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 Bo©6Et emeoH ?) ^ 
 
 LEGISLATI¥i ASSEMBLY OP QUEBEC 
 
 OK THE 21st FEBRDART, 1890 
 
 ■ !*. 
 
 BY 
 
 HON. f 08EPH SHEHYN 
 
 1 TRE ASUREiil OF t H E PROVINCE 
 
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 © PjE JSIO JEI 
 
 DELtVEE&l^ -IK THE '^ '^H|MH^B 
 
 Legj8i«ltve'pllUy df |ihAib0, oo tlie 2ist Wmn, 1890 
 
 \; 
 
 BY 
 
 
 MR. 
 
 ^fembtn' for Morvtmorencff, 
 
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 mm 
 
 
 BUDGET SPEECH 
 
 DELIVERED BY 
 
 HONORABLE JOSEPH SHEHYN, 
 
 TREASURER OF THE PROVINCE. 
 
 IN THE 
 
 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OP QUEBEC, 
 
 ON THE 21st FEBRUARY, 1890. 
 
 
 Mr. Speaker. — Before proposing the usual motion that the House do resolve 
 itself into Committee of Supply, it is my duty to submit as full and clear a 
 statement as possible on the financial situation of this province. 
 
 It is always an arduous and a laborious task to prepare a budget speech, 
 and, unless very familiar with figures, few have anything like an proper con- 
 ception of the amount of work involved in the making of a careful and precise 
 financial statement. 
 
 Although he may be extremely anxious to avoid being unnecessarily tedious, 
 the author of a work of this kind, in order to make himself intelligible to all, is 
 often obliged to enter into a multitude of details which to some may seem 
 superfluous, but which are not the less essential to tlie clearness of the subject 
 he has in hand. 
 
 I quite understand that a speech of this nature presents few attractions to 
 its hearers ; but honorable members will kindly remember that the task, ho\yever 
 distasteful it may be both to tlie speaker and his audience, is a duty imposed on 
 the Treasurer by his position and also that the House and the country require 
 from those entrusted with the administration of public affairs a faithful account 
 of their stewardship. 
 
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Having now this duty to perform, I trust that members will extend to me 
 the indulgence which has never been wanting on their part in the past. 
 
 To render my statement more intelligible, I shall at once indicate the order 
 I intend to follow : 
 
 1. Kemarks on the fiscal year 1888-89 ; 
 
 2. Assets and liabilities ; 
 
 3. Fiscal year 1889-90 ; 
 
 4. Comparative statements ; 
 !), Conversion ; 
 
 (5. Receipts and appropriations for the fiscal year 1890-91 ; 
 7. General remarks on the situation. 
 I shall now endeavor to give the House all the information possible on each 
 
 of these heads. 
 
 The operations, detailed in the public accounts, may bo summed up as 
 follows : 
 
 Receipts of the Fiscal Year 1888-89, 
 
 Dominion of Canada S1,260,412 80 
 
 Crown lands 1,075,045 42 
 
 Administration of justice 214,626 63 
 
 Tevcentage on the fees of public oflicers 7,894 64 
 
 Licenses 430,410 85 
 
 Legislation 1,472 63 ^^ 
 
 Lunatic asylum — contributions from municipal- 
 ities and patients 28,276 27 
 
 Ojfidal Gazette 17,267 06 .> ' 
 
 Public buildings 855 53 
 
 Casual revenue 1,943 61 
 
 Contributions to civil service pension fund 7,160 10 
 
 Contributions to expenses of inspection of insu- 
 rance companies 550 00 
 
 Industrial schools , 45 60 
 
 Taxes on commercial corporations 144,550 84 
 
 Interest on deposits in banksand on loans 51,362 15 
 
 Premium, discount and exchange 371 25 
 
 Interest on the price of sale of the Q. M. 0. & 
 
 0. railway 369,942 16 
 
 Ilailway inspections 253 00 
 
 Refunds 16,644 60 
 
 Total ordinary receipts $3,628,184 20 
 
""^T" 
 
 i to me 
 e order 
 
 3n oach 
 up an 
 
 3 
 
 L84 20 
 
 V XT 
 
 
 — — '■■ - . - .. » 
 
 Truat/und — teachers' pension fund $16,886 08 
 
 Security deposits by public officers 2,000 00 
 
 Security deposits for construction of iron bridges.. 205 25 
 
 City of Hull sinking fund 1,557 09 
 
 Marriage license fund 7,164 00 
 
 " La Canadienne " Insurance Co. deposit 20,000 00 
 
 Temiscouata railway — guarantee deposit 644,573 45 
 
 Montreal and Lake Maskinong^ railway — gua- 
 rantee deposit 32,703 00 
 
 Quebec and Lake St. John railway — guarantee 
 
 deposit 1,552,394 00 
 
 f 2,277,482 87 
 
 Municipal loan fund 86,538 60 
 
 Quebec fire loan 360 00 
 
 Eepayments of advances 6,000 00 
 
 Total receipts from all sources 35,997,565 67 
 
 Payvients of the Fiscal Ymv 18S7-S8. 
 
 Public debt $1,134,789 51 
 
 Legislation 231,812 90 
 
 Civil governement 236,987 39 
 
 Administration of justice, including police 467,605 39 
 
 Eeformatories and industrial schools 83,220 39 
 
 Inspection of public offices 8,294 68 
 
 Public instruction 306,285 00 
 
 Literary and scientific institutions 8,550 00 
 
 Arts and manufactures 15,000 00 
 
 Agriculture 94,061 93 
 
 Immigration 5,975 75 
 
 Repatriation 1,771 25 
 
 Colonization roads and societies 124,000 00 
 
 Public works and buildings 116,164 23 
 
 Lunatic asylums 230,000 00 
 
 Charities 41,956 00 
 
 Miscellaneous 19,977 00 
 
 Agent in France 2,600 00 
 
 Crown Lands Department 201,200 00 
 
 Municipalities' fund 2,004 00 
 
 ^iP 
 
1 
 
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 Ojffidal Gazette 13.623 45 
 
 Deductions on revenue, stamps, etc 8,569 29 
 
 Pensions paid 15,589 09 
 
 Traffic expenses— Q. M. 0. & 0. Eailway 8,500 00 
 
 Building and jury fund— amounts paid by sheriffs out of 
 
 collections 10,311 47 
 
 Licenses— amount? paid by revenue officers out of collection 38,323 64 
 
 Criminal Law, by Hon. Judge H. E. Taschereau 1,000 00 
 
 Indemnity to family of late Mr. St. Hilaire 600 00 
 
 Copying and repairing of registers and documents, etc 10,000 00 
 
 Sherbrooke Hospital and Orphan Asylum 1,000 00 
 
 Eailway inspections and contingencies 1,500 00 
 
 Commission on Lunatic Asylums 6,000 00 
 
 Agricultural Commission 5,000 00 
 
 Local municipality of St. Leon, county of Maskinonge 800 00 
 
 Agrarian Inspectors' Manual 1,200 00 
 
 Relief to the inhabitants of the counties of Soulanges, Vaudreuil, etc. 6,000 00 
 
 Eelief to Sherbrooke exhibitors 3,000 00 
 
 Metap^diac bridge 5,600 00 
 
 Repairs to the church of Tadousac... 200 00 
 
 Manuel des Inspecteurs Agraires 1,200 00 
 
 Hospital of St-Jean d'Iberville 500 00 
 
 Hospital of Fraserville 500 00 
 
 Indemnity of members of the Legislative Assembly for the 
 
 codification of the laws 3.420 00 
 
 Distribution to municipalities of copies of the municipal code 1,250 00 
 
 Teachers' pension fund, annual grant 1,000 00 
 
 Speakers' portraits 1,250 00 
 
 Grant to the deaf and dumb institution. Mile End, Montreal 3,000 00 
 
 Bridge at Barachois, Gasp6 610 00 
 
 Relief to the victims of the St. Sauveur fire 1,918 17 
 
 Total ordinary expenses $3,543,618 64 
 
 Trust funda : — Marriage licenses, distributed by 
 
 Protestant Council of Public Instruction S 7,410 00 
 
 Security by public officers 4,481 17 
 
 Iron bridges in municipalities 3,856 00 
 
 Teachers' pension fund 5,629 46 
 
 Aylmer court house fund , 1,619 W 
 
 Loan to " Protestant Lunatic Asylum, " Montreal. 15,000 00 
 
 vj/-' 
 
mffF 
 
 Ix)an to Dr Gauvreau .* 2,500 00 
 
 Temiscouata liailway Company, <,'uarantee deposit, 
 
 repayment 53,587 G3 
 
 Montreal and Lake Maskinor.gu Railway Company, 
 
 guarantee deposit, repayment 4,327 60 
 
 8 98,421 46 
 
 New Parliament Buildings, Quebec, construction... 8125,729 53 
 
 New court house, Quebec, construction 42,733 59 
 
 Arthabaska court house and gaol, new foundations.. 1,400 00 
 
 Montreal court house, enlargement 60,000 00 , ■ 
 
 Courts houses and gaols, new districts, lieating 
 
 apparatus G,000 00 
 
 Circuit court and registration office, Kamouraska.. 4,000 00 
 Protestant Lunatic Asylum, Montreal, to be re- 
 imbursed out of proceeds of Leduc farm 7,821 29 
 
 Codification of the laws 20,324 40 
 
 E.Kplorations in Dorchester and other counties 10,000 00 
 
 Compensation and expenses arising from errors in 
 
 land surveys in the county of Eouville 10,500 00 
 
 Spencer Wood, stables, sheds, &c 4,000 00 
 
 Court house and gaol, Bonaventure, wing for the 
 
 gaoler and guardian 4,000 00 
 
 Iron bridges in municipalities 50,000 00 
 
 Committee for the distribution of seed grain 50,000 00 
 
 Arbitration between Quebec and Ontario 1,673 72 
 
 Lockwood claim, re gold mines 10,000 00 
 
 Quebec railway bridge 1,277 16 
 
 405,459 69 
 
 Subsidies to railway companies , 1,049,847 00 
 
 Construction of Q. M. 0. & 0. E 26,800 00 
 
 1,076,647 00 
 
 Total payments of all kinds 85,824,136 79 
 
 Statement of the Cash. 
 
 To cash on hand on 30th June, 1888 ■ 81,723,850 07 
 
 I 
 
Add trust funds 2,277,482 97 
 
 «• warrauts outstanding on 30th June, 1889 73,259 66 
 
 84,074.592 60 
 Less excess of payments over receipts for 1889.... 81,30R/'13 53 
 
 Less trust funds 98,411 46 
 
 " warrants issued in 1888, but paid in 1889... 460,518 81 
 
 1.864,572 81 
 
 To cash on hand on 30th June, 1889 82,210,019 79 
 
 I. ■ 
 
 Kemarks on tho Fiscal Yiov 1888-89. 
 
 Total Recei-pts and Payments, 
 
 As indicated by tho public accounts, the total receipts and payments of this 
 fiscal year were : 
 Total receipts, including trust funds, guarantee deposits and 
 
 repayments 85,997,565 67 
 
 Total payments 5,124,136 79 
 
 Surplus of receipts over payments 8 873,428 88 
 
 Add to this surplus tho cash on hand on 30 June 1888 1,723,850 07 
 
 82,597,278 95 
 
 Deduct the warrants of 1888 paid in 1889 8 460,518 82 
 
 Less warrauts of 1889 outstsmding on the 30th 
 
 June last 73,259 66 
 
 ■ 388,259 16 
 
 And there remains a balance of 82,210,019 70 
 
 which will be found to correspond with the cash on hand on 30th June, 1889, as 
 shown in the public accounts. 
 
 Naturally, this only indicates the total operations, but does not show the 
 situation exactly. To ascertain the difference between the receipts and the total 
 ordinary and extraordinary expenditure, certain sums must be struck out, as I 
 have just shown. The total payments were 85,124,136 79 
 
 But from these must be deducted ; 
 
 ^.tr • 
 
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 Trust funds $ 98,411 46 
 
 Reducing the total payments to $5,025,725 33 
 
 On the other hand, the total receipts were 85,997,565 67 
 
 Less trust funds and guarantee deposit 2,277,482 87 
 
 S3,720,182 80 
 
 Giving for special or extraordinary expenses a sura of 81,305,642 53 
 
 Extraordinary Expenditure. 
 
 The total amount paid out for extraordinary expenditure, as per public 
 accounts, was divided as follows : 
 
 Miscellaneous (page 13 — public accounts) 8 405,459 69 
 
 Railway subsidies 1,076,647 00 
 
 81,482,106 69 
 
 Deduct the following sums : 
 
 Surplus of ordinary receipts over ordinary expenses ^ 84,563 56 
 iSpocial receipts 91,898 60 
 
 176,464 16 
 
 Real amount of extraordinary expenditure 81,305,642 53 
 
 Ordinary Revenue and Expenditure. 
 
 The operations of the year were as follows : ' ' 
 
 Ordinary receipts proper 83,628,184 20 
 
 Ordinary expenses " 3,543,618 64 
 
 Leaving over ordinary expenses a surplus of 8 84,565 56 
 
 The above figures, I trust, will be found sufficiently clear as regards tho 
 amount chargeable to capital and should also, I am satisfied, prevent any 
 confusion on the subject in every impartial mind, even when not familiar 
 with such matters. 
 
 These statements, together with the public accounts, are of a nature to supply 
 the fullest information in regard ^o the operations of this fiscal year and should 
 satisfy all requirements. 
 
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8 - 
 
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 The House and the country will therefore be happy to learn that the ordinary 
 operations of the last fiscal year showed a surplus of $84,565.56 notwithstanding 
 the predictions of our adversaries, who, by means of skifully manipulated calcu- 
 lations and figures, have sought to make out that the operations of the year 
 have culminated in a large deficit. 
 
 By striking oft', on some more or less plausible pretext, certain receipts from 
 one side and adding to the other certain special expenses, it is always easy to figure 
 out any result that may be desired. The operation is exceedingly simple, but 
 carries no weight in the eyes of those versed in such matters. Moreover, I shall 
 have occasion, under another head, to show the futility of those who undertake to 
 criticize the financial operations of the present administration. 
 
 In my financial statement of 1888, I estimated the probable 
 
 ordinary receipts at $3,345,672 80 
 
 The amount really collected was 3,627,932 20 
 
 or $ 282,259 40 
 
 more than my estimates. 
 
 I also estimated the receipts from all sources at 83,403,672.80. They have 
 reached the figure of $3,720,082.80 or $316,410.00 in excess of of my estimate. 
 
 In 1886, the year so much extolled by our friends of the Opposition, the 
 ordinary receipts only amounted to $2,949,562.15, while those of the year 1889 
 have come up to $3,627,932.20, which shows au increase of $678,082.05 over the 
 year 1886. 
 
 From 1883 to 1887, the most prosperous period of our predecessors, the 
 average of the annual ordinary receipts amounted to .$2,844,109. A comparison 
 of this annual average with the result of the last fiscal year shows an excess of 
 $743,823.20 in favor of the latter over tlie former. Thid result is certainly of a 
 nature to satisfy the House and serves to prove that we have used every diligence 
 in the collection of the revenue from all sources. 
 
 Of course, to secure an excess of receipts over my estimates, some items must 
 have produced more than we anticipated. This increase occurred chiefly in the 
 revenue from Crown lands and licenses ; but, on the other hand, there are 
 decreases — ot slight importance, it is true — under certain heads, which have not 
 came up to my expectations. Thus, for instance, the tax on commercial 
 corporations, which had been counted upon to yield $175,000, including arrears 
 only gave $144,550, and the same may be said of the interest on the coUectiong 
 made by the Ontario Government on account of tlio common school fund, which 
 returned nothing, though set down at $30,000. 
 
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The annual average of the ordinary expenditure from 1883 to 1887, inclusively, 
 was $3,095,939. During the last fiscal year, it reached the figure of 83,543,618,64, 
 which indicates an increase of $447,679 But from this must be deducted the 
 increase in the interest service consequent on the loan which we had to negotiate 
 to pay oft" our predecessors' liabilities, that is to say, that the service in question 
 has increased, to the- extent of an annual sum of S157,038, over which we can 
 exercise no control whatever. 
 
