. Macdonald obtained offices. The elections came on, and the Nova Scotians returned a majority for Sir Cliarles Tapper and Sir John Macdonald, the men who had forced them into the union. I assumed on this return that the effort to secede had been abandoned. I believe that Nova Scotia, which has since, except at one election, sustained, and is now sustain- ing, the policy of the Tories by sending large majorities to support them, has by that course of action, at any rate, greatly weakened, if she has not entirely lost, any claim to relief which she might have had on the ground of the original constitutional wrong in- flicted on her. But, for all that, the feeling is there, and it is at this moment an important factor in the situation, and y(^i as freemen and fellow-citizens of Canada, and we a^ statesmen deal- ing with the future of the Confederation, must take account of its existence, and do what we caji to mitigate its effects. That feeling has kept us apart and has marred the chances of a real union. Nor can I acquit those who are responsible for it of a grave crime against the State. (Cheers.) Now the union was said by the Conservative Government themselves to be at first \V /'' ONLY A UNION ON PAPER, . 1 which was to be made real in course of time by its practical working, by the practical benefits the people would derive from it. So, they said, it would become a union of hearts and souls, not a union in name or on paper only. What were the promises and pledges these men made at that time, particularly in the Maritime Provinces ? They promised low taxation, a low scale of debt, strict economy in the public expenditure, no high or protec- tive tariffs, reciprocal ti%de, great prosperity, an enormous and profitable trade with the Western Provinces, and that Halifax should be the great ocean port for the whole Dominion, It was of great consequence not to make extravagant promif^es at such a time. It was of still greater consequence that the promises which were made should, as far as possible, be fully performed. (Cheers.) But it was of the very last consequence that no pro- mises so made should be wilfully broken. By acting on these views I believe it might have been proved that the interests of Nova Scotia could be guarded and maintained under Confedera- tion, and so a better feeling might have been engendered. But that was not done. The contrary was done. These views of mine (4) you, '.'l' ■:.<..■/.:;• V 117 are not being first stated at a late day, novi that a crisis has arrived. They havo been stated before. I have often warned these men of the difficulties which would attend the course they were pursuing. I want to prove this to you, and to state the case just as I did at the time. In tho spring of 1880, in my place in Parliament, I used this language : — • *' . '"■' • > Sir, — We must consider the circumstances of this whole Confederation. We must not forgot the mode in which it was formed. Hon. gentlemen op- posite affirmed with gruat warmth in 1867, and for years afterwards, that it was but a union on paper, and that the - •• • '■^\,-'} . v A., REALITY AND PERMANENCE OF THE CONNRCTION ;;^ were yet to be established and secured by a careful policy, and b^ a praoti- cal experience on the part of the people of its benefits. A cynic indeed has said that as between Ontario and Quebec it was a divorce rather than a union ; that Nova Scotia was coerced into it, and compensated by damages for the loss of her honour ; that New Brunswick was frightened into it and compensted as well ; that Manitoba was forced and purchased into it, too ; that Prince Edward Island and British Celumbia were — shall I say 7 — seduced into it by pledges and promises, some impossible, all extravagant — at any rate by settlements of the most lavish character. But whether this descrip- tion be true or not, at any rate hon. gentlemen admit that it was at first a union only on paper, I want to know what has been done to cement it, to make it real and permanent, to make it a union of hearts and interests, to give it vitality and strength. Look at the various Provinces. Almost every one, after all your better terms, is in deep financial difficulties, and is knocking at your door for further aid. Imitating your extravagance, they have out- run their resources, and they have come to look upon you as the great tax- gatherer for the Provinces, believing; that they may go as far as they please, and that Canada must fill the void out of the Federal revenues. You have seen the distribution of your revenues, and your expenditure. You remem- ber all the promises, at the time of union, of low taxes and cheap govern- ment. All, all are broken. THE VAST SUMS YOU COLLECT from the smaller Provinces, heavier per capita than you collect from Old Canada, and a grievous burthen on their people, are yet, as I have shown you, quite inadequate to meet their share of the cost of Confederation. ; v; I must here observe that this view of the effect of the burdens of Customs and Excise upon the smaller Provinces was imperfect. It was based solely on figures from the Customs and Excise ; but these did not represent, as I afterwards perceived, the real burden, even then ; still less do they do so now, because a large part of the duties on goods used in Nova Scotia is paid in the ports of entry in other Provinces ; and because also there is a considerable con- sumption of home-made goods at higher relative prices through the operation of the tariff. From which considerations it follows that the burden of taxation, was, and is, heavier in the Maritime Provinces than I then thought it to be. The imperfect view which -.(,, -■. S^ "^i't ; ■ ^ 118 ■r > j i; '^- r- I advanced had been, before then, put forward by Sir Leonard Tilley, the Finance Minister, and others. Its imperfection having been pointed out, I publicly stated the truth of the case not long after, though I see it still quoted as a complete representation. In the same '' ' SPEECH IN THB SPRING OF 1880, .",*"/"' ■ ^ . I went on to say :-r- It is not by the forced connection of a restrictive tariff, compelling each of us to trade with some other of us, to aur loss and against our will ; it is not by the fatal load of an enormnua debt, lowering the value of our laboi\rB, and lessening the comfort of our lives ; it is not by flinging, with a lavish hand, into the mountains and rivers of Columbia all you can collect or borrow, while you starve all public works Ht home, that you will accomplish a real success, that you will consolidate and harmonise the union. You are making our load heavier than that of the United States. You are making it heavier than we can bear. You are paving the way to that very annexation which you pro- fess to dread, because you are bringing' us into a plight in which we may be forced to do as a people, what we heard described the other day as the sad end of many an imprudent individual borrower, to sell our poor equity of re- demption to the only available purchaser. You profess unbounded faith in the permanence of your re&trictive tarifl'; you blame us for even discussing its operation, for throwing ' , . ■ - ■ ' I ;■ •, '. DOUBTS ON ITS DURABILITY, , i ; ., - ■ ^ ■ • , - . and at the same instant you send a High (.