6 74 CANADA 



foreign policy. . . . When Great Britain no longer assumes sole responsibility for 

 defence upon the high seas she can no longer undertake to assume sole responsibility for 

 and sole control of foreign policy, which is closely, vitally, and constantly associated with 

 that defence in which the Dominions participate. . , ,. The great Dominions, sharing in 

 the defence of the Empire upon the high seas, must necessarily be entitled to share also in 

 the responsibility for and in the control of foreign policy. Not only His Majesty's Min- 

 isters but also the leaders of the opposite political party in Great Britain, have explicitly 

 accepted this principle. . . . 



" I have alluded to the difficulty of finding an acceptable basis upon which the great Domin- 

 ions co-operating with the mother-country in defence can receive and assert an adequate 

 voice in the control and moulding of foreign policy. We were brought closely in touch with 

 both subjects when we met the British Ministers in the Committee of Imperial Defence. 

 That committee is peculiarly constituted, but in my judgment is very effective. It consists 

 of the Prime Minister of Great Britain and such persons as he may summon to attend it. 

 Practically all the members of the cabinet from time to time attend its deliberations, and 

 usually the more important members of the cabinet are present. In addition, naval and 

 military experts and the technical officers of the various departments concerned are in 

 attendance. A very large portion of the work of the committee is carried on by subcom- 

 mittees, which often are composed in part of persons who are not members of the general 

 committee itself, and who are selected for their special knowledge of the subjects to be 

 considered and reported upon. The amount of work which thus has been performed during 

 the past five or six years in particular is astonishing, and I have no doubt that it has con- 

 tributed largely to the safety of the whole Empire in time of peril. 



" The committee is not technically or constitutionally responsible to the House of Commons 

 and thus it is not supposed to concern itself with policy. As so many important members 

 of the cabinet are summoned to attend the committee, its conclusions are usually accepted 

 by the cabinet and thus command the support of the majority of the House of Commons, 

 While the committee does not control policy in any way and could not be undertaken to do 

 so as ic is not responsible to parliament, it is necessarily and constantly obliged to consider 

 foreign policy and foreign relations for the obvious reason that defence, and especially naval 

 defence, is inseparably connected with such considerations. 



" I am assured by his Majesty's Government that pending a final solution of the question 

 of voice and influence they would welcome the presence in London of a Canadian Minister 

 during the whole or a portion of each year. Such minister would be regularly summoned 

 to all meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence and be regarded as one of its permanent 

 members. No important step in foreign policy would be undertaken without consultation 

 with such representative of Canada. This means a very marked advance both from our 

 standpoint and from that of the United Kingdom. It would give us the opportunity of con- 

 sultation and therefore influence which hitherto we have not possessed." 



In opposition to the Government proposals, Sir Wilfrid Laurier on December i2th 

 moved an amendment which, while not negativing the first clause of the Government 

 resolution providing for a vote for increasing the effective Naval forces of the Empire, 

 would have substituted for the remaining clauses a resolution declaring it necessary that 

 Canada without further delay should enter actively upon a permanent policy of naval 

 defence, and that any measure of aid to Imperial naval defence which did not embody a 

 permanent policy of participation by ships owned, manned and maintained, by Canada, 

 was not an adequate expression of the aspirations of the Canadian people. Mr. 

 Borden, said Sir Wilfrid, had asserted that before she enacted a permanent policy 

 Canada must have a voice in all questions affecting war or peace. But that was a. 

 large contract, and the question before them was that of emergency and immediate 

 defence. If Canada was represented in the councils of war and peace the other 

 Dominions and dependencies must be also. That question might take years to solve. 

 It must be discussed by itself, and in 1 the meantime Canada should continue in her 

 preparations for defence. Sir Wilfrid Laurier condemned the Government's policy of 

 direct contribution as un-Canadian and un-British, and as unsuited to the real needs 

 of the Empire. 



Other Legislation, 1910-12. Among important acts passed during the session 1910-11 

 were the Opium and Drug Act, which prohibits the importation, manufacture, sale or 

 possession for other than scientific or medicinal purposes of opium, cocaine, morphine and 

 eucaine, or any salts or compounds thereof; a new Seed Control Act ; and an Act confirming 

 and sanctioning the treaty signed at Washington on January u, 1909, relating to the bound- 

 ary waters and to the questions arising along the boundary between Canada and the United 

 States. In the session 1911-12, an act was passed amending the Dry Docks Subsidies Act 

 of 1910, and providing that any dry dock shall not be deemed, for the purpose of subsidy, 