 After deducting this sum of interest, the additional expenditure for which we 
 are responsible, compared with the average of that of our predecessors, anujunts to 
 $290,641. But, against this increase, we have an excess in receipts of $743,823 
 over the average of the ordinary receipts of our predecessors. 
 
 Moreover, our friends on the other side misrepresent the situation when they 
 take as a basis of comparison the year 1886 which is the most favorable for 
 them and the expenses of which, as I have already repeatedl}' stated, were cut 
 down for a purely political object, for it must not be forgotten that it was the 
 year which preceded the general elections. To be convinced of this, it is only 
 necessary to glance at the fiscal year 1887 for which they are also responsible. 
 On the 31st January of that year, they had already overrun their appropriations 
 by a sum of $40,000 in round figures ; and, according to the calculations of the 
 department ofticers, it was absolutely necessary to ask the House for further 
 appropriations to'*the extent of $172,000, in round figures, to cover the insufficiency 
 of the amounts required to meet the ordinary expenses from the 31st January to 
 the 30th June, 1887. These two amounts together form a sum of $212,000 
 which, added to the expenditure of 1886, brings up the ordinarj'^ expenditure 
 to $3,244,607.25. But this is not all ; to this last sum must also be added the 
 increase in the interest service owing to their obligations and amounting, in round 
 figures, to $150,000 which would swell the expenditure to over $3,394,000. 
 
 Consequently, had they remained in power, thero is no probablity — I 
 contend — that they would have been able to manage the afiairs of the province 
 on a more economical footing than we have done, and the proof of my 
 assertion is found in the fact that in 1887 Uie figure of the expenditure 
 rose to $3,286,232.00 or to $3,416,232, if you include $130,000 which is the 
 increase in the interest service between 1887 and 1889. 
 
 Moreover, it is iiniiossible to increase the figure of the receipts to the extent 
 of over $700,000 without a proportionate increase of the expenses. 
 
 For the last fiscal year, the special expenditure amount to the sura of 
 $404,459.09 but against this sum must be placed the following amounts : — special 
 receipts, $91,898.60 and surplus of receipts over ordinary expenses, $84,565.56. 
 
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 These two together form a, total of ^170,464.16, which have served to cover an 
 equal amount of the special expenditure, and for which the Opposition make 
 no allowance in the erroneous statements they are laying before the House and 
 country in the form of non-confidence motions. 
 
 On this amount of $405,459.69, our friends on the other side admit that the 
 sum of $168,463.12 rightly belongs to capital account. Deducting these 
 $168,463.12 from the $405,459.69 there lomains, according to their own 
 calculation, a sum of $236,996.57, which, they contend, is chargeable to ordinary 
 expenditure and should figure as such. But, in their non-confidence motions, they 
 only speak of the increase of this expenditure without allowing for the special receipts 
 amounting to $176,464.16 which we have taken in and the deduction of which 
 from the $236,996,57 would therefore leave uncovered only a balance of $60,000. 
 
 - Let us now see whether there is any foundation for their contention with 
 regard to the special expenses which they add to the ordinary expenses, 
 
 Thcrte special expenses are made up of the following items : 
 
 Special expenses : — Exploration in the counties of Dorchester, &c.. $ 10,000 00 
 Coinpousation and expenses arising from errors in land surveys, 
 
 county of llouville 10,500 00 
 
 New I'arliament Buildings, Quebec, construction 125,729 53 
 
 do Court House, do do 42.733 59 
 
 Spencer Wood, stables, sheds &c 4,000 00 
 
 Circuit court and registration office, Kamouraska 4,000 00 
 
 Court house and gaols, new districts, healing apparatus 6,000 00 
 
 Court house and gaol, Bonaventure ; wing for the gaoler ami 
 
 guardian 4,000 00 
 
 Court house and gaol, Arthabaska ; new foundations 1,400 00 
 
 " Montreal, enlargement 50,000 00 
 
 Iron bridges in municipalities 50,000 00 
 
 Codification of the laws 26,324 40 
 
 I'rot^.jtant Lunatic Asylum, Montreal 7,821 29 
 
 Committee for the distributicm of seed grain 50,000 00 
 
 Arl)itration between Quebec and Ontario 1,673 72 
 
 Lockwood claim, i'c gold mines 10,000 00 
 
 Quebec railway bridge 1,277 10 
 
 $ 405,459 69 
 
 Out of this sum, they concede as chargeable to capital account the following 
 expenses : 
 
 H^ AL'.at, - 
 
 msMMtUi 
 

 59 
 
 New Parliament Buildings, construction. 
 New Court House, Quebec 
 
 % 125,729 53 
 
 42,733 59 
 
 $ 168,463 12 
 
 There remains therefore a sum of $236,996.57, which they pretend to 
 ba ordinary expenses. But, if from this sum you deduct the $176,464.16 of 
 special receipts, there will only be left uncovered a sum of $60,521.41, because 
 the two amounts which they admit as chargeable to capital are covered by the 
 loan. 
 
 An examination of each item under the head of special expenses will at once 
 convince the House and the country that the pretensions of our adversaries are 
 not warranted by the facts. 
 
 The expense of $10,000 for the exploration in Dorchester and other counties 
 cannot be regarded as a current expense, because it is incurred in the general 
 interest of the country and is moreover only temporary. There is another sum 
 of $10,500 given as compensation and expenses in connection with an error com- 
 mitted in the land surveys at Rouville and which represents an old claim against 
 our adversaries that we have been obliged to settle. It is therefore an arrear to 
 be paid out of the funds which we collect from this source. 
 
 Outlay of $4,000 at Spencer Wood for the construction of a stable, shed, etc. ; 
 
 This is something more than a mere ordinary expense, as it has had the 
 effect of increasing the value of the property. 
 
 Outlay at Kamouraska for the construction of a new court house ; 
 
 A new building cannot be regarded as an ordinary expenditure, because we 
 have in it a property representing the capital invested. 
 
 The $6,000 incurred for heating apparatus in the new districts should be 
 legitimately admitted as chargeable to capital, because it cannot be classed 
 among the ordinary expenses of maintenance, seeing that it imparts additional 
 value to the Government foperties into which these apparatus have been 
 introduced. 
 
 $4,000 for a wing added to the Bonaventure court house and gaol ; 
 
 No one can maintain that an addition of this nature should be classified 
 as an expense for ordinary repairs. It is sf if-evident that the addition of a 
 wing to a building enhances its value ; there can be no doubt on th^'s head, and it 
 is sufficient to simply mention the thing to show the absurdity of tuose, who, for 
 political ends, resort to such means in order to make out deficits where none really 
 exist. 
 
 
 gmngyi^^^ 
 
 
12 
 
 $50,000 for the enlargement of the Montreal court house. $200,000 had 
 been voted for this purpose. It had even been decided to build a new court 
 house, as the present building was no longer adequate to the requirements of the 
 district, in view of the enormous increase of business. But, instead of erecting a 
 new building, which would have entailed a heavy outlay, the Government came 
 to an understanding with the Bar to utilize the present building with the aid of 
 certain changes and improvements, which would serve the same purpose as a new 
 building. It was to this end that this sum of $50,000 was expended. The Gov- 
 ernment has therefore, by its policy, realized a considerable saving. Consequently 
 it is absurd to pretend that this expense is only an ordinary expense and should 
 be classified as such. Yet this is exactly what our adversaries do in the statements 
 which they have prepared and laid before the House and the country with their 
 non-confidence motions. 
 
 $50,000 for iron bridges in the municipalities ; here is another item which 
 our adversaries class among the ordinary expenses. It is enough to mention the 
 fact to illustrate the lengths to which they push their exaggerations. It seems 
 supremely ridiculous to look from such a standpoint at a policy so advantageous to 
 the country and which will only have a limited duration. Next to railways, I regard 
 the construction of iron bridges in the municipalities as one of the most really 
 usoful works ever undertaken by the province. 
 
 The sum of $26,324.40, appropriated for the codification of the laws, is also 
 set down by them as an ordinal y expense. Yet, this is well and truly a special 
 expense, since once the work has been finished, there is an end of it, 
 
 $50,000 for seed grain in order to come to the relief of the farmers whose 
 crops were destroyed by rain and hail storms ; 
 
 This expenditure was altogether exceptional and unforeseen. Still, to 
 cxnggerato the situation, our adversaries rank it also as an ordinary expense. 
 
 This sum had had been UTianimously voted by the House as ati exceptional and 
 unforeseen expense, and, now that it has been spent, our adversaries turn round 
 and insist that it should be charged to ordinary expenses. They are so anxious 
 to find us in fault that they manufacture deficits by the transfer of sums, simply 
 from one column to the other ; in the same way, the class the sum of $7,821.29 
 given to the Protestant Lunatic Asylum of Montreal, and to be reimbursed out of 
 the proceeds of the sale of the Leduc farm. Has anyone ever heard before that a 
 sum repayable is a current expense ? 
 
 Such is the system pursued by these gentlemen ; it is liy means of such 
 calculations that tUey manage to swell the amount of the expenditure, and it is by 
 setting aside certain receipts, for which no allowance is made in their statements, 
 ^hat they succeed in making up deficits, where in reality there exist surpluses* 
 
 be 
 H 
 
 X. V 
 
 ilMa 
 
 ■Mia. . J'- - iU - 
 
 iHHIiir 
 
13 
 
 I have deemed it my duty to dwell at some length on these special expenses, 
 because it is by means of these items that our adversaries are seeking to mislead the 
 House and country as to the true situation, and to impose upon those, who, through 
 pai'ty-spirit or otherwise, have no fixed ideas on such subjects. The House will 
 please also remember that these special expenses were voted as such and that it 
 is very unfair on the part of those who now criticize us on these items, to blame 
 us for an expenditure to which they consented. 
 
 Under another head, I shall show how erroneous are their calculations with 
 regard to these expenses, which they are using to confuse the public mind, and I 
 will further prove that the special receipts which we collected, as well as the 
 surpluses, have been more than sufficient to meet all these special expenses, which 
 they now take advantage of to mystify the House with respect to the true 
 situation. 
 
 I cannot close my remarks on the last fiscal year without repeating what I 
 stated on the subject in my last budget speech. It was as follows : — 
 
 " I cannot, however, dismiss the (question generally of the expenditure without 
 reminding the House that it is becoming yearly more and more difficult to keep 
 down the current expenses, owing as well to the increase in the service for interest 
 as to the fact many items of the public service have to keep pace from year to 
 year with the increase of the population. New demands are springing up all the 
 time, and it is moreover almost impossible to check the general tendency of the 
 country to call upon the Government of the province for a large measure, of aid to 
 every enterprise, whatever may be its nature or utility. 
 
 " I must candidly admit that my experience, since I have been at the head of 
 the Treasury Department, is that the universal feeling seems to be that the Govern- 
 ment is bound to take the initiative in every undertaking, which either nearly or 
 remotely wears the impress of a measure of public necessity, and that it is obliga- 
 tory on our part to give it not only moral assistance, but in addition the amount 
 of monej' required to carry it out, forgetting that the means at our disposal are only 
 of a limited kind and out of all proportion to the constant demands made on the 
 guardians of the public chest. Whilst, on the one hand, everyone seems to be 
 anxious for public expenditure, on the other hand, no one seems to be inclined to 
 contribute in any shape to the ways and means required to carry out the policy all 
 so eagerly encourage. On the contrary, as a general rule, every possible influence 
 is used, not only to escape doing so, but to avoid paying even the most legitimate 
 claims of the Government. In fact, as already stated, the general tendency is un- 
 fort anately to look up to the Government for aid and assistance in every kind of 
 undertaking, but to bitterly oppose any and every attempt that is made to increase 
 the public revenue. " 
 
 That was what I said last year and I have seen no reason since to change my 
 opinion. The country is in favor of a policy, the object of which is to promote the 
 
 
 ,„/;«-- *? 
 
14 
 
 extention of railways and other public enterprises in the province, and we have the 
 proof of this in the numerous and inflential deputations which are daily soliciting 
 new grants from the Government. 
 
 But it is well to remember that it is impossible, with our ordinary 
 annual revenue, to meet the obligations on capital account, which such a policy 
 entails, and the same may be said with the regard to all the other great undertakings 
 necessitated by the wants of the country. 
 
 The country and the House are unanimous in admitting that a vigorous 
 poUcy is needed as regards everything that may hasten the development of our 
 resources, but, in making this admission, it should not be forgotten that great 
 things cannot be achieved without some sacrifices on the part of those who benefit 
 by that policy of progress and development. We desire, as far as lies in our 
 power, to meet the unanimous wisli of the country, but we should not after- 
 wards be blamed for outlays which the House had unanimously engouraged and 
 sanctioned. We have an example of this in the conduct of the Opposition, who 
 have, in the form of a non-confidence motion, attempted to blame a policy which 
 they had themselves inaugurated when in power and which their freinds 
 encouraged by their votes. 
 
 It is not by exaggeration and erroneous culculations that they will succeed 
 in imposing upon the public ; rather let them come out boldly and squarely, 
 and proclaim to the House that they are opposed to the policy of railways, of iron 
 bridges, of expenditure for agriculture and colonization, and we shall then know 
 what are the vcws and wishes of the people. 
 
 I now think I have given all the explanations that could be desired with 
 regard to the last fiscal year, and I trust that the House will be fully satisfied that 
 I have endeavored to present the situation as clearly as possible. 
 
 P,.; 
 
 Assets aud Liabilities on 30tli June, 1889. 
 
 I shall now pass to the statement of the assets and liabilities on the 30th 
 June, ]889. 
 
 According to the reports supplied by the different departments, the liabilities 
 and assets of the province stood at the close of the last fiscal year as follows : — 
 
 \.J/" 
 
■. .L^.;ii:.: 
 
 15 
 
 Approximate Statement of the Assets and Liabilities of the Province of Quebec, 
 on the 30th June, 1889, based on the oflicial reports of the different 
 departments, but not including a large amount of contested claims against 
 the Government or the amount due to the province from the municipal 
 loan fund : — 
 
 Liabilities. 
 
 Funded debt outstanding 
 
 Temporary deposits 
 
 Outstanding warrants 
 
 Railway money subsidies authorized, but not yet earned 
 
 Ilailways land subsidies, converted into money subsidies, authorized 
 
 but not yet earned, balance on the iirst 35 cts. per acre 
 
 Parliament Building, construction 
 
 Contract for statues on Parliament Buildings 
 
 Estimated amount required to complete Quebec Court House 
 
 Balance of land and other debts, Q. M. 0. oi 0. railway 
 
 Loss on Exchange Bank deposit 
 
 Quebec Court House bonds 
 
 $21,510,960 00 
 
 2,434,702 70 
 
 73,259 66 
 
 1,543,497 33 
 
 . 1,049,888 60 
 
 70.000 00 
 
 25,000 00 
 
 155,000 00 
 
 68,500 00 
 
 27,000 00 
 
 200,000 00 
 
 $27,157,808 21 
 
 Assets. 
 
 30th 
 
 Part of price of Q. M. 0. & 0. railway deposited 
 
 inbanks $ 385,000 00 
 
 Part of price of Q. M. 0. & 0. railway invested in 
 
 Quebec Court House bonds 200,000 00 
 
 Part of price, do, invested in city of Quebec 
 
 debentures 15,000 00 
 
 Balance of price of Q. M. 0. & 0. railway unpaid. 7,000,000 00 
 
 $ 7,600,000 00 
 
 Capitalized railway subsidies under Dominion Act, 47 Vic, chap. 8. 2,394,000 00 
 
 Claim against Hon. Thomas McGreevy 100,000 00 
 
 Cash in banks 2,210,019 79 
 
 Cost of Jacques Cartier normal school, Montreal, to be repaid from 
 
 sale of property 138,348 02 
 
 Advances to various parties 101,592 09 
 
 Estimated amount due as interest on Common School fund from 
 
 Ontario 70,000 00 
 
 wr-jiN^. 
 