^onnuissioner to England, who asks her to close her ports against the grain uf the world, in order that your farm- ers and hers may obtain from her millions of poor a higher price for the staff of life ; and who proposes in return that you should open your ports to her manufactures, thus destroying your revenue, and at the same time, under the fierce and unchecked competition of the cheapest producers in the world, blasting at once every one of your home industries, which is said to be depen- dent on a duty for its existence. Such is your reckless, your inconsistent, your vacillating, your unpractical policy ! Do you ask for mine 1 I will tell it. Set free the springs of legitimate revenue, by removing the obstacles de- signed to choke them. Open the avenues of legitimate trade, by lowering the legislative bars designed to close them. Free the people as soon as may be, from the extortionate taxation by which you oppress them. Return to a moderate revenue tariff, the only practicable plan in our circumstances, and a necessary incident in whose operation is to give some of the so-called ad- vantages of protection to some of your native industries. By an earnest and searching plan of economy and retrenchment, directed to every branch of the- public service, help to redress the balance between revenue and expenditure,, while you lighten the people's burdens. In the same year, 1880, on the 10th December, I said : — Will the hon. gentleman invite, I do not say upon the floor of this House,, but to a private conference, such of his colleagues as come from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and discuss with them the effect and operation of this tariff, and find what they have got to suy about it, about the feeling of their people, its effect upon their Pronnces, and ita proximata .;--K(iS 119 effect apon this whole Confederation, if some of its iniqnities be not removed 7 After the opportunities of this session I venture to say he will not find him- self able to revol any longer in his dream of universal nappiness and oontent- ment, produced, from one end of the country to the other, by the tariff he , ,-... .. .i,, . . ■ ,. .1 / .• '•■■•Ml-,' ,tM ,(' !',• > .f'.T, On many other occasions have I called attention to the necessity of considering the . . ■- ; , ,V ./ a^ id •» ct it REAL INTERESTS OF THE MARITIME PROVINCES in the framing of our policy, and the failure of the Tory Govern- ment to give that consideration. In Nova Scotia for a large part of their staple products, as coal, potatoes, fish and other articles, the natural market is in the neighbouring country. For stating that I have been denounced in the House of Commons and through- out Ontario ; I have been called a traitor. But I tell you now that what I said was absolutely true. (Cheers.) A wise man has said that he fights a difl&cult battle who fights against geo- graphy, and if you will look at the map you will see that Nova Scotia's natural trade, for many of her staples, is with the neigh- bouring country, arid that the attempt to force them up into the Western Provinces is a fight against geography which has failed. The proximity of the people, the facility of sea transport, the numerous harbours, the opportunities for small vessels taking Nova Scotian products to the neighbouring States and bringing back cargoes of flour and other articles, gave rise to a NATURAL, AND THElfteFORE A HIGHLY PROFITABLE TRADE ; ! "r and Reciprocity, important as it is to all of us, was most import- ant to them. But our fiscal policy was not really directed to the promotion of this end. The Tories said it was. They said, in 1878, that within two years they would procure Reciprocity. They were going to take means that had not been attempted before. Great Canada was to crush out the little United States. (Laughter.) We were to bring the pressure of our tarriff to bear upon them and impair their industries, injure their commerce, and bring them to our terms. You have had eight years of the policy, and how much nearer have they brought you to Reciprocity than you were before ? (Loud Applause.) You may indeed have ex- cited the somewhat unduly sensitive spirit of the United States. You may have created there in some quarters a disposition, how- ever unreasonable, to refuse what otherwise, in their own interest, they might have been more disposed to concede. You may have supplied the % in 120 OPPONENTS OF RECIPROCITY and the advocates of restriction in the United States with fresh arguments, both in the appeal to passion and prejudice, and also by your precepts and example — for you have told them in effect : it is better not to reciprocate, better to restrict, better that each country should keep its markets to itself. And you declare still that this is so. Well, gentlemen, the time has not yet arrived — great, powerful, important though we are, comparing favourably though we do in wealth, population, and industries with the Unit- ed States — wo have not yet succeeded in putting our foot upon their necks and coercing them into Reciprocity, as the Tories said they would do in two years in 1878. So far as our tariff policy has operated, we are further from it than ever. We have aban- doned the notions which would help it forward ; we put indeed a clause in our statute book giving authority to lower duties, and this the Government calls a standing offer to the States ; but when in one or two cases they lowered some duties, the Govern- ment did not respond, but have actually raised our duties on some of the same goods. Aud the Mail, their organ in Ontario, has more than once said that we do not want Reciprocity. In truth they are hostile to it ; and say so as loudly as they dare. Can you wonder that in this respect Nova Scotia is discontented ? Then Nova Scotia complains of want of means for its local services, and of injustice in this respect. Wh^n a large part of the ^.