1. Yes.

2. Not any one or more of tlife said bylaws or the approval of the Governor in Council have been rescinded.

3. The government is not aware that since the date of the said Order in Council a charge of $31 per ton is made for hauling twenty-one miles from Skagway to the Summit while from the Summit to White Pass, ninety miles, the charge is $14 per ton.

Ross (Victoria, N.S.), Russell,

Sifton,

Stewart,

Sutherland (Essex), Sutherland (Oxford), Talbot,

Tarte,

Thompson,

Tucker, .

Turgeon,

Wade,

Ward,

Wright.-74.

;639

4. The government is not aware that such charge is made, and has therefore had no reason to consider the question.

5. No, it has not.

Mr. J. E. EMILE LEONARD (Laval).

(Translation.) moved :

That it is greatly in the interest of the market gardeners and the farmers, that the duties on our Canadian garden products be so adjusted as to guarantee the Canadian fanner an effective protection against foreign competition.

In moving this resolution, which is the first one I have the honour to submit to this House, allow me, Mr. Speaker, to define my policy on all matters pertaining to agriculture, which is the corner stone of the prosperity of our country. I am in favour of protecting the Canadian farmer, and that by any means and at any cost ; and to this end, both sides of the House should join hands, and, in discussing this national question, they should meet on neutral ground, when all party divisions being cast aside, we could all direct our common efforts to improving the condition of the farming community. For my part, I have no hesitation in saying that I would be ready to support and co-operate with any hon. gentleman on the other side of the House, and even with out and out Liberals. I have the honour to represent in this House the county of Laval, which is rightly called the garden of Montreal, and in that county, as in most agricultural counties in Canada, garden produce is an important feature of the farming business, and I believe that the government ought, without further delay, to readjust the duties imposed upon market produce imported into this country, so as to satisfy the demands of the gardeners. Several important delegations have waited upon the government with a view to asking for a more efficacious protection in favour of their products, and, since then, our farmers have been anxiously awaiting the changes, the need of which is so keenly felt and which should be granted by any government who strives to protect and encourage the tillers of the soil. What do our market gardeners require at the hands of the government ? What they are asking for, Sir, is but fair and reasonable ; like all workingmen, they want to be well paid for their work, or in other words, they want to be protected from the encroachments of foreigners. Now, Sir, a very simple way of reaching that object would be to change our small ad valorem duty into a specific duty, and that is the only way in which we can give them fair protection. Market gardening is developing very rapidly in this country, and in my county, and in the neighbouring county as well, there are nearly 200 market gardeners, who employ on an

Hon. Mr. BLATR.

average four or five hands each, some of them even employing as many as thirty hands, in the raising of vegetables for the Montreal market. Those gardeners rank in the census as farmers. Out of that number about 125 grow vegetables in hot-beds, and the number of those hot-beds is very near 20,000, of a total value of $150,000, and the capital invested in that business, such as horses, teams and implements or tools, must reach a still higher figure. The implements used by gardeners, the teams, the clothes, and indeed everything that they require, is highly protected by duties to which they do not object, provided that their products receive the same protection. At the present moment, market gardeners in Canada are only protected by a duty ad valorem, based on the cost prices in the Southern States, where those vegetables are raised in open ground at very low cost, at a season of the year when, in Canada, the snow still covers the ground.

I have now on my desk a petition signed by a large number of gardeners of West Lambton, asking for a readjusting of cus

toms duties. That petition has been submitted to the hon. Minister of Customs (Mr. Paterson), but so far it has remained unanswered. This petition reads as follows :-

We, the undersigned, farmers and gardeners of the electoral division of West Lambton, beg to call respectfully your attention to the following articles of the Am ;ri :an tariff as compared with the Canadian tariff.

Then they go on to say that a duty of 25 cents per bushel is levied on potatoes, whereas, under the Canadian tariff, they pay only 15 cents per bushel. Cabbages must pay a duty of 3 cents each, under the American tariff, whereas the Canadian tariff only imposes a duty ad valorem of 25 per cent. Onions pay a duty of 40 cents per bushel under the American tariff, whereas the Canadian tariff imposes a duty ad valorem of 25 per cent.

They further state that, as to those three articles, the Canadian producer finds it well-nigh impossible to compete on the American market, on account of the difference in tariff rates ; whilst the American producer can easily come in here to compete with the Canadian producer on his own market. As a consequence, the American producer, having the advantage of a milder climate, in the south of the United States, can put his products much earlier on the market, and at the very moment when the Canadian producer could hope to reap the benefit of his early production, he finds his own market flooded with foreign products, which, as is well known, cannot compare in quality with those raised here, but only serve the purpose of lowering prices, to the great detriment of the Canadian producer.

A remodelling of the tariff would, in our opinion, remedy that evil. Such a readjustment should have for its object the raising

of our tariff so as to enhance the price of American vegetables to the Canadian consumer, and enable our farmers to secure a sufficient price for their vegetables grown during the winter season.

This petition is backed by a resolution passed by the Association of market gardeners of Ontario, who also ask the lion. Minister of Customs (Mr. Paterson) to amend the tariff and to impose the following duties

Asparagus, 3 cents per ib.

Cabbages, 3 cents each.

Cauliflowers, 3 cents each.

Celery, 25 cents per doz.

Beans, 50 cents per bushel.

Green Cucumbers, 20 cents per doz.

Onions, 40 cents per bushel of 56 !b.

Beans, 50 cents per bushel.

Tomatoes, 5 cents per lb.

Water melons, 5 cents each.

Musk melons (cantaloupe), 3 cents each.