Jiii*' 
 
 16 
 
 Quebec Court House tax under 45 Vic, chap. 26, and 48 Vic, 
 
 chap. 15 200,000 00 
 
 Excess of liabilities over assets on 30th June, 1889. 
 
 S12,813,960 50 
 14,343,847 71 
 
 827,157,808 21 
 
 The total of the liabilities appears higher than it was on the 30th June, 1888, 
 but in reality the change is not very appreciable, if allowance be made for the 
 guarantee deposits which figure on both sides of the above statement. 
 
 The funded debt amounts to $21,510,960, which is slightly lower than the 
 figure at which it stood on the 30th June, 1888, as between that date and 
 the 30th June, 1889, $54,429.29 were applied to the redemption of a corresponding 
 amount of our bonds. 
 
 If, on the one hand, the total of the liabilities is higher on account of the 
 guarantee deposits, on the other, the assets, which on the 30th June amounted to 
 $12,284,947.10, show a slight increase. 
 
 The excess of liabilities over assets is readily- accounted for by the fact that 
 the railway subsidies granted since that date figure as liabilities anil that in this 
 excess the guarantee deposits are also included. 
 
 As regards these deposits, it must be kept in view that they are only 
 repayable gradually, by annuities, within the next ten years. 
 
 It is impossible to say, even approxiiuately, when we shall bo called upon to 
 make provision for our railway liabilities, as that entirely depends on the progress 
 made with their works by the different compagnies entitled to the subsidies when 
 earned. Some of these compagnies are going ahead vigorously, but, in a large 
 number of cases, no progress whatever is being made. Again, some companies 
 have converted their land grunts into money, without h.iving yet earned them, and 
 others have not yet even affected the conversion. It is therefore impossible to say 
 when the total amount of these land and money grants will be called on. 
 
 I have nevertheless put them down as liabilities, because they are 
 obligations which we shall have to meet some day or other. As regards 
 all such railway subsidies, I know that the practice at Ottawa is to enter 
 among the liabiUties only the amount due at the date to which the account 
 is made up. 
 
 I hesitated a good deal before entering them as liabilities, for I have often 
 asked myself if, in the interest of the province, it would not be better to enter 
 
 ! 
 
■W^'^' •J'sajp?" -- .'r'^r " , • .''■■'T'~ " . WHi 
 
 17 
 
 regards 
 
 i 
 
 them as such when actually due or shortly about to foil due, believing that it is 
 not always good policy to add to the liabilities what will only become due at a 
 more or less remote date. 
 
 The sums asked for the completion of the public buildings will, I hope, suffice 
 to meet all the obligations arising from those undertakings. 
 
 The sum of §155,000 includes a balance of SGO.OOO, in round figures 
 out of the 8100,000, which figured in tlie statement of 1888. This sum of 
 SI 55,000, which appears in the budget for the next fiscal year, is intended to 
 completely and finally cover all claims connected with the construction of the 
 Quebec Court House. 
 
 Now, as regards the statement of assets, I do not think it calls for any special 
 explanations, as it does not materially differ from the one presented in the last 
 budget. However, 1 am of opinion that we should include among our assets the 
 cost of the Parliament Buildings, upon the construction of which, together with 
 the departments, the province has laid out a sum of SI, 500,000, in round figures. 
 
 To my mind, this is a real asset, and the same rule should equally apply to 
 all other properties of the Government. It is only right that the moneys expended 
 on objects of this nature shoidd appear and l)e set olf against our consolidated 
 debt. In this way, our financial position would be better appreciated at home and 
 abroad and would give increased confidence to investors in our securities. It 
 would thus be known that, if we have a funded debt, we have also to show 
 against it a large asset in the shape of properties of great value, of which no 
 account has yet been taken. 
 
 III. 
 Fiscal Year 1889-90. 
 
 It is unnecessary to discuss at any length the probable results of the opera- 
 tions of this fiscal year, seeing that all our calculations are only based on estimates. 
 For this reason, it is difficult to submit figures, which offer any certain or definite 
 guarantee as to their accuracy. 
 
 Nevertheless, on the basis of the estimates, we can anticipate pretty 
 approximately what will be the result of the operations of the year m so far as 
 the ordinary receipts and expenses are concerned. 
 
 A glance over the receipts and expenses will show that, for the moment the 
 latter present an excess, which is, however, easily explained. 
 
 
18 
 
 ■-~ ■- — 
 
 Tho ordinary expenses for the six months ended on the 31st 
 
 December amounted to the sum of S 2,0G9,415 72 
 
 And the receipts for tlie same period to the sum of 1,G03,1<jO 81 
 
 Leaving an excess of expenses over receipts of S 460,248 91 
 
 This difference is only temporary and easily accounted for. 
 
 Tho operations of the firsf six months of the fiscal year should not be taken 
 as a criterion by which to judge the results of the whole year. 
 
 It is a well known fact that our receipts only come in periodically — a 
 remark which also applies to our payments, that is to say, that, at certain dates, 
 the disbursements are larger than usual. This is especially the case with our principal 
 receijits, such as those arising from Crown lands, from our Federal subsidy, from 
 the taxes on commercial corporations and from the license dues, all of which con- 
 stitute the most important part of our revenues. Thus, in December, we had to 
 transmit to England a sum of 8250,000, in round figures, to meet the interest 
 falling due on the Ist January on a portion of our bonds, which, of course, had the 
 elfect of doubling the figure of our ordinary monthly expenditure. Tliis at once 
 accounts for a part of the difference between the receipts and expenses. Xext^ 
 the amounts due to the Crown Lands department did not come in as promptly 
 as during the previous year. On the 31st December of the previous ye.ir, we 
 had realized 8635,428.30 from Crown land? while at the same date last year 
 we had only collected a sum of $392,474.59 from the same source, making a 
 difference of 8242,943.71 in favor of the former. The§e two sums together give 
 8492,953.71. 
 
 In January, the Federal subsidy was received, and a sum of 8800,000, in 
 round figures, was due to the Crown Lands department. The receipt of this 
 sum, as well as of other sources of revenue wpon which we count between this 
 and the 30Ui June, will at ouce give us a pretty considerable surplus of receipts 
 over expenses, if our anticipations as regards these different items of revenue are 
 realized, which, there is every reason to hope, will be the case. 
 
 Tliese explanations will, I think, sufiice to show that this difference between 
 the receipts and expenses is in reality only temporary. 
 
 According to my revised estimates, here is what I have reason to count 
 upon : In my budget of last year, I had estimated the amount of the receipts 
 at 83,405,672.80 ; but, according to present revised estimates, this figure should 
 be 83,639,672.80, making an increase of 8284,000 over my first estimates. 
 This excess in receipts will come chiefly from Crown lands and the Honorable 
 Commissioner assures me that I can rely with safety on the collection of this 
 amount. 
 
 
w 
 
 19 
 
 The total ordinary exi)enditiire, supplementary estimates included, will 
 reach the sum of 83,552,565.00, which, according to my anticipation, will leave 
 us a suplus of 8137,107.80. 
 
 The expenditure is correctly enough established, seeing that as regards the 
 controllable services there cannot be a very appreciable discrepancy between the 
 estimates and the disbursements, there being no reason at the moment to suppose 
 that the receipts upon which we count will not be realized. 
 
 The hon. member for Montmorency, in his non-confidence motion of the Slst 
 January last, puts down the expenditure at 33,784,405.78, while, according to my 
 own calculations, it will only amount toS3,552,565, making 8231,840 less than h:j 
 estimate. 
 
 How can we account for the hon. member's higher figure ? 
 
 From the special expenses, whicli were voted as such by the House, he 
 deducts a sum of 8231,840 on the pretext that it should be counted as ordinary 
 expenditure, thus proportionately swelling the amount of the latter and it is by 
 such manipulations that he manages to exhibit a financial statement which is not only 
 exaggerated, but entirely out of accord with the true situation. His whole case rests 
 on a transposition of figures, upon which on the one hand he bases his erroneous 
 representation of the expenditure, while, on the other, he carefully keeps certain 
 receipts in the dark. 
 
 With such a system of calculations, it is easy to make up deficits, but, in this 
 House, we are at liberty to examine under their true aspect the figures which the 
 honorable member uses as a basis for his operations. 
 
 When lie was a Ministerialist, he regarded as perfectly legitimate and correct 
 the charging as special expenses of the very items which he now wants to be struck 
 off and added to the ordinary expenditure. But to-day this is all wrong in his eyes. 
 And why ? The answer is very simple. Because, as a Ministerialist, he saw every- 
 thing in the brightest colors while at present he sees everything in the darkest hues. 
 
 But let us examine his forecasts for the purpose of finding out whether they are 
 founded or not. 
 
 The estimate of special expenses is set at 8443,637.29. On this sum 
 he admits as chargeable to capital account the following : 
 
 New Parliament Buildings, construction 8 162,760 00 
 
 New Court House, Quebec, do 49,037 36 
 
 8 211,797 30 
 
 According to the hon. member's present theory, this is all that should bo 
 charged as expenditure on capital account, and as for the balance of 8231,840 he 
 carries it to the ordinary expenditure. 
 
 mgs 
 
 ^^g^ 
 
20 
 
 To demolish the hon. gentleman's reasoning and to show the fallacy of his 
 jirctension, all I need do is to omuuerato the iivincipai items which he ranks 
 among tlie ordinary e.\])eusi's : 
 
 Spencer Wood — outlay of 810,231.00 for the construction of a green-house, 
 a root-house, a brick coach-house, and a gate-keeper's lodge. Hero is ono of tho 
 expenses whicli the honorable member classifies as an ordinary expense. Can it, I 
 utik, be reasonably contended for an instant that an outlay which adds to the valiio 
 of a property is only an ordinary expense ? 
 
 Construction of iron bridges — 8100,000, of which 875,000 will only be re- 
 quired. He nevertheless assumes that these 8100,000 will be expended. 
 
 He classifies as ordinary expenses the 830,07'". 00 for the codification of tho 
 laws, the 820,000 set apart for night schools as an experiment and the 800,000 
 a])])ropriated for other objects which are in reality exceptional expenses and 
 which, as I have already explained, cannot bo considenl as chargeable to the ordi- 
 nary expenditure. 
 
 In all his calculations, tho honorable member, however, takes good care to 
 omit everything that might damage his theory. Thus, for instance, he takes no 
 account of the probable surplus of the receipts over the expenses and of tho spe- 
 cial receipts which should be set olf against the special expenses. 
 
 It is by moans of such calculations and sucli erroneous and misleading 
 statements that the honorable member for Ivlontmorency strives to represent the 
 situation under a false light. It is simply by transposing figures from ono 
 column to another that he has managed to make out the existence of delicits 
 where in reality there aresurjduses, justas he used, when his friends were in power* 
 to find surpluses where there were deficits, and it is by such means that he 
 succeeds in posing as a great financier in the eyes of his friends. 
 
 Wo have to deal, in fact, with a man who ]>lumos himself on possessing the 
 only absolute rule and measuni of precision which should be used under the 
 circumstances and it is with such proceedings 'hat he succeeds in making up at \vill 
 surpluses or delicits whenever it suits his political jnirposos — a man, who, notwith- 
 standing his self-contradictions, past and present, publicly boasts of the long and 
 painful study he has given to the sul)ject of our linances, who modestly payg 
 himself the compliment of being tho only ono conversant with tho real iinancial 
 situation, and who graciously awards to himself a diploma for his inCiilUbility and^ 
 mathematical precision. 
 
 iml 
 
 off 
 cal 
 mil 
 
 V P"' 
 
 M 
 
21 
 
 Naturally, his friciuls and those who do not see clcarlj in such matters aro 
 iini)Osod upon Ijy demonstrations niadp with a sclf-suUicioncy and coolness worthy 
 of a helter cause and take for science an empty parade of erroneous and misleadinjj 
 calculations mon-ly intended for political ell'oct and calculated to throw the ])ublio 
 mind into doubt and confusion. 
 
 However, the followin<f statements will serve to show how far our adversaries 
 are justified in their outcry against our administration of the linances and at tho 
 same time destroy their pnitensions in relation to the exjjenditure, which they 
 have striven to magnify by means of erroneous and misleading figures. 
 
 It is an unfortunate thing to deceive the House and tho country as regards 
 the real financial situation. But, for the purjjose, it is only necessary to follow 
 the method adopted by the lion, member for Montmorency, which is remarkable 
 for its simplicity, as it merely consists in removing certain receipts from tho 
 ordinary receipts, keei)ing others in the dark, and adding to the ordinary expenses 
 items which should rightly ligure as extraordinary expenses. In this way, it is 
 perfect';- easy to create deficits where surpluses exist. 
 
 But, while such stratagems may succeed with the inexperienced, thoy cannot 
 impose on those who are sulliciently conversant with the subject to appreciate at 
 their proper value the lion, member's manipulations of figures. It was thus that 
 he succeeded in making out surpluses when his friends were in power, and now 
 that he is in Opposition he throws equal zeal into making out deticits <vhich have . 
 no existence. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is by statements of this character that tlu; Opposition aro 
 endet voring to confuse the puldic mind and these statements, too, are presented 
 with so much assurance and coolness that it is not surprising that some aro 
 deceived by them. 
 
 TV. 
 Tho True Comparison to be Made 
 
 Since they choof5e to sacrifice the truth and ])lay a part of this kind, T will 
 submit figures and comparative statements which will serve to demonstrate the 
 fallacy of their calculations and arguments. 
 
 In the first place, I will present a statement for the period from 1882 
 to 1884, showing the receipts and exj^enses, as well as the deficits of those 
 three years ; secondly, 1 will take another series of three yecars eml)racing 1885, 
 1886 and 1887 ; an<l, thirdly, compare these two series with the one for which 
 we are responsible : 
 
 i^tfij 
 
■91- 
 
 
 22 
 
 Statement of the receipts and expenses, as well as of the deficits, for the 
 series of 1882, 1883, 1884, for which the hon. meviher for Montmorency's 
 2Jartij are responsible, to serve as a first point of comparison with the series 
 0/1888, 1889, 1890, ivhich is ours : 
 
 Eeceipts. Expenses. Deficits, 
 
 1882 S 2,666,051 94 $2,874,910 16 S 208,858 22 
 
 1883 , 2,755,707 21 3,096,943 27 341,236 06 
 
 1884 2,823,565 30 3,124,619 94 301,054 64 
 
 Totals S 8,245,324 45 $9,096,473 37 8 851,148 92 
 
 Second point of comparison : 
 
 Eeceipts. Expenses. 
 
 1885 $ 2,926,147 95 $2,936,733 80' 
 
 1886 2,949,562 15 3,032,607 25 
 
 1887 2,965,566 62 3,288,797 T8 
 
 Deficits. 
 10,585 91 
 83.045 10 
 323,231 16 
 
 Totals ...S 8,841,276 62 $9,258,138 89 $ 416,862 17 
 
 Statement of ordinary receipts and expenses from 1888 to 1890 — series for 
 
 which we are responsible. 
 
 Eeceipts. Expenses. Surpluses. 
 
 1888 ..;....$ 3,738,228 39 $ 3,365,032 36 $373,196 03 
 
 1889 3,027,932 10 3,543,618 64 84,313 56 
 
 1890 3,689,627 80 3,552,565 00 137,107 80 
 
 Totals .$11,055,888 39 $10,461,216 00 $594,617 39 
 
 Compared with the first series for wliich our adversaries are responsible, that 
 i.s to say, from 1882 to .1884, our receipts show an excess of $2,810,508.94, 
 while, on the series from 1885 to 1887, they show an excess of $2,214,550.67. 
 
 Such is the result of our financial operations from a comparative point of 
 view with the receipts of our adversaries when they were in power. 
 