„_ ; RAILWAY DEBT OF QUEBEC ', '; was assumed by tLo Dominion, I proposed, as I have told you that the same course should be taken with Nova Scotia, Ontario and all the other Provinces, but that was refused. And yet the pre- sent financial distress of Nova Scotia is largely due to her railway expenditure. I proposed, also, that there should be a revision of the financial terms of Confederation in view of the existing diffi- culties, and of the proposals of the Dominion Government to under- take local expenditure. Listen to what I said in 1884 : — Now, Sir, I think that the position of the Province of Quebec, as I have pointed out, has demandedSfor some time past, and is now demanding the attention of this Parliament'; and for my part, I have always been prepared to deal fairly by that, or any other of the Provinces, but on the condition of equal and fair justice to all. And I do not suppose my hon. friends from the Province of Quebec will isk more ; or those sitting on the other side, though they might view my proposition differently from what I view it, I do not think they will dissent from the spirit in which I now address myself to them ; namely, that it ie fair and reasonable, under these circumstances, when a new policy of this kind is being proposed, to consider what (4) "^ m^mm 121 ITH RKAL BAH^H IS, to oonsider what the real condition of the other Provinces is relative to that basis and otherwise, and to see whether what ib being proposed as it stands, and without applying proper remedies for the application generally of the new pinciple you propose, can be called just. I say, Sir, that for my part I should desire, and it is one of the thiuifs which is must important for us to consider next to the constitutional question — I should desire tliat we should address ourselves very early and verv earnestly to the solution of the question, by the adoption of some plan whereby, once for nil, the question of the Provin- cial subsidies should be placed on a permanent and lasting basis. I believe it to be destructive of the independence and autonomy of the Provinces that they should be looking to Ottawa for favours, that they should be dependent on the Oentral Government for carrying on their affairs. I believe it to be destructive to Confederation itself, that a system should continue under which it might be said : — " Oh, we will go on ; we will expend moref we will go into debt, and when we get to a pass that we cannot carry on any longer, the Ot- tawa Parliament must relieve us." Any sentiment of that kind, any feeling of that kind, any notion on the part of Provincial Ministers, or politicians, or the citizens or electors of the Provinces, of that kind, must be destructive, in the first place of good • • n " tCONOMlOAL OOVBRNMENT IN THE PROVINCES, and, in the second place, in its influence, moral and financial, on the Confed- eration — destructive ultimately of the Confederation itself. Therefore I think it is a pressing; and incumbent duty upon us to endeavour, if we can, to devise a plan which will set these matters permanently upon a basis dif- ferent from that upon which they now unhappily stand. I also said in the same speech : — When the late member for West Middlesex (Mr. Ross) declared last year that the grant of railway aid was an interfun noe with the Provinces, the Min- ister of Railways stated that the Piovincial revenue were exhausted, and he though the Provincial Legislatures and Governments would be obliged to the Dominion Parliament for the aid granted. This is not the only case in which suggestions of the same dangerous character have been brought forward. We have had a suggestion that the administration of justice, which belongs to the Provinces, should be 1 PAID FOR BY THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT ; ;. ; . , and if that course were adopted it would, of course, follow that those func- tionaries whom the Central Government pay, should also be appointed by them, that that administration which they pay for they should also controh And 80, I will not say by slow, but by rapid degrees, the hon. gentleman, instead of invading Provincial rights, they buy them from the Provinces one by one — he may acquire them under the guise of being a benefactor. Such is far from being the principle on which the Confederation of Canada was framed ; it is far from being the principle on which the Confederation of Canada can last. If it be the fact that the Provincial Governments and Legislatures, after an experience of seventeen years, are not in a position financially to discharge those functions which belong to them, the whole sub- ject ought to be reconsidered. If, in consequence of their impecuniosity, they ar^ unable effectually to discharge their own functions, you may do one (■i) K-*i.. •"^■- iiii y" \ 1 I m 122 of tiro things. You may say : We propose to alter the Constitution so that the Central Government shsJl take this, that, and the other, and so relieve you both of your importance, dignity, power, and Provincial autonomy, and of expense at the same time ; or you may propose a new adjustment of the 1<^V ' financial question, w)iich will enable you efficiently to continue the discharge of those functions which for seventeen years you have been discharging. But the proposal ut the hon. gentleman is neither of these propositions, it is a jx " proposal. I do not use the word offensively, under the guise of a bribe. The hon. gentleman says the Provincial Governments will be very much obliged to us if we give railway aid here and there, but this is a proposal calculated to sap the .. INDBPBXDBNCB OF THB LOCAL LBOISLATURBS '■■'•■ t and Governments ; calculated to lead them to look to this House for pecu- niary favours i^ot baaed on some general principle, not under the lines of the constitution, and so to lead towards the hon. gentleman's great goal. Now, I consider, therefore, that we ought to deal with this question after a full development of the tendencies and principles of the policy, and deal with it, as indeed I think the time is ripe for us to deal with several other questions, upon a revision of the federal constitution. I think it is not at all unreason- able to say that even if the constitution had been framed in a very different manner from that in which it was framed, which was a manner not very likely to produce a perfect instrument — I say, even if it were framed in a ^ different maiinec, it »vould not be unreasonable to say that seventeen years' working and experience would have developed difficulties and defects ; and I believe all true Canadians, without distinction of party or political creeds, ought, if they want Confederation really to prosper, to address themselves without further delay to the questions : In what respects does our constitu- tion at present work well ? what frictions and difficulties have been discov- ered in the workings of it? what alterations should take place ] and endeavour to arrange it so that it may do the work it ought to do, smoothly, and to the advantage both of the Provinces and of the Confederation of Canada as a whole. But I do not think that is any reason why we should proceed upon a ji^ > false policy — a policy which is leading us with rapid steps in a direction which, 1 think, if presented plainly to the majority of this House, they would effec- tually disavow and repudiate. Now, sir, I decline to agree to the proposal that we should undertake any of the proper functions of a Local Legisla- ture by our vote. If we are going to undertake any of the functions of the Local Legislatures it should be on an alteration of the constitution, which may place any part of those