102 



CANADA, DOMINION OP. 



question whether such bill or amendments shall 

 pass shall be decided by a majority of the mem- 

 bers of the two houses present and voting, and 

 the vote of any such joint sitting shall, as re- 

 spects such bill or amendments, have the same 

 force and effect as a vote of the Senate under 

 the existing constitution." 



The proposal was opposed by the Conservatives, 

 mainly on the ground that its nature was un- 

 precedented: that it could not be made to work 

 in harmony with British principles of govern- 

 ment: and 'that the equality of provincial repre- 

 sentation in the upper house would be practi 

 callv destroyed. 



During the session Sir Charles Tupper, as Oppo- 

 sition leader, moved the following resolution m 

 connection with preferential trade relations with- 

 in the empire: 



" In the opinion of this House it is the duty of 

 the Government, in response to these repeated 

 advances by the imperial authorities, to endeavor 

 to secure for the produce of Canada that prefer- 

 ential treatment in the markets of the United 

 Kingdom which would be of such inestimable 

 value to the farmers and other producers of 

 Canada competing against foreign rivals in the 

 markets of the United Kingdom, would set in 

 motion a great tide of immigration to our shores, 

 people the vast wheat areas of the Canadian 

 Northwest, enhance farm values in the older 

 provinces, promote the unity of our empire, and 

 speedily deliver it from dependence upon a for- 

 eign food supply." 



It was defeated by a party vote of 77 to 41, 

 the position of the Government being that their 

 tariff discrimination of 25 per cent, in favor of 

 Great Britain was all that could be done at pres- 

 ent, and that Canada must trust to time and 

 sentiment in England for the overthrow of free- 

 trade principles and the establishment of a prefer- 

 ence there for Canadian products. The Conserva- 

 tives claimed that Canada should have asked for 

 this before granting a preference in its own 

 market. 



The Transvaal situation evoked an interest- 

 ing debate and a loyal resolution. The House 

 adjourned on Aug. 11, after discussing a long 

 resolution introduced by the Hon. G. E. Foster, 

 in behalf of the Conservative party. It is given 

 here as very fully propounding in an historical 

 manner the policy of the Opposition and their 

 view of the Government's administration: 



" That the Liberal party went to the country 

 in 1896 with a policy declaring, among other 

 tilings, for (a) reduction in taxation, (&) de- 

 crease in expenditure, (c) diminution of the pub- 

 lic debt, (d) extermination of the principle and 

 practice of protection, (c) independence of Par- 

 liament and purity of the electorate, (f) aboli- 

 tion of railway bonuses or subsidies, and (g) an 

 honest, economical, and business administration. 



" That, comparing 1899 and 1896, the amount 

 of customs and excise taxation has been in- 

 creased by nearly $7,000,000, or by over $1 a head 

 of the population, and the total amount collected 

 from the people by over $8,000,000, or about $1.27 

 a head. The total expenditure has been increased 

 by about $8,000,000, or over $1.25 a head; while 

 the total amount, not including next year's sup- 

 plementary, voted for the year 1899-1900 reaches 

 the astounding sum of $51,796,344, or $13,000,000 

 more than was voted, and $14,847,197 more than 

 was expended, for the year 1896. The net debt 

 has increased about $6,000,000, and must be seri- 

 ously augmented by the enormous expenditures 

 authorized at the present session of Parliament. 



" That, instead of exterminating protection and 



establishing a system of free trade, or tariff for 

 revenue only, we have incorporated the principle 

 of protection into the tariff acts of 1897 and 

 1898, and the results of the year 1898-'99 showed 

 that they have imposed a rate of 28.74 per cent, 

 on all dutiable goods imported for home con- 

 sumption, as compared with 29.94 per cent, in 

 1896, or upon dutiable and free imports for home 

 consumption of 16.95 per cent., as compared with 

 an average of 17.47 per cent, for the years 1892-'96 

 inclusive. 



" That the independence of Parliament and the 

 purity of the electorate have been illustrated by 

 the traffic in seats in both houses of Parliament 

 for purely party purposes; by the arbitrary and 

 indefensible dismissals from office; by interested 

 and unnecessary appointments to public offices 

 in all branches of the service; by the written and 

 authorized promise of office emoluments and sub- 

 ventions given, to members of Parliament and 

 others by the Premier and other members of the 

 Government for electoral and party purposes; by 

 the practical repudiation of the safe principle 

 of open competition, tender and contract, as ap- 

 plied to the expenditures of public money, and 

 the giving of contracts by private arrangement 

 to parly friends, who thus make profit for them- 

 selves at the expense of the country. That, in- 

 stead of abolishing the system of bonus and 

 subsidies to railways, they have this year, in 

 addition to the payment of $1,600,000 for the 

 Drummond County Railway and $140,000 yearly 

 for ninety-nine years as rental to the Grand 

 Trunk Railway Company, authorized the expendi- 

 ture of not less than $6,500,000 for general rail- 

 way bonuses, in many instances for unnecessary 

 and parallel lines. That the promise to main- 

 tain an honest, economical, and businesslike ad- 

 . ministration has been illustrated by: (a) The 

 entry upon enterprises unauthorized by Parlia- 

 ment, and for which no appropriation had been 

 made, which involved the expenditure of millions 

 of dollars and the diversion of moneys specifically 

 voted for distinct and well-defined services to 

 these purposes, thus setting at naught the con- 

 stitutional principle of parliamentary sanction 

 and appropriation. (&) By undertaking the con- 

 struction of public wharves and buildings which 

 are either totally unwarranted on grounds of 

 public necessity, or which should be left to pro- 

 vincial, municipal, or private enterprise, (c) By 

 an extravagant, inefficient, and useless expendi- 

 ture proposed and carried out in the Yukon dis- 

 trict, and a management of affairs there which 

 has exposed the whole system to general suspicion 

 and provoked charges seriously affecting the char- 

 acter and efficiency of the administration and its 

 officials, and compromising the good name of 

 Canada, which have been refused thorough and 

 adequate investigation before an independent and 

 judicial commission, (d) By its inefficient con- 

 duct of the business of Parliament ; its failure to 

 achieve much-needed legislation for the good of 

 Canada, to secure a fast Atlantic service, to set- 

 tle any of the vexed international questions at 

 issue, to induce any mutually preferential trade 

 Avith other portions of the empire, or to open up 

 a single new market under improved conditions, 

 reciprocal or otherwise, in any quarter of the 

 world." 



The motion was defeated on a strict party vote 

 after it had served its purpose of discussion, and 

 the following measures, among many other minor 

 ones, were then assented to by Lord Minto in 

 the name of the Queen: 



To incorporate the Edmonton and Slave Lake 

 Railway Company. 