 As regards tlie expenditure, here is the figure of the excess of ours compared 
 
 with that of our adversaries fur tlie period from 1882 to 1884 $ 1,364,742 63 
 
 And for tliivt from 1885 to 1887 1,203,077 11 
 
 During the three years, covering the period from 1882 to 1884, the deficits 
 
 amounted to the sum of $ 851,148 92 
 
 And during that from 1885 to 1887 they reached the figure of 416,862 17 
 
 w 
 a 
 
 ..#: 
 
 iMi 
 
imvmm 
 
 
 23 . 
 
 ~ ■ ■< — ■ - . 
 
 Thus, as can be easily noted, our adversaries expended less, but their receipts 
 were also less, each year ending in a deficit, which they had to cover by moans of 
 a loan to the proportionate increase of our debt. That was tlie . 'suit of their 
 financial operations and yet it is these very same men who to-day want the House 
 and the country to believe that our management of the finances has been 
 disastrous. 
 
 An examination of the statqments I have just submitted will show that, from 
 1888 to 1890, we have not only succeeded in covering the deficits which were the 
 rule when our adversaries had the control of affairs, but that we have gone further 
 and accumulated surpluses which have attained the goodly fij^ure of 8594-,617.39. 
 
 Now, let us compare the interest service which our adversaries had to pay 
 with the one which we have had to meet since taking over the administration of 
 affairs : 
 
 « Interest Sei'vice. 
 
 In 1882 this service amounted to S828,42G 04 
 
 " 1883 " " 889,794 00 
 
 " 1884 " « 964,129 40 
 
 Total for this period §2,082,412 60 
 
 In 1885 this service amounted to 980,110 29 
 
 " 1886 « « 977,751 32 
 
 "188 7 " «.♦ 1,016,022 14 
 
 Total for this period 82,973,883 75 
 
 In 1888 this service was 1,103,710 94 
 
 " 1889 " " 1,134,789 51 
 
 " 1890 it will be 1,180,715 00 
 
 Total for this period S3,42r,21u 45 
 
 Since coming into office, we have paid, in connection with this 
 
 service, the sum of 83,425,215 45 
 
 And, from 1882 to 1884, a period of our adversaries' administration, 
 
 this service absorbed a sum of. 2,682,412 60 
 
 We have therefore had to pay a sum of S 742,802 85 
 
 more than our adversaries for this service. If you again compare 
 the interest service from 1888 to 1890, with that of 1885 to 1887 
 you will find that it amounted to $3,425,215 45 
 
 
■^m3P»''"T>"" 
 
 l^SS^^SS^^^^PP^ 
 
 24 
 
 — — ■ . — « "• =. 
 
 and, from 1885 to 1887, to 2,973,883 75 
 
 Which gives an increase of :$ 451,331 70 
 
 for the period from 1888 to 1890 compared with that from 1885 
 to 1887. 
 
 The increase of tlie expenditure from 1888 to 1890, compared 
 with that of 1882 to 1884, amounts to 1,364,742 65 
 
 But from this sum must be deducted the increase in the 
 interest service for wliich our predecessors are responsible, seeing 
 that it was contracted to cover their outstanding obligations, which 
 we have been compelled to pay, namely 742,802 85 
 
 Making the real increase as regards tlie expenditure..... S 621,939 70 
 
 Excess of our expenditure, from 1888 to 1890, compared with that 
 
 of the period from 1885 to 1887 :...$ 1,203,077 11 
 
 Increase in the interest service from 1888 to 1890 over that of 
 
 1885 to 1887 451,331 70 
 
 This item is not controllable and is due, as I have already stated, to 
 
 the policy of our adversaries who left us liabilities which we 
 
 have been obliged to settle since coming into power. 
 
 Making the real increase $ 751,745 41 
 
 in the expenses incurred by us compared with tlioso of the three last years of 
 our adversaries. 
 
 If we apply the same comparison to the expenditure of our adversaries' first 
 series, that is to say, from 1882 to 1884, we get a real increase, per annum, of 
 Si207,313.26. 
 
 In the second case, that is to say, in ajiplying tlic same comparison to the 
 second series embracing tlie years 1885-1886-1887, the excess of our expenses 
 annually amounts to !?250,581.80. 
 
 Thus, in the first case, the excess of our expenses, for which we are 
 
 responsible, amounts to $ 207,313 26 
 
 and, in the second, to 250,581 80 
 
 and not to ^700,000 as our adversaries pretend in one of their non-confidence 
 motions. 
 
 But, to make the true situation still clearer, we must necessarily take into 
 account the figure of pur receipts during tlie three years of our administration as 
 compared with that of a corresponding period of our adversaries. 
 
 \. i/ ■ 
 
 g^^MmUMk 
 
 mam 
 
'AVi^^y^sip^l 
 
 
 ;,883 
 
 75 
 
 ,331 
 
 70 
 
 •,742 
 
 Co 
 
 ,802 
 
 85 
 
 ,939 
 
 70 
 
 .077 
 
 11 
 
 Our receipts from 1888 to 1890, compared with those of our 
 
 predecessors from 1882 to 1884, show an excess of. $2,810,508 94 
 
 Less increase in the expenses $1,364,742 63 
 
 Deduct increase in the interest service, for which 
 
 we are not responsible 742,802 85 
 
 621,939 78 
 
 $2,188,569 16 
 If therefore, on the one hand, from 1888 to 1890, we spent $621,939,78 
 more than our adversaries during the period of 1882 to 1884, our receipts, 
 on the other, exceeded theirs by $2,188,569.16. 
 
 A comparison of the figures of our receipts from 1888 to 1890 
 
 with theirs of 1885 to 1887 shows an excess of $2,214,556 67 
 
 And the figure of our expenses an excess of. $1,203,077 11 
 
 Less amount of the increase in the interest service.. 451,331 70 
 
 752,745 41 
 
 $1,462,811 26 
 On the other hand, if, from 1888 to 1890, we expended, $752,475 more 
 than they did during the period of 1885 to 1887, our receipts, after deducting 
 this increase of expenditure, show an excess of $1,462,811.26. 
 
 As I have just indicated, therefore, the increase in our receipts 
 
 from 1888 to 1890 amounted to $2,810,508 94 
 
 The following figures show how this surplus was employed : 
 
 We covered the deficits of 1882 to 1884 $851,148 92 
 
 Increase in our expenses 621,939 75 * 
 
 " in the interest service 742,802 85 
 
 Surplus from 1888 to 1890 594,617 39 
 
 $2,810,508 94 
 
 The increase in che receipts from 1888 to 1890, compared with that of 1885 
 to 1887, was $2,214,556.67. 
 
 Contrasted with this last period, which belongs to our predecessors, hero is 
 what was done with this surplus : 
 
 Deficits of 1882 to 1884 $416,862 17 
 
 Iicrease in the expenditure from 1888 to 1890.... 751.745 41 
 
 Increase of interest, 1888 to 1890 451,331 70 
 
 Surplus of 1888 to 1890, total 594,617 39 
 
 $2,214,556 67 
 
 D 
 
 ftyuiihMiy^tai 
 
>'-H''^. 
 
 26 
 
 So that, with our receipts, wo succeeded not only in wiping out the deficits 
 which had accumulated during the regime of our predecessors, but also in 
 covering the increase in the expenditure as well as in the interest service, besides 
 accumulating a surplus of §594,617.39. 
 
 This is what we have done since we have come to power, and yet our hon. 
 friends opposite would have the House and the country to believe that our 
 financial policy is a failure. 
 
 We have put an end to the era of deficits ; we have met the increase in the 
 interest service ; and we have accumulated a surplus. Still, instead of frankly and 
 loyally recognizing what wc have done to improve the financial situation, our 
 opponents endeavor, by means of erroneous and misleading calculations, to deceive 
 public opinion o,nd to lead this House and thn electorate into erfor by presenting 
 exaggerated statements of the expenditure. 
 
 I repeat that it is only by systematically leaving out certain receipts and by 
 adding special expenses to the ordinary expenses that they have made out deficits 
 where none exist. 
 
 Is'ow, Mr. Speaker, a word as to the special expenses '.vhich, according to the 
 pretensions of our adversaries, they say should figure as ordinary expenses and 
 which, in fact, they include as such in their statements in order to swell up the 
 amount of the ordinary expenditure. I have already conclusively shown that 
 such expenses should not be treated as ordinary expenditure. 
 
 As will be seen from the tables just submitted, it is shown that the receipt?, 
 from 1832 to 1887, were insufficient to cover the annual expenditure which was 
 lower — it is true — than that of 1888 to 1890, but, to make up the difference, our 
 advcrsaiias had to fall back on capital by which their deficiencies were paid off, 
 thereby running the province proportionately into debt. 
 
 I HOW propose to show, by irrefutable figures, that not only have we wiped 
 out the deficits, but further that our surpluses and special receipts have amply 
 sufficed to cover the deficits and the special expenses, in regard to which our 
 adversaries arc making so much outcry. 
 In 1888, the honorable member for Montmorency, in order to 
 
 make out a deficit, transferred from the special expenses, and 
 
 added to the ordinary expenses, a sum of S187,7G2 76 
 
 In 1889 — see non-confidence motion 236,996 57 
 
 In 1890 do do 1^31,840 00 
 
 Foiminga totalof 8656,604 33 
 
 chargeable to special expenses and which our adversaries wrongly persist in carrying 
 to the ordinary expenses, and which, indeed, they include in their motions of non- 
 coufidence submitted to the House on the 31st January and 7th February instant. 
 
 v. i/' 
 
 ■=-«fi^i.. 
 
-V 
 
 to 
 
 tlie 
 
 and 
 
 the 
 
 that 
 
 My calculations are based on their own figures. These gentlemen take good 
 care not to say a word as to the items which figure in the public accounts and in 
 the budget under the form of surpluses and special receipts. Of course, to do so 
 would not suit their purpose, for, if they took them into account, the House would 
 at once see through their game, which is to create the impression that these special 
 expenses are not covered by receipts and to show consequently that they increase 
 our debt. 
 
 Such is the unfair system followed by those honorable gentlemen, and which 
 consists in transferring large sums from the column of extraordinary expenditure 
 to that of ordinary expenses and leaving out certain receipts altogether. With 
 such a system — a false one, to say the least — it is easy to make up deficits, but, 
 for a party, it is not an honest mode of dealing with the finances of the country. 
 
 The following is a statement of the amonuts which our friends opposite 
 overlook, but which exist all the same. To be convinced of this, it is only 
 necessary to consult the public accounts for 1888 and 1889. 
 
 In 1888, over and above the ordinary expenses we had asui-plus of 3 373,196 03 
 Settlement of accounts with Montreal and reimbursement, see 
 
 public accounts, page 11 80,926 41 
 
 In 1889, surplus 84,313 50 
 
 Municipal loan fund and repayments 92,150 60 
 
 In 1890, probable surplus. 100,000 00 
 
 Probable special receipts 50,000 00 
 
 Total of special receipts and surpluses $ 780,586 54 
 
 It is well to note, too, that, during the administration of our predecessors, 
 they attributed to ordinary receipts the same items which we now enter under the 
 head of special receipts. 
 
 Our surpluses and special receipts therefore amount to the sum of $ 780,586 54 
 While the sum total of the special expenses, which our opponents 
 
 now refuse to recognize as such attain the figure of. 656,604 33 
 
 We have consequently a surplus of. $ 123,982 21 
 
 It will be at once seen that, even admitting their theory of transferring 
 the above sums from special expenses to ordinary expenses, we still have enough 
 and to spare of receipts to honor them. Consequently, we have not, under this 
 liead, increased the public debt, since our resources have sufficed to cover all these 
 expenses, over which our adversaries are making an outcry and by means of which 
 they attempt to deceive the House and the country. 
 
 \.ir' 
 
 V ■',.,*■• 
 
 IJfe 
 
m^'w-9M^. - 'ymi^ 
 
 E^siEas 
 
 r 
 
 ^ > 
 
 r $ 
 
 PiTJ 
 
 If they consider that they are justified in adding to the expenses, it seems to 
 mo that, in all fairness, they should also add to the receipts the suras collected 
 under the same title. 
 
 I must frankly confess my regret at having to refute such misleading and 
 trifling calculations, and at having, in doing so, to fatigue the House with so 
 many details ; but I believe that it is high time to demolish such misleading 
 statements, the figures of which have been put together for no other purpose but 
 to mystify the electors. 
 
 Our receipts therefore have sufficed not only to meet our ordinary expenses, 
 but further, as I have just shown, to cover the special expenses Avhich our adver- 
 saries want charged to the ordinary expenses. 
 
 It is by such petty means as these that they have succeeded in making out 
 deficits ; but the House now knows what faith it should attach to these pretended 
 deficits and what value it should place on their votes of non-confidence in relation 
 to these special expenses. 
 
 Before passing to another head, let us examine for a moment the following 
 statement: — . . 
 
 2^ahle showing the excess of the payments compared with the receipts under 
 
 our predecessors from 1882 to 1887. 
 
 I have just given a comparative statement of the receipts and expenses for 
 two series of years whilst our adversaries were in power. I shall now submit 
 another table which, I believe, will completely demolish their pretensions as to 
 the value of their financial administration. 
 
 The following figures are official and have been taken from the public 
 accounts prepared by the employees of the Treasury, under the direction of 
 the Conservative Ministers. 
 
 STATEMENT OF THE PAYMENTS MADE FROM 1882 TO 1887. 
 
 Showing year by year the total of the amounts paid for ordinary services and 
 the amounts on capital account, with the exception of temporary loans and reim- 
 bursements of trust funds : 
 
 1882 Total payments 8 4,686,189 79 
 
 1883 " " 3,924,872 51 
 
 1884 " " 3,961,230 97 
 
 1J85 " " 3,746,572 33 
 
 1886 " " 3,682,992 30 
 
 1887 " " 4,530,104 48 
 
 Aggrogat« payments during this period $24,531,962 38 
 
 M 
 
 V.l^' 
 
 I 
 
^^^JS^ilJ 1^ 'VT. . 
 
 REVENUE RECEIPTS AND REIMBURSEMENTS ON CAPITAL ACCOUNT. 
 
 (Excepting the temporary loans and trust funds, the receipts are those on which 
 we can legitimately count, including revenue so called and reimbursements on 
 account of capital :) 
 
 1882 Ordinary and extraordinary receipts 3 4,028,679 46 
 
 1883 " " " 2,856,973 51 
 
 1884 " " " 3,105,967 22 
 
 1885 " ^* " 2,973,319 29 
 
 1886 " « " 3,068,873 82 
 
 1887 " « " 2,978,571 62 
 
 Total receipts , $19,012,385 42 
 
 1882 Quebec Central, guarantee deposit made by this company 
 and whose reimbursement is included in the payments 
 enumerated in the preceding statement 8606,849 20 
 
 S19,619,234 62 
 
 The total payments from 1882 to 1887, as just shown, amount to 
 
 the sum of 24,531,962 38 
 
 The total annual receipts for the same period were 19,619,234 62 
 
 The difference between the receipts and the payments for the period 
 
 exteading from 1882 to 1887 therefore was. $4,912,727 76 
 
 This sum represents the amount which was expended on account of capital 
 from 1882 to 1887, not counting the amount of the obligations outstanding on the 
 30th June, 1887, to which I will refer in an instant. 
 
 The Government which preceded us therefore indebted the province to the 
 extent of nearly five millions of dollars in the space of six years, and this 
 debt was covered by means of loans, some at long term and others temporary. 
 
 Besides we must take into account the balance of the floating debt out- 
 standing on the 30th June, 1887, say $3,500,000, in round figures. This sum, 
 added to the $4,912,727.76 just mentioned, forms a total of $8,412,727.76, which 
 represents the obligations contracted from 1882 to 1887 or an increase of 
 expenditure on account of capital during this period to the extent of $1,402,121 
 per annum. 
 
 N-.V' 
 
m:: 
 
 30 
 
 Now, if we further take into account the contested debts, of which we shall have 
 ultimately to pay a large part and which figure for a suna of S4,500,000, and if we 
 add them to the 88,412,727.76, we get a total of 312,912,727.76 outstanding on 
 the 30th June, 1887, which represents an expenditure of S2,150,121, per annum, 
 on account of capital. This is in round figures the annual average of the 
 expenditure on capital account, in 'ing the unsettled obligations over and above 
 the receipts, from 1875 to 1887. 
 