functions within our grasp, and leave to them their diminished functions. ^^ And referring to Nova Scotia particularly, I used these wordB : ^' Quebec is in a condition which demands the serious consideration of the Confederation. But she is not alone in that condition. You will find state- ments made from the Province of Nova Scotia, for example, and those who have endeavoured to analyze — I know, with difficulty, with very great apti- tude to err for want of information— those who have attempted to analyze the expenses of that Province will, I think, find that there has not been a very great deal to complain of in the way of extravagance. At least that was the result of such cursory investigation, as from time to time, I have been able to make into the expenditures of that Province, and I am not singling out any one Government from another — there has been alteration of Govern- ments — I do not find that there has been much extravagance, or that th« expenditures have been in excess, to a laz:ge amount, if at all, of the iiemandg 123 - of that Province. We know, however, that its resources are cramped ; that it is more or less in a state of distress locally. It is unfortunate, I think, that none of the Provinces seem dis- \-^ posed to adopt in its fulness our municipal system, with its large measure of local government and direct taxation. But they wUl not do it. They are NOT SO PATIENT OF THE TAX-GATHERER as we in Ontario. (Laughter and applause.) And the question ia, / What is to be done ? I have shown, at any rate, that we were not blind to the situation, and that, so far as our position admitted, we suggested measures of relief. On the general relation of the Domi- nion- to the Provinces, and the dangers in which we stood, I spoke in January, 1885, and I ask you in the face of the present situa- tion in Nova Scotia, to listen to the words I then used: — If I could hope that my words'would have any weight I wonld pray the House to recognize, though it may be late, our true position, to apprehend the fact that we are, and have been for some time, rather weakening than strengthening the true bonds of union, that our centralizing policy, our policy of high and sectional taxation, our policy of extravag&nt expenditure, has been and is alienating imporiant elements in Canada from symyathy with the union itself ; that It is our duty to recall the promises that were made to the various Provinces which were induced to enter into this union, the promises of economical government and of low taxation, the promises with respect to trade, the proniisea with respact to a fiscal policy, the promises with respect to expenditure, which were made particularly by the leaders in the Maritime Provinces at the time the union measure was brought before them ; and that we ought to set about the initiation of a true Federal policy, involving to- gether with the practical recognition of the Federal principle, a reduction of expenditure, and such a reduction of taxation as past extravagance permits, a policy suitable to our actual circumstances, instead of one based on hollow dreams already proved untrue, and but too likely, if persisted in, to end in a disastrous wakinar. We are waking up now, and we find the men who for twenty years promised you smooth things, who proclaimed themselves the makers of the union, the only persons who could create and strengthen a national spirit in Canada, face to face with the lamentable spectacle of a divided country, with a large part of its people protesting that the Canadian policy is treacherous and ruinous, and, in despair of all other relief, asking for separation as a remedy. Now, in January last, in London, I touched a^aji obi this subject. I said: — it? Look, I pray you, everywhere and at everything. Contrast prediction* and promises with events and results, and say whe&er our rulers are to be trusted more. Alas ! their removal will not undo all the evil they have wrought. Their works will live after them. They have brought the country into such a state that we must abandon for yean to oome the hope of dia- )&- ■ i r:mm ■..i .■_ 'V 'ii^- J .X. .;-f' ■fl ill i 124 I 2 h !ii ! ''M I 4 il J pensing with very burdensome taxation, thouch I believe our condition may be greatly bettered by wise readjustments and judicious relaxations, and by honesty, economy, and retrenchment in government. They promised to create a mutually beneficial inter- provincial trade. They have, indeed, forced some of our western products and trade upon the East : but they have failed to give the East a western market, and they have produced in the Maritime Provinces a condition of irritation and ill-feeling, so marked a sense of injustice at the violation of pre- Confederation promises, so great that it is my belief that the sentiment as to Confederation is less strong to- day than it was ten years ago. I regret that many in the East blame Con- federation rather than misgovernmeut for the unhappy results. ' And again I said : — As to the money relations, theirs has been a hand-to-mouth policy — not bftsed on general principles, bad for all the Provinces, productive of local operations, demands, and expectations of the most serious character. They have brought the question at test one of great difficulty and touching a grave, I hope not a fatal, defect in the Confederation scheme, into still greater diffi- culties. At this moment the situation of Nova Scotia is serious. That Province has made representations to Ottawa which have perhaps got into the North- West pigeon-holes, and discontent and irritation are aroused. The settlement with Quebec did not take into account the claims of the other Provinces, and is said not to be final for Quebec itself, which is claimed to be still in a distressed financial condition. Other Provinces are coming forward, and the question has reached an acute condition. At the opening of our last session I lifted once more a warning voice. But I spoke then, as before, to deaf ears. At length re- sults have followed from the policy of the Government. ., r AFTER NEARLY TWENTY YEARS, not being satisfied with the treatment accorded them, or with the results of Confederatic)?i, a majority of the Nova Scotians have declared for repeal. Not that I believe all those who voted for, or were elected as supporters ol the Government, agree in the repeal policy. As far as I can judge that is not so; though the bulk do. What all were agreed on is that the policy of the Dominion Government is most injurious to Nova Scotia ; and that this should be declared in the most solemn way. At that declara- tion of dissatisfaction with the policy of the Government I am not surprised. I have already referred to the physical character- istics of the Province, and its capabilities for trade, and have shown you the effect in these respects of the Federal policy. Bu '^' ' "you turn to the great indu^itries which it was said the taiii^ would especially favour in Nova Scotia — the cotton in- dustry, the sugar industry, the coal industry, the iron industry, bonussed and bountied at the expense of the general taxpayer, you find depression and embarrassment everywhere, and bank- ruptcy and liquidation general. There has been an immense loss ■■ ■' ■ ' J 125 of money, and the trades are unprofitable. Some othdr industries which have done better have lived, not because of the tariff, but in spite of it. v> ; . : ' ^ , ' /\\^-- ,....