 In face of such a sura of obligations handed us by our adversaries when they 
 were obliged to resign, how can they dare to-day to critize our financial 
 administration, especially in view of the successful efforts we have made to improve 
 the situation and to extricate the province from the difficult position in which it 
 was placed ? 
 
 The receipts under the reign of our adversaries were therefore insufficient to 
 cover even the ordinary expenses, and even deficits were then an everyday thing 
 in the ordinary budget. 
 
 Nevertheless, in spite of this state of aftairs, we set courageously to work, 
 and, the very first year for which we are responsible, we managed to bring 
 down a budget, showing a surplus of S373,000 in round figures, and, in 1889, 
 another of 884,563.58. 
 
 We further succeeded in creating an additional revenue of over '8700,000 and 
 ia restoring the equilibrium between the ordinary receipts and expenses. 
 This is what has been accomplished under our administration. Still, with a full 
 knowledge of these facts, our friends opposite now come forward to assert the 
 contrary and to try to make the House and country believe that our administration 
 is dangerous and of a nature to alarm the people. Fortunately these worthless 
 declamations are not listened to seriously, and all this tissue of errors will not 
 have the desired effect upon reasonable people. Yet, for all this, such groundless 
 criticism will produce a bad effect upon capitalists and be very prejudicial to the 
 credit of the province ; for, it must not be forgotten that these erroneous 
 statements of our adversaries have been printed in both languages and scattered 
 broadcast for the sole purpose of misleading the electorate, regardless of the con- 
 sequences which such utterances may have beyond the province. , 
 
 Conversion of the Debt. 
 
 We have not lost sight of the important project of the conversion of the debt ; 
 on the contrary, we have given special attention to it. 
 
 My colleague, Hon. Mr. Garneau, Minister of Public Works, having been 
 obliged to make a trip to Europe last fall for the benefit of his health, requested 
 
 b 
 
 .^ijL. 
 
 M'' ■ 
 
 
1 / 
 
 ^mr- 
 
 31 
 
 rae to accompany hira. I did so, and the Government availed itself of tlie circum- 
 stance to charge us both with tlie duty of studying this question, cautiously 
 sounding the European money markets and obtaining all the information possible in 
 order to ascertain if this desirable operation could be advantageously carried out. 
 
 The Government took this jcep for two reasons : 
 
 1 ° Because it believed the circumstances favorable for making a new 
 effort in the matter : 
 
 2 ° Because it desired that I should have the benefit of Hon. Mr, Garneau's 
 knowledge and experience in discussing with some of the European bankers the 
 principle and details of this great project. 
 
 An order-in-council, passed on the 20th September, 1889, invested us with 
 the retjuisite powers to carry through the undertaking the Government binding 
 itself to ratify and ratifying in advance all that my colleague and myself might 
 deem it advisable, in the interest of the province, to do in the connection. 
 
 It will be readily understood that it is impossible for me make known the 
 proposals that were made to us and the negotiations that took place ; it is 
 sufficient to state that, during our stay in Europe, very advantageous, but strictly 
 confidential offers were made to us. But, in view of the great importance of the 
 transaction and the grave responsibility involved, we closed with none finally 
 preferring to first submit the whole matter to the Ministers in council. 
 
 I am glad to be able to add that, I think, these negociations can be soon re- 
 sumed and that my colleague and myself have reason to hope that we shall effect, 
 this conversion of the debt on excellent conditions and on a bfisis that will secure a 
 considerable annual saving in the present sum of interest which we have to pay 
 on the provincial debt. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Fiscal Year 1890-91, 
 
 I estimate the receipts of this fiscal year at $3,528,672.80, of wlfich $68,000 
 represent the receipts on capital account, and $3,460,522.80 on ordinary revenue. 
 This estimate is based on the receipts of the last fiscal year, making all duo 
 allowance for changes that may take place in certain items which may turn out 
 over or under ordinarv estimates. 
 
 !--4a,U...^. 
 
 — '''^'^ ■ 
 
■frioiir- '^ m i' iw !■ — "~ 
 
 
 82 
 
 The following are the receipts on which I count : 
 
 Federal Subsidy : 
 
 Subsidy payable under the Confederation 4ct.. $ 959,252 80 
 
 Interest on trust funds 55,459 32 
 
 Special subsidy under 47 Vic, chap. 4 127,460 68 
 
 Interest on railway subsidies under 47 Vic, 
 
 chap. 8 119,700 00 
 
 $1,261,872 80 
 
 Interest 
 
 Interest on price of sale Q. M. 0. & 0. 
 
 , railway $ 370,000 00 
 
 Interest on loans and deposits 10,000 00 
 
 Interest on collections made by Ontario from 
 
 common school lands 20,000 00 
 
 S 400,000 00 
 
 Administration of Justice : , 
 
 Law stamps $ 160,000 00 
 
 Fees 2,500 00 
 
 Building and jury fund 16,500 00 
 
 Contributions for the maintenance of vagrants 
 
 iu prisons 10,000 00 
 
 Gaol guard, Quebec and Montreal 4,000 00 
 
 Fines 500 00 
 
 Montreal gaol 5,000 00 
 
 Montreal Court House 500 00 
 
 High Constable's fees, Quebec 600 00 
 
 -$ 
 
 Eegistration stamps 
 
 Licenses 
 
 Crown lands 
 
 Taxes on commercial corporations 
 
 Percentage on fees of certain public officers 
 
 Percentage on renewals of hypothecs 
 
 Legislation 
 
 Offi,cial Gazette 
 
 Lunatic asylums, contributions from municipalities. 
 
 200,600 00 
 
 17,000 00 
 
 375,000 00 
 
 1,000,000 00 
 
 140,000 00 
 
 8,000 00 
 
 400 00 
 
 800 00 
 
 26,800 00 
 
 20,000 00 
 
 ;■; 
 
 V A' 
 
 ■si 
 
 I 
 

 61,872 80 
 
 00,000 00 
 
 )0,600 00 
 
 17,000 00 
 
 75,000 00 
 
 30,000 00 
 
 10,000 00 
 
 8,000 00 
 
 400 00 
 
 800 00 
 
 J6,800 00 
 
 20,000 00 
 
 Public buildings, rents, &c G50 00 
 
 Contributions to pension fund 7,000 00 
 
 Casual revenue 2,000 00 
 
 QuobecFire loan 400 00 
 
 Kefunds 18,150 00 
 
 Municipal Loan Fund 50,000 00 
 
 8 3,528,672 80 
 This estimate has been prepared with the greatest possible care and I have 
 reason to believe that we shall realize its amount. 
 
 The sums to be received from the Dominion Government call for no ex- 
 planation. 
 
 According to agreement, the Ontario Government has paid into the hands 
 of the Federal Government the amount collected from the sales of lands appro- 
 priated for the common school fund from the 1st of July, 1867, to the 31st 
 December, 1888. This amounted to the sum of $383,257.92, which brings up 
 the amount of our share of the fund to $1,080,129.82, so that we can count on an 
 additional interest of $20,000, in round figures, xopresenting 5 per cent, interest 
 on the amount added to the fund. 
 
 The receipts arising from the administration of justice are set down at a very 
 moderate figure ; my estimates being rather under what they will really produce. 
 I prefer to adopt a low average to running the risk of being mistaken in my 
 calculations. 
 
 I estimate the revenue from licenses at $375,000, although they produced a 
 higher sum last year. Still, I prefer to keep the same amount as last year in 
 order to make up for any losses which I may meet in connection with other 
 items. It happens every year that some sources of revenue produce less, while 
 others exceed the estimates. To secure a good average, it is necessary therefore 
 to put down a figure upon which we can surely depend. 
 
 I estimate at $1,000,000 the receipts from Crown lands. My honorable 
 colleague, the Commissioner, is convinced that they Avill exceed that amount . 
 I prefer, however, to use a lower figure to running the risk of being disappointed. 
 
 The revenue from the taxes on commercial corporations is placed at $140,000. 
 In the opinion of the Comptroller, this is the amount which will be realized this 
 year, and it is certain that it will not produce leas next year. 
 
 I have put down the receipts from the municipal loan fund at $50,000 ; but 
 this item is always more or less certain. This figure is sometimes exceeded and, 
 in other cases, the collections do not come up to the estimate. 
 
 Let us now come to the item of expenses : 
 
 £ 
 
 \,^'JT 
 
 »H>'!,;'; 
 
'ism'WMj.'. i«i. ',VV(» 
 
 34 
 
 I eatimate at 84,877,828.24 the total payments for next fiscal year, distributed 
 as follows : 
 
 Ordinary Expenses : 
 
 Interest on the public debt ....$ 1,176,0G5 32 
 
 Administrative service 2,249,589 92 
 
 $ 3,425,645 24 
 
 Capital Expenditure : 
 
 Construction of public buildings, &c S 912,183 00 
 
 Railway subsidies 540,000 00 
 
 S 1,452,183 00 
 
 Total 3 4,877,828 24 
 
 Ab members have had the estimates in their hands for so me days past, and 
 as they have had plonty of time to study them, it is needless for me to dilate 
 upon the details. 
 
 Moreover, seeing that the estimates contain a comparative statement of the 
 estimated expenditure for the current year as well as that for next fiscal year, 
 the increase or decrease in each particular service can be seen at a glance. 
 
 As the discussion has already taken place on a large number of items and 
 will be continued in Committee of Supply, it would bo useless on my part to go 
 into details, which would serve no purpose at this moment. , 
 
 The total of the expenses on capital account is larger than that of last year. 
 
 We ask $912,183.00 for public works, buildings, &c., and $540,000 for 
 railway subsidies, &c. 
 
 For the next fiscal year, the expenditure connected with public works and 
 buildings, including subsidies to railways, will amount to 81,452,183, which is 
 $237,545.71 more than what wc propose to expend during the current year. 
 
 The following statement will sh-MV the increases and decreases : 
 
 1890. 1891. 
 
 Parliament Buildings $ 162,760 00 8 20,000 00 
 
 Quebec Court House 49,037 36 158,207 00 
 
 Spencer Wood, construction of a green house, root 
 
 house, etc 10,231 00 1,000 00 
 
35 
 
 Explorations in the counties of Dorchester, Levis, 
 Bellechasse, I'lslet, Monttnagny, etc 
 
 Circuit Court, Karaouraska 
 
 Heating apparatus to court houses, in now districts.. 
 
 New court house, Quebec, ornaments for roof 
 
 Construction of iron bridges 
 
 New vaults for court houses and gaols in rural 
 districts 
 
 Library of the civil code 
 
 Dictionnairo numc^rique 
 
 Heirs of the lato J. Langelier .» 
 
 Oil portraits of the Speakers 
 
 Brother Arnold, repairs done to his school 
 
 Purchase of the library of the late Judge Polette.. 
 
 Heirs of Hon. T. J. J. Loranger 
 
 New map of the province 
 
 Corporation of the town of St. John's 
 
 New furniture for the two Houses 
 
 Night schools 
 
 Printing and binding — arrears of 1878 
 
 Construction of a vault for the archives at Quebec. 
 
 Enlargement of the Montreal court house 
 
 Montreal gaol 
 
 Court house and gaol, Sherbrooke 
 
 " " " Gaspe 
 
 Quebec gaol 
 
 Court house and gaol, Iberville 
 
 Stoning roads, as an experiment 
 
 Codification of the laws 
 
 Colonization roads 
 
 Montreal exhibition association 
 
 Court house, Hull 
 
 " Edifice Nationale " at Montreal 
 
 10,000 00 
 2,512 00 
 
 100,000 00 
 
 5,000 00 
 6,000 00 
 2,785 00 
 5,000 00 
 1,800 00 
 1,814 53 
 3,000 00 
 2.182 40 
 
 10,200 00 
 3,500 00 
 4,640 00 
 
 20,000 00 
 6,500 00 
 
 36,675 00 
 
 8,000 00 
 
 800 00 
 
 100,000 00 
 
 7,000 00 
 
 40,000 00 
 
 10,000 00 
 
 150,000 00 
 
 300.000 00 
 
 3,000 00 
 
 2,286 00 
 
 3,890 00 
 
 3,000 00 
 
 10,000 00 
 
 50,000 00 
 
 25,000 00 
 
 10,000 00 
 
 10,000 00 
 
 3443,637 29 $912,183 00 
 
 For 1890-91 8912,183 00 
 
 do 1889-90 443,637 29 
 
 Increase $468,545 71 
 
{ r • 
 
 Railways, 
 
 • . 1890. 1891. 
 
 Montreal, Ottawa & Occidental Eailway 81(3,000 00 840,000 00 
 
 do revenue 5,000 00 
 
 SubsMies to railways '. 750,000 00 500,000 00 
 
 8771,000 00 8540,000 00 
 
 Eailwa^s for 1890-91 771,000 00 
 
 do do 1888-90 540,000 00 
 
 Decrease S 231,000 00 
 
 The expenses which we propose to incur in connection with the construction 
 of public buildings are of absolute necessity. 
 
 The sum asked for the Parliament Buildings is 820,000. It includes an 
 amount of 810,000 for statues and certain works of minor importance. It is in 
 every point of view desirable that we should come to a settlement with the 
 contractor, in order to have done once for all with the construction of that edifice. 
 
 As regards the Court House, that building is completed, with the exception 
 of a few trifling works which still remain to be done. Wo still have to pay the 
 amount entered in the budget in settlement of all outstanding accounts as well as 
 claims of the contractor, in virtue of the award of the arbitrators given in his 
 favor against the Government. 
 
 The appropriation for iron bridges is apparently 8100,000 but in reality it is 
 only 875,000, as there is included in it 825,000 voted du"ing the previous year. 
 
 The sum of 810,000, set apart for tho construction of a vault for the Quebec 
 archives, will be needed in the very near future, as the building in which 
 these archives are kept is about to become the property of tho Christian Iirothcrs. 
 
 We have a'^ked a vc^c 8150,000 for the enlargement o" the Montreal 
 Court House. It is impossible to state iu advance whether the whole amouTi. 
 will be required during the next fiscal year ; that will greatly depend on the 
 nature and progress of the work to 'oe done. 
 
 Tho appropriation asked for tho construction of a gaol at Montreal will, 
 perhaps, not be entirely needed during the next fiscal year ; that again will 
 depend on the despatch that may be made in connection with the construction of 
 the new building. 
 
 
 
 ''ff^^ 
 
 WPHHIli 
 
 V ir- 
 
 J3«iu4L:>:, 
 

 .i>^ 
 
 m^Wff 
 
 .'TM . 
 
 37 
 
 1891. 
 40,000 00 
 
 00,000 00 
 
 iO.OOO 00 
 
 nstructiou 
 
 eludes au 
 
 It is iu 
 
 with the 
 
 lat edifice. 
 
 exception 
 
 pay the 
 as well as 
 ^n iu his 
 
 ality it is 
 IS year. 
 
 le Quebec 
 in which 
 I'rothers. 
 
 Montreal 
 amouiii. 
 
 1 on tho 
 
 real will. 
 i^aiii will 
 uctiou of 
 
 With respect to the subsidies to railways, it is always difficult to foresee, 
 even approximately, what will bo wanted for this branch of the service, as all 
 depends on the vigor with which the companies will get on with their works. In 
 any case, I have reason to presume that the v/hole sum entered in the budget 
 will not be used. Last year, we placed in the budget a sum of S750,000, out of 
 which, on the 31st December, only $171,144.04 had been paid and it is not likely 
 that the balance of this amount will be called upon between this and tho 30th 
 June. 
 
 Ihus, the credits asked for under the head of special expenses and railway 
 subsidies will, perhaps, not b3 entirely required during the course of the next 
 fiscal year, but, as it is impossible to say beforehand with what rapidity these 
 works may be prosecuted, wo have asked what we believe might, perhaps, bo 
 necessary to meet all possible eventualities. 
 