- . THE CITY OF HALIFAX i .'i is in a deplorable condition ; the value of land has depreciated ; there has been a large emigration from the Province ; profitable branches of the West India trade have been to a great extent lost ; and you know the condition of the fisheries question. The memorial of the Provincial Legislature to the Dominion Govern- ment asking for relief was neglected for about two years. They might have been Half-breeds from the way the Government treated them. (Applause and laughter.) At length last session the Nova Scotia Assembly passed a resolution looking to repeal. And that you may see how far I am accurate in saying that their grounds were largely based on the financial and fiscal policy of the Tory Dominion Government, I will read you an extmct. It is this: — . That Nova Scotia, previous to the Union, had the lowest tariff, was not- withstanding, in the best financial condition of any of the Provinces entering the union. That the commercial as well as the financial condition of Nova Scotia is in an unsatisfactory and depressed condition . That it seems evident that the terms of the British North America Act, combined with the high tariff and fiscal laws of the Dominion, are largely the cause ot this unsatisfac- tory state of the finances and trade of Nova Scotia. I think I have shown you that the evils of the Government policy, as affecting Nova Scotia and the interests of Confederation generally, were from time to time noticed by us, and that we warned the Government against the results which would attend their course. WE CALLED FOR A CHANGE that would bring about a better state of things, but they would not heed. And now they have brought us to this pass. Yet I cannot acquit the people of Nova Scotia themselves of a very con- siderable share of the responsibility for all this. They have sent powerful Ministers and large majorities to Ottawa to initiate and support the very policy of which they now complain as so injuri- ous and distasteful to themselves. Some responsibility for what has been done Nova Scotia must therefore assume ; and, alas ! much that has been done is now irreparable. But though much be taken, much remains. There is still some opportunity for im proving our condition as a people, or at any rate arresting the disintegrating and deteriorating and weakening elements of the policy of the Government. And to this end the Nova Scotians should address themselves. You may ask me how it was that '■,-' 'M • - 'Si- ;<•.-..; Is I 1 f!' m^ pp I ■II r y .* ''• '• 126 Nova Scotia in the Ho\ise of Commons sustained the Qovemment policy. I believe , ,.,,,, .. H' THE REAL SENTIMENTS OF THE PEOPLE ^ ■ . were not voiced by the returns to Parliament. How was the voice of the people checked ? In part by the directly corrupting influences used by the Government party ; in part by the influ^ -ence of some of the large employers of labour ; in part by a sys- tem of local grants based mainly on party interests, and not on public considerations ; in part by the hardly disguised but dis- graceful practice of dealing with local claims according to the po- litical complexion of the election returns, making a local grant the price of sending a supporter to Ottawa. It was checked also by the belief of the people, assiduously cultivated by the Govern- ment's friends, that no matter how many Reformers they should send to Ottawa from the Maritime Provinces, the Conservative Government would, on the whole count all over Canada, be in the majority, and by the evil suggestion that it was of no use sending a man to go into Opposition. And so it has been that a majority has voted for and sustained the Government, whose policy the greater part of the people disliked. Had there been a fair vote, freely expressing the sentiments of the people, instead of our op- ponents having a large majority, I believe we would have had > THREE VOTES OUT OF FOUR in the Maritime Provinces. (Cheers.) To these circumstances was due the divergence between the sentiments of the people and their vote, the contradiction between the local and the Federal returns. I do not greatly admire this result. Yet I am proud to say there has always been a large and faithful body of men who have stuck to the can so in its darkest days, and thuir spirit w;ll be even higher to-day. The influences which have helped the Government will be less potent. There is a great and growing feeling among friends and foes that we shall win at the next elec- tion — (cheers) — and this laith in the improving fortunes of the Liberal party should animate our friends, depress our opponents, influence the neutrals, and largely weaken some of the influences which have kept us heretofore in a minority in the East. We have had our days of gloom and darkness, of difficulty and distress. It is but an hour ago since those who compose this meeting were but a wet and disorganized mob in the grove. Now we pre dry, compact, and warm. I know one of us at any rate who is pretty warm. (Laughter.) We are organized again, and we are engaged in discussing public affairs under somewhat disadvantageous cir- cumstances, but with (# ^l-w? l*?! 127 '•53r > ;f /;»; A ZEAL, AN INTEREST, AND ATTENTION which overcome those drawbacks, and which forebode the best results. Your tone and temper r<' fleet the general feeling. We have, indeed, before us an arduous, a tremendous conflict, but, bracing ourselves for that conflict, we stand to win. (Cheers.) It is certainly my opinion that Nova Scotia owes it to the union, and owes it to the Liberal party, which has been the staunch friend and steadfast advocate of that fiscal and financial policy which it approves, and the eai-nest opponent of those measures which it condemns, to itself endeavoui*, and to aflbrd to us an opportunity,' within the union, within the liniits of the constitution, to repair what may yet be reparable of the wrongs of the past, and to show that Confederation, worked upon a better basis, affords a better prospect of success. (Loud ittid prolonged cheering.) The situa- tion is doubtless extremely grave. Its gravity is due to the To- ries, but if we succeed, the consequences of their conduct will largely fall u;)en us. We must face those consequences, we must face the difficult task, determined to achieve, so far as the evil policy which has been followed makes it possible, the redress of what is wrong and the maintenance of v>>iat is right, and so to bring about a better state of things throught;ut Canada at large. (Cheers.) It would be a great calamity, a dreallul humiliation, to see the break-up of Confederation. To diminish, and if possi- ble avert, that danger, requires a change of policy at Ottawa. It requires A RECOGNITION OF THE DANGER. It requires a recognition of the true conditions of Federal success. And the men who through all these years have misigoverned us, who have been deaf to our warnings, who have been blind to the signs of the times, who have produced, and who now boast of the state of things which has given rise to this result — are these the men we can trust to-day ? (Cries of " No ! " " No ! " and cheers.) How sad a commentary it all is upon the boasts of the " party of union and progress." Rebellion in Manitoba in lcS70, rebellion in the North-West in 1885, discontent in Manitoba almost al- ways, discontent in Prince Edward Island and appeals to England; constant claims of the Provinces long denied, at length yielded ; fights for centralization by Ottawa, fights for the preservation of their rights by the Provinces, litigations with the Provinces, and humiliating defeats in every one — (cheers) — fights for boundaries, fights for lands, fights for mines, fights for timber, tights for escheats, fights for licenses, fights for railways, fights for the local right to make local laws ; etiforts to coerce trade, to restrict com- v<*'. itl. ■■.':f^-::x ^ "'■v'^*' 1*"^ At Guelph, after returning thanks for the addresses, Mr. Blake said: — I must urge upon you to close up your ranks for the coming contest. (Applause.) I would appeal to the Young Libeials of Wellington to show themselves equal to the occasion. All through the Province of Ontario my heart has been cheered and my spirits have been raised, in the meetings I have been attending in the ep.st and the west, and the north and the south, to find flocking round me so many of the young men of the country, exhibiting such fresh and active zeal in public affairs. 1 trust that your organization will be perfected, that new accessions may be made to the club from this night, and that you will prove yourselves an important factor, prove your zeal by your works, leave the impress of your convictions upon the constituency, and swell to much larger proportions than in the last election the majority of your standard-bearer, Mr. Innes. (Cheers.*) I say I am glad to be able to say these things to you to-night, because it is full time, in my opinion, that we should begin to act here and elsewhere. ; -y X THE TIME IS SHORT, IK DEED. , /•- When it was proposed in Parliament very greafly to enlarge the fianchisO; I stated the opinion that constitutional principles required that the extension should be followed by an early election. I have called for that election. Some seven or eight weeks ago, at Stayner, I pointed out this view again, and suggested that we should have that dissolution to which I believe the constitution entitled us. There is no other ground upon which what would otherwise be a premature dissolution could properly take place. The term of Parliament is but five years, and under ordinary circumstances it is not expedient that the country should be plunged more frequently than at these intervals into the turmoil of a general election. But it is expedient when the -, . '• . ■ ' PARLIAMENT has CONDEMNED ITSELF ^ vV^ as being the product of a constituency altogether too narrow, when it has enormously increased that constituency, that, being self -condemned, it should be also speedily executed, and a new , . . (4). i I ii' il 'i JL^. f %■■ ISO Parliament elected by the broader constituency which has been established as the true exponent of the views of the people. However, when I stated these opinions the Conservatives were dumb. You have not heard from any member of Parliament, even of the rank and file ; still less have you heard from any Conservative leader ; still less have you seen in any Conservative journal (not even in the Mail, with its new born " independence "), a word upon the constitutional propriety of dissolution. Why ? Because they have not settled upon the expediency of dissolution. They are considering simply, as they considered in 1882, whether a dissolution will be to their party profit or not. If it is to their profit to have a dissolution, or if a dissolution will expose them to less disadvantage now than they might dread in the near future, you will find them dissolve. Otherwise you will find them not dissolve. But ti5 'i THE CONSTITUTIONAL PREROGATIVE WITH WHICH THEY ARE IN- TRUSTED — THE POWER OF DISSOLUTION — IS NOT VESTED ^ ■ IN THEM TO BE USED ARBITRARILY !ir, I I Hi for party purposes. It is intended to be used according to the- principles of the Constitution for the public good. You recollect how they &bused, I will not say their power, but the duties with which they were clothed in the cases of the bye- elections. They informed Parliament that they proposed not to issue the writ for Haldimand, because it was expected that in a few months the electorate would be greatly enlarged, and it would be an insult to the new electorale to hold the election before the new voters could vote. In this view there was a general acquiescence of both sides of the House. I knew how the lists had been prepared in Haldimand. A large Indian vote had been added, and the Tories had otherwise strengthened themselves in the county under the new lists, and I suspected it was not a regard for the constitutional principle so much as the hope that they might carry the county that induced them to be so .scrupulous. But I thought there was justice and reason in the postponement of the election, and I did not object, though it was to my disadvantage to delay. After- •^ards it was thought expedient to test the feeling. . ^ - , ; -M'^^ IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC, and so within a few weeks of the time when the new voters would have the right to vote, Chambly was vacated voluntarily by the appointment of the sitting member to an office which had been long kept vacant for him. ImmediatJely the writ was issued for Chambly with the electorate unchanged, and this was done m "',■■'■ ■'S'^r i?ii ' < .: v1- ".:;■. 