 Now, if you bring together the estimate of the ordinary receipts aud that of 
 the ordinary expenses for 1890-91, we get the following result : 
 
 Ordinary receipts S 4G9,522 80 
 
 Ordinary expenses ,.. 425,645 24 
 
 Surplus of receipts over expenses S 34,877 50 
 
 In the estimates which I have just submitted, it has been our endeavor, 
 with all due regard for the requirements of the public service, to keep as far as 
 possible tho expenditure within the limits of oar resources, and unless we aro 
 prepared to adopt a policy, the object of which would be to operate a reduction in 
 cohtroUable services which might impair their eifectiveness and to diminish in a 
 [.'jiieral way a host of gniuts whicli. we consider in the public interest, it would bo 
 ditticult to put down a lower figure tlun the one we ask. It must not be forgotten, 
 however, that the interest service, which is not controllable, goes on increasing 
 fi'om year to year and that the amount required for this pu .poso is to-day $200,000, 
 in round figures, higher than it was in 1886. 
 
 It is also beconiiug moro and more difficult to control the amount of the cost 
 of legiskdon, and that of the civil service, the admiii. ration of justice, public 
 instruction and tho department of agriculture ai. I Ionization. With the 
 development of our vesourcf^s and tlie increase of our population it is, of course, 
 only natural that the cost for thesa difteront services should undergo a progressivo 
 iufluence towards a higher expenditure. 
 
 Tn <iny case, according to my experience, the additional suma which wo 
 are expending on education and for literary objeota and agricultur*) and colonization 
 
S8 
 
 nre in harmony with the popular wishes, judging from the pressure generally brought 
 to bear on us for those purposes. 
 
 It is needless for me to go intc details relative to the increased expenditure 
 in connection with the civil service, the administration of justice and the Crown 
 Lands department, as all these services have already been fully discussed on both 
 sides and I could therefore have nothing new to add on the subject. 
 
 Moreover, whilst keeping within the possible limits of our resources, we 
 think that, with an increased revenue, it is our duty to devote as far as possible 
 larger sums to the advancement of colonization, education an the general interests 
 of agriculture, as well as of other services in connection with encouragement to 
 our industries. 
 
 If, on the one hand, the services just enumerated have cost us more, no one, I 
 am sure, will attempt to blame us for having increased, for objects so useful and 
 so necessary to the province, the expense of those services, and, on the other, we 
 have succeeded, by a wise and firm administration, in finding the means to meei 
 the requirements of our policy. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the statement I have just submitted is, I really believe, oi a 
 nature to convince the House and the country that we have done our best to 
 faithfully perform the task entrusted to us by the people. 
 
 We have succeeded in keeping up the amount of our receipts at a figure 
 which was never reached by our predecessors. But, to obtain such a result, we have 
 necessarily had to exercise very great supervision over the collection of the revenue. 
 
 However, having inaugurated a policy of initiative and progress, the Govern- 
 ment has foun I it impossible, notwithstanding all its good will iu tb.at direction, 
 to reduce the amount of tlio oxpoiiditure. Moreover, this increase in expenditure 
 has been occasioned by new and pressing wants quite in harmony with the 
 wishes of the province. 
 
 The country has strongly manisfested a desire for a broad and generous 
 policy in order to hasten the development of its numerous and inexhaustible 
 resources ; and, as far as possible, w« have endeavored to satisfy its legitimate 
 aspirations. Still, it should not be forgotten that we are necessarily compelled 
 to limit the expenses and to moderate the legitimate zeal of those who, 
 
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 in good faith, want to draw us into a course which might become dangerous, if not 
 prudently kept in check ; for we must not forget that the policy of giving grants 
 to every kind of enterprise has the effect of adding to the sum of our obligations 
 which will necessarily have to be met some day. 
 
 As for the financial situation, I thing, I can safely assert, without fear of 
 serious contradictions, that it is infinitely superior to what it was when we came 
 into power. With our i>resent resources, \\'(i have succeeded in covering past 
 deficits, meeting the increase in the interest service, providing for unavoidable 
 expenses, and in showing a respectable surplus. This is certainly the best proof 
 that our exertions have not been unsuccessiul. 
 
 As in the past, we shall continue to follow out the progressive ideas which 
 we have advocated since coming into office. But, to do this successfully, we 
 must rely upon the good will of all who have at heart the intellectual and industrial 
 development of our province. (Prolonged Applause.) 
 
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 SIPEEOSC 
 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HON, HONORB MBRCIBR, 
 
 PREMIER OP THIi PROVINCE, 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF QUEBEC, 
 OX THE 21sT FEBRUARY, 1896, 
 
 INT REPLY TO MR. DE3JARDINS' CRiriOISM 
 OF THE BUDGET SPEECH. 
 
 Mr. Speaker. — If I am neitker a merchant nor a man wlio was worked 
 ?)ehiii<l a couiitoi', I can at least boast of having a good stock of patience, I have 
 veiaaiiied here all the time, listening to the remarks of the honorable member fur 
 ]Hontmoreuey ami pretending, — if 1 may use the term — to take as serious his 
 criticism of the financial statement of my honorable friend the Provincial 
 Treasurer. I did not wish to aosent myself, so as to show him that I wanted 
 to try to understand him and that, if I could not applaud, I could, at all events 
 make considerable efforts to admire him, — and I have succeeded. I have not 
 succeeded, in un^lerstanding him — obviously, because I am not the happy possessor 
 of suflicient intelligence — but I have succeeded in admiring him in his herculean 
 efforts. Rarely, indeed, have I seen a man endowed with greater physical 
 strength ; rarely have I seen a politician persevere with so much audacity in 
 errors, wdiich have been over and over again pointed out to him— I don't know 
 how many times. 
 
2 
 
 The Lon. member began his speech by what I might term hors (Vwuvre. He 
 lavished compliments on me such as no man ever accepts tVoiii another man. He 
 complained that i had made fun of him, that I had not found him elegant, and he 
 even went so far as to say that I ha<l spoken of his physical delects. I have no 
 recollection of having committed such a crime and I would be very sorry, Mr. 
 Speaker, if in my public career, occui)yiiig a position which I consider responsible 
 and striving to be polite, I had spoken of the physical defects of anotlun' in whom 
 such defects do not really exist. I may tell my honorable friend that I have never 
 seen a better-built man than he hi;;, better able to speak for a longer time, to make 
 more endless speeches, to handle figures with more extraordinary facility, to more 
 completely muddle ihe clearest questions and to better succeed in making the 
 mo.st honest budget speech appear the most dishonest. And cerLuinly my 
 honorable friend will do me the credit of ailmitting that, excejit f)n (luestions of 
 finance, I have always treated him with the utmost possible courtesy. Apart 
 from this, I may tell him that if his oliject has been to soften me by his compli- 
 ments, he has failed ; that if he wanted to stop me in the reply I propose to 
 make to his criticism of the budj^et speecli, he has singularly deceived himself. I 
 am not usually turned from the accomiili^rhment of my duties by compliments 
 and especially by lulling me that I am a handsome fellow. 
 
 He attacked tl o tinMicial statement of my friend the Treasurer-—! intend to 
 answer him. He sought to cast doubts on the honesty of that distinguished man 
 wliom everyone respects — even his adversaries. It is my duty to vindif^ate my 
 coUeaiijue as an honest man should vindicate an honest man. 
 
 The honorable member for Montmorency has pretended tliat, to lower the 
 jirestige he may have among his friends in the House, 1 ridiculed him by claiming 
 that, to be (jualified to speak on finance, it was necessary to lie a merchant, banker 
 or manufactui'er. I interrupted him — I confess that I had that audacity — I rose 
 to ask him to be good enough to state that 1 had not been guilty of any such heresy, 
 and the honest linancier, who was criticizing tiie budget of my honoralde friend, 
 the Provincial Treasurer, instead of frankly admitting that he had misunderstood 
 me, that he had used an inaccurate expression, answered me with an audacity which 
 I did not admire — which certainly would not win for him the esteem of the House, 
 if he did not have it, and which would have deprived him of it, if he had — that, if 
 it was not what I had said, it was substantially what I had wanted to convey, 
 Xow, Mr. Speaker, I have never pretended that to be Treasurer it is necessary to be 
 a merchant or trader, to have been behind a counter or in a bank; but I contended 
 and still contend that it is necessary to be a business man and that, to speak on 
 finance, it is not sufficient to be gifted with eilVontery and a flow of verbiage, but 
 that a knowledge, at least elementary, of business is essential. 
 
■■?'. 
 
 
 Oue may sjiufik ten hours, ns the lionorable mciuljcr for Moiitmoreiioy oiico 
 spoke, and yet not utter a sensible word on the finances, as he has done this 
 afternoon and evening. It is not enough to speak for a long time to say something ; 
 liut one must at least say something to he pardoned for long speaking. Now, what 
 has my honorable friend said during all this time ? He has piled h'giires upon 
 liguves, I will not say, in an intelligent manner, for I do not want to wound him 
 but in the least methodical manner possilde, mixing up capital with revenue, 
 coniounding the ordinary with the extraordinary receipts, the construction with 
 the daily expenses, the charities with the ni^cessary expenditure. He jumbled up 
 everything and laboured during an hour and some nunutes to place my friend the 
 Treasurer in contradiction with his past and with his declarations in this House, 
 And !ie, the meml)er fur Montmorency, who could never foretell a delicit wlien 
 tlieie was a deficit, or a surplus when there was one, amused himself by cliullengiu"- 
 the hon(jrablo Treasurer's figures and by trying to prove that he knows nothin<'- 
 of finance. , 
 
 Mr. Speaker, as I have already said— it is not necessary to be a merchant or 
 a Itanker or to deal in groceries or muslin to be treasurer of a province ; but 
 1 assert tliat it is essential to understand business and I repeat what I stated thi^ 
 nthor day, not for the i>urpose of wounding tlie jnember for Montmorency whom 
 1 resjieet personally — I admire hia lal)oriousness, his talent for useless and 
 unpiotitable studies : but, frankly, can tlie country place on the same footing 
 the ]iractical knowledge in financial matt' ''s of tlie member for Montmorency and 
 that of the present Treasurer of the ])rovince. I will go further and venture to 
 enquire how can the lionorable member for IMontmorency be compared \sith the 
 j>ast Treasurers who distinguished themselves in this House either on the one side 
 or the other ? 
 
 When the lion, member was a Ministerialist, he pushed his love of criticism 
 so far as to even criticize the budget speeches of the Treasurers of his own party. 
 How many times have [ not heard him and, in how many pages of this big book 
 (Les Debats) can I not find the boldest and, perhaps, the most deserved con- 
 demnations of the correctness and the honesty of the budgetary statements of 
 the very men whom he supported. I have here, before me, his declaration 
 against the honorable member for Sherbrooke, in which he said : " The inember 
 fur Sherbrooke pn'etends that ■w'e are going to have during the present year a 
 deficit between the ordinary rr^ceipts and expenses ; but this is a mistake. We 
 will have a surplus of so many thousands of dollars ; " and it was useless for the 
 Treasurer, who held the key to all the secrets of the financial situation, to assert 
 that the year would culminate in a deficit, my honorable friend t*^ e member for 
 Montmorency, was utterly skeptical and sought to prove by A plus B that the 
 Treasurer was mistaken and that instead of a deficit there was going to be a 
 
surplus. When I rose, repeated tlie Treasurer's declaration which was true and 
 moved a vote of non-confidence bec;uise instead ofa.suri»lus we were goini,' to have a 
 deficit, my friend, the honorable member for Montmorency, voted ag liust my ])ro- 
 position. He was quite willing to criticize the statements of the Treasurer in 
 order to show that, in the matter of finance, he was an abler man than his chief, 
 but he could not admit tiiat the statements of the Ojtpositiou leader were coirect. 
 The spirit of contradiction in him was too strong, lie had first to contradict his 
 Treasurer and then to contradict the Opposition leader — the result l)eing that 
 after he had contradicted both, he launched out into the broadest self-contradiction 
 and was proud of it. 
 
 To-night, Mr. Speaker he has given us an example of this contradiction. I 
 shall not folIo\/ him into all the details and I shall not intlict u[)on the House a 
 speech of several hours. I hope to be brief enough to allow of the debate being 
 closed to-night and of its not being finished too late, because, as there is a non- 
 confidence motion in question, 1 trust the House will permit me to say, without 
 any desire to use a threat, that it must be settled to-night. I would not like to 
 leave it open to the Lieutenant-Governor to believe that between this and 
 Monday we may be overthrown. I want to-morrow morning to be in a position, 
 to assure the Lieutenant-Governor that we still possess tlie confidence of the 
 members of this House (Applause). 
 
 liut I have no desire to follow my honoralde friend through all his financial 
 vagaries, through all the more or kws audacious sjfeculations to which he has treated 
 us. Above all, I shall not begin by counting ujt the deficits which alarmed the 
 province and attested the sorry results of the administration of our predecessors. 
 No ; I shall merely take the liberty of calling your attention to a few ]ioints, 
 which I shall try to make as brief and clear as possible. 
 
 In the first place, allow me to observe, that the honorable member for ]\Iont- 
 morency has badly chosen his time to try to frighten the country in regard to tlie 
 dangers of our administration. 
 
 It is at the very moment, Mr. Speaker, that we have settled the question of the 
 Jesuits estates : at the moment that we have put an end to the reign of deficits ; at the 
 moment that we have increased our revenues to the extent of over §600,000 ; at the 
 moment that we have entered upon an era of the most intelligent and patriotic 
 reforms ; at the moment that we have inaugurated the iron bridge policy which is 
 such a benefit generally to the province ; at the moment that we have 
 opened those colonization roads, which are no longer a source of speculation for 
 dishonest men but a means of favoring the settler by enabling him to transport 
 hia produce to the best markets ; at the moment that we are building coUcges in 
 all the principal parts of the province ; at the moment that we are making special 
 
TT- 
 
 "'"^ 
 
 grants to favor the establishment of those commercial colleges which everyone is 
 asking for and by which the entire country will benefit ; at the moment that we 
 are opening night schools to give to our workingmen the benefit of a practical and 
 intelligent education in order to elevate them, and to make of them useful citizens of 
 their country — it is at this very moment that these charges are made. At the 
 very time that we are seeking to lift the province of Quebec '^'it of the slough in 
 which it has been stagnating for a number of years past ; at the very time that, 
 like practical, serious men, we are striving to restore public confidence, to reassure 
 honest people and to put an end to the party conflicts which have done us so 
 much harm in the past ; at the very time that we are about to reestablish religious 
 peace and to put a stop to the discords which these gentlemen had fomented and 
 wliich they had succeeded in creating in the country, they wish to check our efforts 
 and to block the wheels of progress in order to prevent us from terminating the 
 great work inspired by our hearts and by patriotism. 
 
 We are threatened with the electorate ; we are told that at the next elections 
 we will be swept out. Yes, we shall be swept, as we have been swept in Joliette, 
 Laprairie, Ottawa, liimouski, Quebec West, Three Rivers, Maskinonge, Megautic, 
 Chicoutimi and Saguenay, in all the counties, in fact, in which there have been 
 contests (Applause). We shall be swept — by whom ? By those, who have created 
 the actuiil situation, by those who created the embarrassments of the time, by 
 tliose who contracted the debt which is crushing us, by those who have aroused 
 the war of races and creeds which is dying out at present, thanks to our policy 
 of conciliation. 
 