131 because the Government knew that the new electorate would have been unfavourable to them, and so Chambly was actually fought before Haldimand. It is quite true these plans failed. You know that " THE BEST LAID PLANS O* MICE AND MEN GANG AIT AGLEE," and so it was found in Chambly, and so it was found in Haldi- mand. But none the less was there a flagrant prostitution by the Tory party of those powers and duties with which they are entrusted in the general interest — a prostitution which not their leaders, not their organs, not their followers, have yet been found bold enough to defend. They submit in silence to the attack. So will it be in reference to the dissolution. I desire to say to you that I believe the Conservative leaders have been in great doubt what to do. Ihey have not known which way to turn. They have been watching the signs of the times. They have been looking at the special elections. They have been looking at the general Pro- vincial elections. They have been sendina up trial balloons. Ihey have been utteritig race cries. They have been uttering creed cries. They have been waving Orange flags. They have been lifting up green flags a little. They have been trying, in an independent sort of a way, and through the wholly unconnected agency of the Mail newspaper, to float the WHITE BANNER OF PROHIBITION ALSO, (laughter) — while, on the other side, you see Mr. Frank Smith and Mr. John Carling waving the blue Licensed Victuallers' flags as boldly as ever. All these efforts they have been making to see which way the wind was blowing, and sometimes they thought it would be well to hold on a bit, and sometimes that it would be bet- ,ter to face the music now. I believe they have about decided that they had better face the music now. I believe they have decided that the general election ought to take place very soon ; not that they think the times are very good for them, or very prosperous just now, but because they are afraid they may become even worse. They are afraid of time — afraid of discussion — afraid of Parlia- ment — afraid of the removal of those mists of passion and preju- dice which, I rejoice to say, with very partial success, they have been attempting to raise. They are hoping to spring the election upon you before you are ready, and to press it through before the great and numerous issues upon which your judgment ought to be formed, and on which your votes ought to be cast, shall have been thoroughly ventilated. I believe, as I have told you, from informa- tion which I have received within the last twenty-four hours, that they are making secret preparations, and that (4) ■A. •t* i.i ■^-,1 r' VV,;' I ^\\ ! ! ill': 'V >l {! 31- « <■ i . 132 „^ ^, THE ELECTION WILL BE SPHUNQ UPON US ,. , ' within a very short period. It matters not that the Firat Minister has more than once, in recent public assemblages, spoken of the appeal to the people to be taken next year — that one of his M.inisters Mr. White, has more than once referred to the appeal to the people to be taken after next session. I am afraid they won't be so scrupulous about changing their minds in this regard. I am afraid they won't be very sorry if you should be disposed, until they speak the new word, to take them at their word, as expressed in their meetings, and to rest upon your oars. It will not do. We must vigorously prepare from this night onward ; and while I re- joice at the view that we are to have a constitutional dissolution — while I am glad to believe that we are very early to meet the people — I claim, on behalf of my fellow-countrymen, that there should be a reasonable announcement of the intentions of Ministers to dissolve, and a reasonable interval between the dissolution and the day of the election, in ordei that these grave, these enormous, these vital questions to which I have referred may be fully, tem- perately, and calmly discussed and adequately decided by the people at the polls. While I make that claim, I have but little expectation that it will be granted ; and, therefore, I have to call upon you in this South Riding of Wellington, and through you and through the press I HAVE TO CALL UPON OUR FRIENDS IN EVERY COUNTY, to take heed, to be warned, to make preparations, without an instant's delay, to perfect their organization, to choose their candidates, to close up their ranks, and to prepare for the fight forthwith. Now is the time, Mr. Chairman, to save your country, for, if you do not save it now ,there is a risk that five years hence you may have no country to save. THE SITUATION OF OUR COUNTRY is such as calls for an earnest struggle. This is the time at which the people exercise in act their power of self-government . This is the time at which they are enabled to decide what shall be their policy, and who shall be their rulers for the long term of five years ; and there is much for which to struggle. Look at the situation of our country — weighed down with an enormous debt ; loaded with a grinding and unjust taxation ; groaning under an appalling ex- penditure ; staggering beneath a tremendous deficit ; saddled with railway monopolies, with lai;id monopolies, with manufacturing monopolies ; misrepresented through an infamous gerrymandered (4) iii-Sk-'.t': IS )ir fs; lof bh ,• .- , ... ..'. . ..;..,■ 133 - ,.,.., ....,, ,,,.■ .' Act, a vicious Franchise Act, and a corrupt disposal of the })ublic resources ; misgoverned by an effete and irresponsible Senate,acorr rupt and dependent Commons, and a false, incompetent, neglectful, and inadequate administration; all the bright promises and glow- ing predictions with which tliey gulled us broken and faded ; the pledged term often years' unexampled prosperity hardly opened before its evanescent glory faded into gloom, its expansion became contracted, its exaltation depression ; the promise that our policy and the pressure of our taritF would open the avenues of foreign trade and bring REIPROCITY WITHIN TWO YEAI^S, broken too, and now coolly proposed to be replaced by a fresh due bill payable at ten years instead of two — anything to get them over the next general election ; the great fishery question neglected and postponed at first, and bungled at the last ; the North-Wedt not filled with hundreds of thousands of industrious, thriving, con- tented settlers, as promised and declared, but still almost empty ^ progress stayed there by misgovernment, land monopolies, railway monopolies, by sales to speculators, by the closing of large areas to settlement, by want of railway accommodation, by want of sur- veys, by want of titles, by bad appointments, and by other causes graver still ; the most cherished infants and the chief glories of the National Policy spindling, nervous, and depressed ; wool and cot- ton, sugar and iron, aye, even coal and wheat, all down lately, and some seeking by combination to compel the public to make up their wasted capital; the promises of the construction of the Cana- dian Pacific Railway without increased taxation, and of the repay- ment of its cost and interest out of the North- West lands as the work progressed, all violated ; great public gifts, equal to $98^- 000.000, capitalized, with 14,000,000 acres of land, dissipated, while large further obligations have been sanctioned, and enormous nominal caf)itals have been created, pressing heavily on the trade of the country in tolls and tarififs ; the federal pact in constant peril through efforts at centralization and encroachment ; legiti- mate provincial jurisdictions repudiated; license laws passed at Ottawa ; provincial railways seized at Ottawa; escheats claimed at Ottawa ; a provincial law on a matter within our