 We are going to be swept! By those, oue of whose leaders wanted to abolish 
 the French langunga not only in the North West, but as a necessary consequence 
 in all the provinces, in all the places where the French language enjoys the freedom 
 of the city, (Applause). We are going to be crushed by the men who, in the House 
 of Commons, proclaimed that we, the French in America, have no right to speak 
 the beautiful language of our forefathers, and, as a consequence, who would refuse 
 to Catholics separate schools in all parts of ihe Dominion ! We will bi swept by 
 these men, wlieu two of our leaders in the Dominion, two of tlie most distinguisliel 
 men of the country : Hon. Edward Blake, (Applause), and Hon. Wilfred Laurier, 
 (Applause), delivered speeches which remain graven in letters of gold on the pages 
 of the country's history (Applause) — speeches which bear the imprj.ss of the noblest 
 and most generous sentiments. All who know Wilfrid Laurier know his great- 
 ness of heart, know that he is a great patriot, who loves his race and his religion, 
 who would die in the breach rather than consent to deny the tongue of his fore- 
 fathers : but, perhaps, those who do not know Hon. luhvard Blake as we do will 
 be surprised at the speech he made the other day, in which he declared that the 
 

 r 
 
 I 
 
 English should not do to the French what they would not like to be done to them- 
 selves, that the French Canadians were an industrious, sober and honest people, and 
 that it was only by a miracle of devotion and patriotism that they had held their 
 ground and preserved their language throughout all the difficulties through which 
 they had been obliged to pass in America. But we who know him are not 
 astonished. He could not have spoken otherwise. When these two men uttered such 
 words as these, what was the leader of our fidversaries doing ? He could scarcely 
 do more than stammer out a few words, placed as he was between two lires — the 
 fire of his love of the Orangemen and the fire of his hatred of the French 
 Canadians, It is at such a time as this that we are told that we are going to be 
 swept in this province ! If these gentlemen are sincere, wliy do not they demand 
 the immediate dissolution of the Legislature and they will at once get it. We 
 shall go before the people, armed with the^e generous sentiments, after doing the 
 most good we could and undoing all the evil possible, and how much harm have not 
 our adversaries done ! We shall go before the people, Mr. Speaker, with confidence, 
 satisfied that the people will give us their support and Avill sustain us with double 
 the majority we have at present (Applause). 
 
 But who are our assailants ? They are the men who created the debt which 
 is crushing us ; the very same men, who, from 1874 to 188G, had notliing to show 
 except deficits. They appeal to the public accounts, but the public accounts 
 condemn them. Those public accounts are before us. They cannot pretend that 
 they are falsified, short of having the courage to accuse the officers who signed 
 them. If the accounts are false, then our officers are forgers. But those officers 
 were not appointed by us, but by those gentlemen. Is it because they accustomed 
 them to a system of falsification that they believe that that system continues ? I 
 will not insult my adversaries by any such supposition, which would not be honest 
 on my part, as I do not believe it. But if the men whom they appointed are 
 honest, if they stated the truth when those gentlemen were in power, why should 
 they not say so to-day, when their adversaries are in power. Why accept the 
 * figures of these officers named by them, when those gentlemen were there to 
 control them and why refuse them now when we, in our turn, control them ? 
 They have not changed ; they are no more our friends now than they were at that 
 time and they are as much the friends of our adversaries as they were then. 
 
 The honorable member for Montmorency has endeavored to make a point out 
 of what he terms our invention of the system of special expenses. You all heard 
 him well. He cannot understand how an honest man like the present Treasurer 
 who has spent his life in quietly but surely winning the fortune which he possesses 
 and the confidence of honest people, could have invented so dishonest a system. 
 And he exclaims in the accents of seeming conviction : how can you expect us to 
 
understand anything in the public accounts when wo see set down, among the 
 special expenses, things which have never been heard of as special expenses. You 
 have turned the public accounts upside down, so that thsycau no longer be under- 
 stood. TJie man who says this is precisely the man who insisted only a few 
 years since that the class of special expenses should bo maintained. And when 
 his friend the Treasurer of the time refused to have a budget of special expenses, 
 which he termed extraordinary expenses, he criticized him and told him, "bii' "^u 
 understand nothing of finance ; you should have a special budget, an extraordinary 
 budget, a budget of special expenses." This will hardly ba believed ; bxit here is 
 the speech made by the honorable member on the subject in 1883 : 
 
 " In laboriously going through the figures jnst submitted to the serious con- 
 sideration of my honorable colleagues, I have noted, by no means for the first 
 time, both in the budgets and the public accounts of the province, a want which 
 should be supplied as soon as possible. Since 1874, the province has carried out 
 certain works, which have cost considerable sums. We have erected buildings for 
 the public departments at Quebec and for the Jacques Cartier Normal School at 
 Montreal. Clearly, the expenditure for the construction of these buildings should 
 not be counted among the expenses of the ordinary service of the government of 
 the province. To use the phraseology of public finance, these are extraordinary 
 expenses for extraordinary works. It is well known that the greatest and 
 wealthiest countries in the world, those whose financial resources are the most 
 enormous, have all adopted under titles which may differ in terms, but the idea 
 of which is the same, the system of the division of the annual budget of ex- 
 penditure into ordinary and extraordinary budgets. And why ? ChieHy, in order 
 to avoid confusion and to throw as much light as possible upon the exposure of 
 the financial situation, so that the taxpayers may the more easily understand and 
 pass judgment upon it. Consequently, each time that I have examined the 
 French and English budgets, I have been struck with the perfection with which 
 they are prepared and which enables one, in a few minutes' study, to obtain a 
 correct idea of the whole. And yet the budget of England ranges from 
 i;425,000,000 to £450,000,000 and the budget of France, ordinary as well as ex- 
 traordinary, exceeds three milliards and a-half of francs. 
 
 " The Federal budget of Canada is also divided into ordinary budget and 
 extraordinary budget under the head of works imputable to capital (Hansard 83, 
 p. 529.) 
 
 " I insist on the importance and even the necessity of this division, because 
 my honorable colleagues must have remarked, as I have myself remarked, that, 
 with the system followed, many persons, in public ^' .r ssions, knowingly or 
 unknowingly, make altogether incorrect statements of : " financial situation of 
 the province. Consequently, in the calculations which I shall submit to this 
 House, I have constantly made this division of the provincial expenditure into 
 ordinary and extraordinary expenses. This is a correct principle of finance, 
 which is accepted everywhere else and which we should introduce and strictly 
 observe in our Provincial accounts." (Hansard pp. 529.530.) 
 
 -^WMua 
 
8 
 
 1 
 
 Let us now remark how he uppHes his principles : 
 
 You have heard the honorable member a few moments since tell us tliut certain 
 items should not bo classed as sj)ecial expenses. Ho severely critiei/ed the 
 Treasurer because he had entered, as special expenditure, the loan to the I'rotestaut 
 Insane Asylum, Montreal. Hear him : 
 
 " The eighth budget, that of 1874-75, shows a deficit of 867,909.27. But 
 account must be taken of the fact that during this year the province loaned 
 $50,000 to the proprietors of Beauport Asylum, which sum has br ntered 
 among the expenses. An investment is certainly not an expense " ( ird, p. 
 
 530). 
 
 It should be put in the special expenses. And when the honorable Treasurer 
 places there 815,000 loaned to the Protestant Asylum, Montreal, he is guilty 
 of heresy according to the groat financier of Montmoiency. 
 
 Further on, he adds : " To obtain an altogether exact statement of this 
 year's operations, the 816,000 for the public offices, Montreal, must be deducted 
 from the ordinary expenses of the provincial service." 
 
 . But the honorable member canies his pretensions much further. You will 
 have remarked, Mr. Speaker, that in the public accounts before you for the year 
 1889, the sinking fund is entered as an ordinary expense. It amounts to 
 859,000 and the Treasurer has regarded it as an ordinary expense He has 
 accordi'ngly placed it among the ordinary expenses — the expense; \ected, 
 
 with the payment of the debt. 
 
 Now, listen well to the a])plication of the honorable member for Montmorency's 
 principles : 
 
 " During this same financial year, Ave have paid 839,138.88 for the sinking 
 " fund of the provincial debt the creation of which was begun for great works of 
 " utility. This sum is rightly carried to account of the ordinary expev.rcs 
 " because the instalments to the sinking fund are an aimunl and regular obli- 
 " gation of the provincial treasury. But, although these ]mymonts are an 
 " ordinary expense of the province, until the loans to which they are applied 
 " are wiped out, it is not the less true that they constitute to the same extent 
 " a reimbursement of the public debt, which they prooortionately reduce." (do 
 p 531.) 
 
 Further on : (do p. 531.) 
 
 " Jacques Cartier Normal School, Montreal 843,521.90." These are not 
 
 ordinary expenses." In the following year; — Jacques Cartior Normal School 
 Montreal 86,605.70 (do p. 533). 
 
 mm^^''f 
 
9 
 
 These are not ordinary expenses. They are all extraordinary expenses, 
 
 " Redemption of the debt ^1^03.34 (do p. 553.) 
 
 Same application as for the preceding item. A;,'ain further on (do p. tu! 1.) 
 
 " The ])rovince ])aid in 1881-82, for the permanent exliibition building?, 
 " Montreal, a sum of 810,000. Assuredly, this is not an ordinary expense. 
 " We will not have to pay 810,000 every year for these buildings. We have 
 " givin this sum for the construction of buildings open t(i the great provincial 
 " competitions of agriculture and industry. It is a generious contribution in 
 "favor of those gre.at sourcpi of our national wealth. It does not follow that 
 " tlie province is under the obligation of annually paying the same amount for 
 " the same purpose. 
 
 " On the night of the 8th to the 9th June, 1881, our good city of Quebec was 
 " visited by a great calamity. A terrible conthigration destroyed in a few hours 
 " one of the finest (juarters of the city and left thousands of persons without 
 
 "shelter The Government desired— in the name of tlie province — to set 
 
 " the example. It subscribed the sum of SIO.OOO towards the relief of the 
 '• Quebec sulferers. This was a great act of charity, but it is not an annual 
 " expense of the public service. " (do p. F34.) 
 
 Now, only a moment ago, you heard the same man state that we .should not 
 count as special expenses the 810,000 which we gave towards the relief of the 
 sufferers by the St. Sauveur fire, the S'OOO to the Hull suflerersandtho 850,000 
 for seed grain. He is the same fmancier who now criticizes the statement of my 
 honorable friend the Treasurer, contradicts him and declares that it in evident that 
 this system of special expenses is aimed at deceiving the public and that it 
 ■ violates all the rules of book-keeping l)y putting down these items as extraordinary 
 expenses. He is the same financier — I say — who stated in eighteen hundred 
 and eighty-three that the ten thousand dollars' grant to the Quebec fire 
 sufferers and the other expenses just mentioned should be counted among the 
 special and not the ordinary expenses. And the same financier, an instant ago, 
 pretended that my friend the Treasurer had contradicted himself and forfeited the 
 reputation which he had earned for himself in this House, this province and this 
 city, by asserting in the most solemn manner possible that you, Mr. Speaker, and 
 the members of this House should withdraw all confidence from such a man, 
 because he had submitted a misleading statement, made erroneous assertions and 
 repudiated the principles which he had formerly maintained in Opposition. 
 
 He told you that the 850,000 for the purchase of seed grain should not be 
 included in the special expenses. 
 
 Yet this is the same man who approved the policy of the Conservative 
 Treasurers when they placed among the special expenses the items I am about to 
 read to you : 
 
I J ■ 
 
 10 
 
 " Eepayment to the Bank of Montreal of advances for seed grain : 
 
 1871-72 $28,050 
 
 1881-82 „ 7,700 
 
 1883-84 5,616 
 
 1884-85 20,030 
 
 So that the present Treasurer commits a contradiction, is guilty of a financial 
 heresy in entering among the special expenses the $50,000 advanced last year 
 for the purchase of seed grain, though that was just wiiot was always done 
 before our time. 
 
 You heard him (Mr. Desjardins) state that it was the present Treasurer 
 who invented the special expenses and who, for the first time, entered as special 
 expenses the advances for seed grain and yet this man approved the public 
 accounts of his friends who placed among the special expenses the items I have 
 juat mentioned as advances for seed grain. He told yon that it was the present 
 Treasurer who invented this term, when these same advances were entered by 
 tlie previous Treasurer as special expenses and the public accounts in his hands 
 stated the very contrary. 
 
 The hcinorable member has endeavored to make another point against the 
 Government. And he did so almost with tears in his voice — if I was near hi:n 
 I might perhaps, ixavo also found tears in his eyes — to try to show that the 
 increase in the expeneliture was leading us headlong to ruin, and that wo have 
 increased iho expenses by seven hundred and some thousand dallars, refusing to 
 consider and deduct the item of the special expenses explained by the present 
 Treasurer, who told hiii • the increase of the expenses is two hundred and some 
 thousand dollars. He would not take this into account, but he grew alarmed and 
 sou<{ht to alarm the House and the country by pretending that this increase was 
 leading us to ruin, that it was unwarrantable, and that it was necessary to appeal 
 to our patriotism and our intelligence to an'est so disastrous a movement. 
 
 When he was going before the people in 1886, this, however, was hia 
 language : 
 
 " To refuse, under the futile pretext of a misplaced economy, to overstep the 
 restricted limits of the provincial budget of expenditure as laid down at the start 
 by the authors of Confederation, would be to fail in a sacred duty. The Conser- 
 vative party, in charge of our destinies, understood its duty. It adopted the 
 raihvay policy — this is why we have a provincial debt. 
 
 " It would have been a crime to have reraainod inactive through fear of the 
 responsibilities, when all around as we savv labor and c-apital working hand in 
 hand to develop the resources of their provinces. It would have been a crime to 
 liave done nothing to promote the development of a country in which we enjoy 
 the greatest, the brightest and the dearest liberties." 
 
 WA 
 
 h*L 
 
■,:P-wr 
 
 11 
 
 Thus, Mr. Speaker, ia 1886, when the debt was already over 320,000,000— a 
 debt created by those gentlemen — when we had constant, permanent deficits, which 
 were like a stain on our budget ; when we were imploring our adversaries to put, 
 an end to these deficits, not by stopping indispensable expenditure or checking 
 intelligent and necessary progress, but by arresting the squandering which was 
 going on, it was loudly proclaimed that progress could not be arrested or blocked 
 that we had to keep pace with the other provinces, and that we should not be 
 afraid to take the responsibility of the increase of the expenses which were 
 necessary, tut which we contended were not necessary. And lo-day, when every- 
 one is calling for the reforms which we are carrying out, when we are doing three 
 times as much as was done at that time and arc working to rapidly and 
 econ mically dispose of all questions : when we are settling all that can be settled, 
 when we have given [S5(/,000 to purchase seed grain in order to prevent the 
 population from perishing through famine oi going into exile, when we are 
 building railways with extraordinary rapidity, paying a hundred and some 
 thousands of dollars more of interest on the debt contracted by our adversaries, 
 opening free night schools for the education of the working classes, and expending 
 8463,000 to settle one of the most serious and dangerous difficulties, an effort is 
 made to btop us, to criticize us, to condemn us and to refuse us the application of 
 the principles laid down by our adversaries. Yet these principles are not and 
 cannot be forgotten. 
 
 But, if these contradictions emanated from a single individual, if they were 
 the work of one man,- in his personal name, we miglit despise such madness and 
 take no notice of it. It is in the name, however, of a great party as a body thiit 
 they are made and with the encouragement of its applause. You have seen my 
 friend the Opposition leader, enthusistically, applauding the statements 
 and attacks of the member foi Montmorency; you have seen all his friends 
 accepting the responsibility of his contradictions — contradictions which prove one 
 thing: that when those gentlemen were in power, they thought they had a perfect 
 right to incur any expense whatever on the pretence of progress, and to s<iuander 
 as much as they pleased in order tc enrich a few favorites or a few cortractors who 
 subscribed to their election funds. And when, to-day, we want to pusli ahead 
 rapidly in the path of progress, when we pay no heed to the unfixir criticism of 
 which we are the objects, and Avhen we accept the responsibility of our acts and 
 endeavor as honorable and intelligent men to solve the great problems of the 
 hour, we are attacked by those gentlemen. 
 
 They have gone further. The honorable member said — you all lieard him — 
 how comes it — you boast of having extraorJinard receipts, of having collected 
 $700,000 more of revenue ; but are you not aware that you are making a breach 
 
nWiVuKiW*!.. I. "'ii'W'l V*|iiW"»" "* "" ' ' " 
 
 in your capital ; that you are getting your increase irom the proceeds of the sales 
 of limber limits, and that you have no such light. And yet, Mr. Speaker, in 
 going through all the public accounts since Confederation, I find that, every time 
 those gentlemen effected a sale of timber limits, they entered the proceeds among 
 the ordinary receipts. They did more than th.it. It might be even said that the 
 honorable member had in advance undertaken to reply to himself, for, in 1884, he 
 said : " The pretensions of Mr. Wood, the Treasurer of the province of Ontario 
 are unassailable." He cites him in his speech. 
 
 What are those pretensions 1 
 
 " We are obliged from time to time to offer for sale certain parts of our forest 
 " townships, or, to speak more correctly, to ofter f sale the right to cut the 
 " timber on the payment of a ground rent and of dues on certain portions of our 
 " Crown lands. The result has been that, for some years past, receipts of the 
 " Crown Lands Department have been very large. It has been .-..dd that without 
 " the Crown Lands Department, without the receipts of that department, we 
 " could not continue to administer the ordinary affairs of Ontario. It has been 
 " said that we are living on the capital of the province and that we are ex- 
 " hausting it." 
 
 My friend, the member for Montmorency, adds : 
 
 "This part of Hon. Mr. Wood's argument seems tome evident." Hansard 83, 
 pp. 679-580. 
 
 In 1883, he approved the policy of charging as an ordinary receipt the 
 proceeds from the sale of timber limits. And to-day, seven years afterwards, he 
 comes forward to accuse the present Treasurer of doing the same tiling — he 
 (Desjardins) who supported every successi'e Government, which made precisely 
 the same entry we have made. 
 
 Well, Mr. Speaker, there is no need, I think, of my insisting further on these 
 contradictions or entering into any more details. All the proceeds of the sales of 
 timber limits since Confederation have l)een carried to the ordinary receipts. I 
 defy contradiction on this point. More than that ; the policy enunciated by the 
 Treasurer of Ontario, Mr. Wood, and based on the same system, was approved by 
 the hon. member in 1883. 
 
 The hon. member went siill further — and I shall have done with his contra- 
 dictious with this quotation — he went even so far as to tell us that every expense of 
 a more or less permanent nature should be charged to the ordinary and not to the 
 special expenses. 
 
 And yet the member who made this statement was in the House in 1886. I 
 have just read you a part of his speech of 1886, approving the financial statement 
 of the hon. member for Sherbrooke, who was then Treasurer of the province. 
 
I ( 
 
 13 
 
 the sales 
 iker, in 
 iry time 
 3 among 
 that the 
 1884, he 
 Ontario 
 
 ur forest 
 I cut the 
 13 of our 
 ts of the 
 without 
 nent, we 
 has been 
 I are ex- 
 
 isard 83, 
 
 ;cipt the 
 kvards, he 
 ling — he 
 precisely 
 
 Ion these 
 sales of 
 
 fipts. I 
 by the 
 roved by 
 
 contra- 
 Ipense of 
 [t to the 
 
 1886. I 
 itement 
 ice. 
 
 Among the declarations of the Treasurer of that day, there was this one : "It 
 will be remarked that the grants of last session to the amount of §100,000, which 
 were voted for colonization roads, should not be taken out of the ordinary revenue 
 but be charged to capital." 
 
 Here, then, wo have a gentleman blaming the present Treasurer for charging 
 to special expenses an expenditure which will not recur, like the 850,000 for the 
 purchase of seed grain and the other outlays I have mentioned, though he approved 
 the Treasurer of 1886 in charging the item of colonization roads to capital and 
 refused to enter it among the ordinary expenses. 
 
 Is it possible to more clearly show up his inconsistency ? I think not and I 
 therefore prefer to stop here. 
 
 I have proved, I think, that the hon. member changed front on financial 
 questions whenever it suited him and especially according to the side of the House 
 on which he found himself. But whatever may have been his changes on 
 questions of finance, his adhesion to party has always remained the same. He now 
 condemns what he approved in ISSO and previous years, but he does not alter his 
 party. He finds that everything done now is wrong, tliough it is being done more 
 correctly than in 1880 ; and he is ready to condemn what he approved ; but ho 
 will not, for instance, condemn his party to-day any more than lie did at that time. 
 As he found tluit tlieie were always surpluses when his friends were in power, so he 
 finds that there is nothing but deficits now that they are in Opposition, and yet, 
 as I have already stated, the public accounts show that from 1874 to 1886 there 
 was nothing but deficits. 
 
 Here is a letter \vhich his been communicated to me this very moment. It 
 bears the date of the 25th of January, 1890, and is from Hon. Mr, Koss, Treasurer 
 of Ontario, It says : 
 
 "Treasury Department 
 
 "Toronto, 25th June, 1890 
 
 "Hon. Josepli Shehyn, 
 
 Treasurer, 
 Qucbor. 
 
 "My Dear Sir, 
 
 In reply to your enquiry of tlio 23nl inst., the province of Ontario has since 
 Confedoration had several sales of timber limits for which largo bonuses have boeu 
 
 3 
 
'"tftS*' 
 
 14 
 
 received. These have always been treated (both under Conservative and Eeform 
 management) as ordinary revenue and I cannot see how they could be treated in 
 any other way. 
 
 These bonuses have been included in the ordinary Crown Lands revenue 
 from Woods and Forests in Public Accounts. 
 
 I am, my Dear Sir, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 (Signed), A. M. EOSS." 
 
 The same thing here ; the same thing in Ontario, and it was the same thing when 
 those gentlemen were iu power. To-day, however, it should not be so, and the 
 honorable member wants to condemn us because we keep the accouuts in the 
 same way as they are kept everywhere and as they were kept by our predecessors. 
 
 The honorable member spoke of the present floating debt. He placed it at 
 over $5,000,000 and told us with wondrous audacity that not a minute should be 
 lost, as the Government was about to contract a new loan. If he was to be 
 believed, it would be necessary for us, even as early as Monday next, to propose a 
 new loan to meet what he terms our floating debt. 
 
 In the first placC; Mr. Speaker, permit mc to remiud you that the times are 
 greatly changed. In 1887, we found that there was an acknowledged floating 
 debt of $4,000,000, a debt admitted, incontestable and uncontested. We found 
 that, in addition, there were contested claims to the extent of over $4,000,000 
 more. We asked power to borrow $3,500,000. Even, in the face of these figures, 
 my honorable friend wanted to refuse us this power, and to-day when we contend 
 that we have no longer a floating debt, he wants to force a loan on us whether wo 
 like it or not. When we showed as cldir as daylight that a loan was indispensable, 
 he would not hear of it ; but now that we state that we have no need of a loan 
 at the moment, he insists that we must contract a loan, and he wishes at all 
 costs to force the Government to borrow money which they do not want, This is 
 a little too strong. 
 
 You will admit, Mr. Speaker, that this exceeds the legitimate bounds of joking. 
 For the Treasurer must have been right in 1887, since the member for Montmo- 
 rency proves that, notwithstanding the fact that three millions and a-half were 
 borrowed, there is still a floating debt of five millions. Although we have paid 
 off most of the uncontested claims of that period, there is still, says he, a debt of 
 five millions of dollars. And yet, we refuse to borrow now because the Treasurer 
 
 if'' '' 
 
f 
 
 15 
 
 joking. 
 
 ontmo- 
 alf were 
 ve paid 
 
 debt of 
 
 eaaurer 
 
 says : " I have enough of money to meet all the obligations of the moment." No, 
 exclaims the honorable member on the other sido, you are ignorant of the 8tat« of 
 your cash ; you must contract a new loan. If, on Monday next, the Treaburer 
 consented to follow the advice of the member for Montmorency, the member for 
 Montmorency would say : you should not borrow ; it is unnecessary. Here again 
 is one of our friend's innumerable contradictions. 
 
 We are going to follow our own way quietly and to the best of our knowledge. 
 We shall do for the best under the painful circumstances in which we have been 
 placed by the fatal policy of our predecessors and we shall endeavor as best we 
 can to extricate the province from the embarrassments into which those gentlemen 
 have plunged it. 
 
 The honorable member concluded by reminding us of our promises of 1886 ; in 
 the course of a warm appeal, he told us that if we wished to be logical, to 
 honorably keep our promises to the electorate, we should cease to borrow, and that 
 you, the Ministeral supporters, should condemn the Government because they had 
 borrowed $3,500,000. That loan, said he, is a violation of the promises made in 
 1886 and a new loan would be a fresh violation. And yet the honorable member, 
 said : you must borrow ; you are forced to borrow ; you cannot go further 
 without borrowing. Well, Mr. Speaker, my answer will be very brief. We 
 borrowed S3,500,000 to pay off the floating debt which amounted to §4,000,000. 
 There were, as I have already stated, $4,000,000 additional of contested claims, of 
 which we have paid a good part. We have not borrowed a cent apart from the 
 $3,500,000. 
 
 I shall go further. Although we have paid several items which wo were 
 forced to admit and although we have been condemned to pay several contested 
 items, we have not even been obliged to effect a single temporary loan. You will 
 not find, in any of the statements laid before the House siace 1888, that we have 
 borrowed one cent in the way of temporary loans. 
 
 Hon. Mr. Flynn. — You are paying out of the railway guarantee deposits, 
 
 Hon. Mr. Merciek. — We have money at our disposal and we employ it to 
 pay the debts contracted by you and your friends. Gentlemen opposite term this 
 a loan. Have you ever heard of such a thing, Mr. Speaker ? We carry out 
 transactions which place at our disposal $2,000,000 and some thing to pay the 
 debts contracted by them and they say : — You are making loans. 
 
 You heard the honorable member for Montmorency assert a few moments ago 
 that these $2,000,000 of railway guarantee depo.sits constituted a loan and that a 
 
 -I 
 
null naai fm 
 
 lUfflSBaMSfifP^s^; 
 
 16 
 
 permanent loan would have to be immediately contracted to reimburse them, 
 because, said he, you have taken S2,000,000 of money belonging to the railways 
 which you must refund. You must refund ! Is not the honorable member aware 
 that we have ten years to reimburse them ? The law is tliero ; the contracts are 
 there. The law states that the Lieutenaut-Governor-in-council may guarantee the 
 interest on tlie debentures of the railway companies during the term of years 
 which he may deem proper, provided a dfeposit be made Avith the treasury to the 
 amount which the Treasurer shall deem sufficient to guarantee tlie interest for 
 which he becomes surety ; and in each of the cases, that of the Temiscouata 
 railway and that. of the Lake St. John railway, we have ten years to reimburse 
 and yet those gentlemen want us to borrow immediately to re"pay these two 
 millions, when we have ten years to do so ! Has such a pretension ever been 
 heard of ? And it is a man. who poses as serious, who advises you to borrow 
 immediately to pay a debt which you have ten years to pay in twenty half yearly 
 instalments. But it is said : you have failed in your promises ; you have 
 borrowed .':?3,000,000, vrhen we prove to you that it was to pay the debt incurred 
 by those gentlemen. And then, in 1888, you voluntarily and unanimously voted 
 new railway subsidies to the extent of over $1,500,000. You did not deem it 
 proper to record that vote as a protest, because most of the gentlemen on the other 
 side desired that these new subsidies should be granted. 
 
 We have paid a fourth or at least a fifth of these subsidies without borrowing 
 a cent. We have paid $400,000 to the Jesuits, wo have paid 8100,000 for the 
 construction of iron bridges, wo have paid the 850,000 for seed grain, we have 
 paid all these sums which you know of and yet these gentlemen have the audacity 
 to tell you thut we are leading the country to bankruptcy I 
 
 If we did wrong in agreeing to new railway subsidies in 1888, that wrong 
 was shared by our adversaries. It is quite true that the motion was declared 
 carried on division, but not one of them dared to vote against it ; and when the 
 share of the Catholics in the Jesuits' indemnity was in question, we were unani- 
 mous, Protestants as well as Catholics, supporters of the Opposition as well as 
 supporters of the Ministry : we voted thftttime unanimously. Wherefrom would 
 would you have \is take the money to pay these 8400,000 ? Do you think they 
 could be paid with prayers ? You authorized us to pay them ; thank us therefore 
 for having found the means to pay them without resorting to a temporary loan 
 from the banks. 
 
 You say : you took it from the railway deposits. AVhere would you 
 have us take it ? When those gentlemen had anytliing to pay, they did not take 
 the money from ileposits, because they had none. They went to the banks. Con- 
 
 
 ^. 
 
' •'^^tatrnh'-'f- ' 
 
 
 17 
 
 soquently, when we came to power, we were obliged to pay $4,000,000 of tem- 
 porary loans which those gentlemen had contracted, for the good and sufficient 
 reason that they could not live without borrowing, their treasury being empty 
 This is the truth. 
 
 wrong 
 declared 
 ^en the 
 
 unani- 
 ^vell as 
 
 would 
 |k they 
 lereforo 
 \y loan 
 
 Id you 
 3t take 
 Con- 
 
 I shall leave the member for Montmorency with his contradictions, with his 
 rash and audacious assertions, and with his exaggerated pretensions. He is 
 preparing a little baggage for the elections which, he says, are nigh. He is in the 
 Lieutenant Governor's secrets more than I am, for I have never said that the 
 elections would soon take place, and he asserts with infallible knowledge that 
 the treasury is empty and that we must borrow. "Well, Mr. Speaker, let him 
 say so ; the province of Quebec is not the less in a prosperous state and the 
 treasury in excellent condition. We are paying all that wo can and we always 
 meet our obligations ; we have paid the §400,000 to the Jesuits, and we shall 
 pay, when the law has been sanctioned, the $60,000 to the Protestants ; we shall 
 meet all our liabilities honestly ; and, when we come togetuei again in this 
 House to render an account of our management, we shall prove to all who are 
 open to conviction that that management has been faithful, honorable, intelligent 
 and in the interests of the province. 
 
 I have only a word more to say. I willingly pardon the member for 
 Montmorency for his unfair attacks on my party and especially on the Treasurer. 
 Much allowance must be made for those who are now in Opposition, because 
 they loved power much. 
 
 I hope that the statements of my honorable friend, unsupported as they are 
 by any proof, will not shake the confidence of my friends in this House and of 
 the country. Every one knows that we are making constant and conscientious 
 efforts to restore public confidence and to reestablish order in the finances and 
 that we have succeeded in putcing an end to the deficits, which were the rule 
 before we came into power. Every one knows that we have the confidence of our 
 friends in the House. They have proved this on different occasions and they 
 will again prove it to-night. 
 
 It is not by attacks of the character I have just referred to that our friends 
 will be persuaded to abandon us. They know that we are doing our best and 
 that, if the expenditure has increased, the revenue has augmented in still greater 
 proportions. They knov^ that we are making conscientious exertions to govern 
 the country well. They do not regard us as faultless any more than we con- 
 sider ourselves faultless. But they know that we are doing our duty, that we 
 
 ^».. 
 
WS^tK^^^^^m 4«B»»r^'*«K?^.»«"»*«^ 
 
 
 18 
 
 It 
 
 If'; 
 
 accept the responsibility of our acts and that we are not afraid to assume the re- 
 sponsibility of the acts of our friends ; and to-night, I am convinced, they will 
 give us a fresh proof of their confidence, which will be ratified by the electorate. 
 And when we shall appear before the electorate — I do not want to boast — but 
 if the Almighty will keep me in health and give me the necessary strength, I shall 
 lead at the general elections the noble and generous phalanx I have around me. 
 (Applause) I shall be at its head and what is more I shall not flee the place where 
 there is most danger or most fatigue : I shall be found at the most perillous 
 posts ; I shall be everywhere that a friend wants my aid, and I shall carry aloft 
 the same flag as in 1886 and which I have since preciously cherished — the National 
 flag, which will be hailed with respect by the whole province and which I shall 
 carry back to this House stainless, glorious and triumphant. (Prolonged 
 Applause). 
 
 
 Klf^; 
 
 Z} 
 
7 
 
 
 e the re- 
 they will 
 ilectorate. 
 jast — but 
 ;h, I shall 
 )und me. 
 ice where 
 perillous 
 arry aloft 
 National 
 3h I shall 
 Prolonged 
 
 'VT