exclusive competence, and in no wise affecting the general interests of the Dominion, wantonly, llEPEATEDLY AND ERRONEOUSLY DISALLOWED at Ottawa ; efibrts made for long years at Ottawa wrongfully t» contract the limits of Ontario ; the boundary question still left V: ■r: I ■'■■ "lU' ■ ''i'yil ii. i 134 unsettled, and justice denied ; the lands seized on and despoiled, and still threatened to-day ; the provinces alarmed, and fighting the Dominion in the courts and at the polls for their existence. The fact that NOVA SCOTIA was brought into the Confederation by the vote of a Legislature not elected on the question has not been forgotten ; it has marred the future of the Dominion in that Province, and it is bearing bitter fruit to-day. The chances which have since offered to heal the wrong and create a better feeling have not been utilized. The promises made of light taxes, frugal expenditure, general prosperity, and freer trade relations with our neighbours have all failed. The East is depressed and soured, and a declaration in favour of repeal of the union has been made by Nova Scotia ; while in the West, twice within fifteen years, revolt has raiaed its head, and millions have been lavished in war ; valued lives have been lost ; pain and sufiering have been inflicted ; antipathies have been created ; our national honour has been tarnished ; our ii : NATIONAL PROGRESS HAS BEEN CHECKED J all by the grossest, the most incredible folly, neglect, incapacity, and mismanagement of our rulers. (Loud and prolonged applause.) And now how is it proposed to escape the indignation and avoid the condemnation of an outraged people ? First, by a steady and persistent efort — / am sorry to say but too successful — to degrade the tone of public morality in and out of Parliament ; and, lat- terly, by tendering the issue of the scaffold of Regina, by offering the head of Riel in satisfaction and discharge of all other debts ; and by an effort to divide Canadians, to set a gulf between our popu lations through cries of rase and religious prejudice, and so to obtain a brief term of inglorious power at the cost of the last hope of Canadicm nationality. (Loud cheers.) Such is the situation of Canada to-day, IN A SITUATION^PRESENTING DIFFICULTIES APPALLING to the view of those who may be called upon to succeed your present rulers, but affording a prospect more alarming still, should power be again entrusted to their unworthy hands. ^Loud cheers.) Did I not say well, then, when I warned you a moment ago, that now was the time to labour, when I told you that if j'ou do not labour now to save your country, in five years you may have (4) .>•- .t-.:-v ■-■ ir lid it bt -A *»'.'■ ■< i' 135 NO COUNTRY TO SAVE ? ^r I have referred to the Province of Nova Scotia, and a word or two more I winh to say about that Province, although at Simcoe a while ago I spoke my mind, and must refer you to what I then said for the story at length. / am, by conviction and feeling, a Federalist. (Loud cheers.) I think Confederation in Canada fairly begun and fairly carried out had in it the elements of suc- cess. (Renewed cheering.) I deplore the small measure of real success which has been attained under the rule of the so-called " party of union and progress." I have warned them often, but in vain. I have warned them often of the fatal mistake they were making. They have refused to listen, they have been blind to the true principles of the Federal pact. They have broken the pledges made at the union. They have not yet created true and real bonds of union. But, as I showed at Simcoe, Nova Scotia, in my judgment, is not herself free from blame. She has sustained, by a large majority of her representatives, the bulk of that of which she now bitterly complains. T have constantly pointed out the misgovernment that was going on, and the mistakes that were being made, and have implored a change. I am bound to admit — my own record precludes me from denying — that the Nova Scotians have, in common with other sections, cause of complaint, but I contend now, as heretofore, that HER CAUSE FOR COMPLAINT is not merely against the present Government, but is largely against her own people, who return members to support, and against those members who, through mud and mire, have sustained that Government in the accomplishment of the things she now bewails. I am constrained to add that much — alas, too much — of the evil of what she complains is irreparable ; and I declare that in my opinion Nova Scotia should in fair play give the Con- federation a fair trial under Liberal rule, and should assist in that earnest effort which must be made to undo what may be yet un- done of the evils which she has helped to inflict on herself and us. Mr. Fielding, the Prime Minister of that Province, has frankly stated that he had no more to hope from me than from Sir John Macdonald in the direction of repeal, but, he added, that in the way of redress, so far as that was possible under the Constitution, in the way of good government at Ottawa, Nova Scotia had much more to hope for from me than from those who had perpetrated the acts of the folly and injustice of which she complains ; he is right. (Loud cheers.) We must make an earnest effort to re- t4) i i» W^v' I 4 su Sirr '•»< \ i h 1 if". V j t "■■ ■ ,i. \l ml If 136 dress these evils under and within the limits of the Cr ladian Constitution. (Loud applause.) We must strive to remove all well-founded grievances, to cultivate true friendship, to create NOT FORCED BUT GENUINE RELATIONS, and so to provide for the maintenance — not by force, but by love ; not by arms, but through reason ; not by coercion, but of choice ; not of necessity, but from conviction — to provide, I say, for the maintenance and preservation of that union to which I have de- voted twenty years, and for whose welfare I would willingly sur- render what brief space of life may yet remain to me. (Tumul- tuous applause.) Difficult though the task may be, I do not despair of its accomplishment. 1 cannot regard without dismay the prospect of the disruption of Confederation ; nor am I can- didly able to perceive how Nova Scotia, seceding under the obligations she has helped to contract, and standing alone, could now better her position to the degree by which she could im- prove it by honest government at Ottawa. I may be wrong ; I am willing to learn; but such is the view I take. At any rate, the effort must be made. I hope much from an honest effort to do justice. Should that effort unhappily fail, then, and not till then — though I trust that day may never come — it will be time to put Joseph Howe's famous question — " What next ? " (Loud and prolonged applause.) ,.% vi,..;«>i •' rv. ■ ..■'i/,'^ ■.'■*- ■ ^^■^ ' h ""^ i f. ■'"•' » "^ ■■*■*'' (4) '•^ ^M'. :'-\y' -:%• H; J'i t- X- ■^:r J.' ;-,.w A uii It. -.1^ ■■i»<^- -i?' ■T-^ :^.;,i^' i^-'./' m ■Qf »,-;;',!:.!. ..fiVr' -,;. :t5- :'s.v, lt';'"T;.''.''''.\) ' T