Spinach, 25 cents per bushel.

Other vegetables, not elsewhere enumerated, including green corn, 25 per cent.

It is not my intention, Mr. Speaker, to speak at greater length on this question, the more so as the hon. Minister of Customs is perfectly acquainted with the matter, from the great number of petitions bearing on this special subject which have been presented to him within the last two years. The only serious objection that can be raised is that the consumer will have to pay a little more for early vegetables. Well, even this objection falls to the ground if we take into consideration the fact that those who can afford to eat green vegetables in the winter, when there is a great scarcity of them, have certainly the means to pay a little more without inconvenience. Moreover, what has taken place in the case of manufactured products will also happen in the case of farm produce ; and the impetus thus given to market gardening will give rise to local competition, and in the end the consumer will not have to pay any more than he does at present, and we shall have promoted and encouraged an industry which may well be truly called national.

I agree that it is somewhat late, at this stage of the session, to present this resolution. But I could not do it sooner, having had to wait for some of the papers asked [DOT] for, and which the minister has just brought down. At any rate, this question is essentially a Canadian question, and this House, irrespective of party affiliations, ought forthwith to take into consideration the grievances complained of by Canadian market gardeners. Those complaints do not come from any single province, but they come from every province, and, as a matter of fact, the department of the Minister of Customs is flooded with similar requests coming from all parts of the Dominion.

It is not sufficient for the government to encourage railways, and to protect commerce and manufactures, because, if the

wants of the farming community are not attended to, and farmers are unable to get a living, it is to no purpose that we are passing legislation here to encourage railways, manufacturers or immigration, agriculture being the very corner stone of our national prosperity.

Before voting appropriations for immigration, before throwing away our money, and launching upon extravagant schemes, as the present government are doing, we ought to consider if it is not possible for us to remedy the existing evil. What I have just called your attention to is one of those evils which we ought to be able to eradicate. If that evil exists among the farming community it is only for want of adequate protection. I have spoken at greater length than I intended because the question is a very important one, as it affects a large number of our fellow-countrymen. I think all the honourable gentlemen representing agricultural counties ought to participate in this debate and support my demands.

(Translation.) Would the hon. deputy, before resuming his seat, be kind enough to tell me upon what particular articles he desires to have higher duties imposed than those now in force ?

Mr. LEONARD.

(Translation.) I have pointed them out a little while ago, namely, asparagus, 3 cents a pound; cabbages, 3 cents each ; cauliflowers, 3 cents each ; celery, 25 cents a dozen ; green pease, 50 cents a bushel ; green encumbers, 50 cents per dozen ; onions, 40 cents per bushel of 50 pounds ; potatoes, 25 cents per bushel ; melons, 3 cents each ; spinach, 25 cents per bushel ; other vegetables, not elsewhere enumerated, including green corn, 23 per cent. Such are the demands embodied in the petition of the market gardeners.

(Translation.) One word only. We should bear in mind that the present tariff is the same as was in force in former years. Then it should not be forgotten that the articles on which they want us to impose higher duties are the very same which we cannot produce all the year round. There is a considerable trade in garden produce, especially in Montreal. The city of Montreal is the great distributing point for the products mentioned by the hon. member for Laval (Mr. Leonard.) I entertain considerable doubts as to the increase of duties on those products imported from abroad being likely to result in something practical, if you take into consideration the fact that our farmers cannot supply that foreign market, because they do not produce those vegetables all the year round. Many articles, amongst those just mentioned by the hon. gentleman, are imported from the United States, to which country a little later in tin1 year many similar products of our own are

exported. If we raised the duties on those products as asked for by the hon. gentleman we should incur the risk of retaliation on the part of the United States as to products coming from Canada. We carry on, for instance, a considerable trade in melons with our neighbours, and our duty on that article is 25 per cent, whereas it is on the free list in the United States. What would my hon. friend say if the American government should decide to impose on that article a similar duty to ours ?

Mr. F. D. MONK (Jacques Cartier).

(Translation.) That would make no difference.

(Translation.) The hon. gentleman says that it woud make no difference. But I think it would make a good deal of difference. If it was the same for the United States, why should it not be the same for us ?

Mr. MONK.

(Translation.) They don't grow melons in the United States.

(Translation.) I may tell the hon. gentleman that I have eaten some excellent melons in the United States.

Mr. MONK.

(Translation.) They had, no doubt, been grown here.

(Translation.) Of course, they are not so palatable as those grown by some constituents of my hon. friend. At any rate, it is of public notoriety that the greatest number of the articles, upon which we are asked to increase the duty, are not produced in the winter months. We should thereby be increasing the prices of those products to the great mass of consumers without our market gardeners being benefited thereby.

That question was much debated during the last election in the county of Laval, and that is no doubt, one of the grounds on which my hon. friend (Mr. Leonard) has thought it fit to-day to address the House, in discharge of the mandate received at the hands of those who are anxious to have the duties increased.

Mr. LEONARD.

(Translation.) Hear, hear.

(Translation.) My hon. friend wants us to raise the duties upon lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, asparagus, celery, beets, onions, &c. It is well known that in the winter months we do not grow cabbages nor cucumbers. We are also aware that it is extremely difficult to raise tomatoes in the winter season. We had to pay, last winter, 50 cents a pound for tomatoes of Canadian growth, whilst American tomatoes were being sold on the Montreal market at 20 cents a pound.

Hon. Mr. TARTE.

I am no free trader, but it is necessary to use common sense in our transactions in this world, and I declare here and now that I object to paying 50 cents a pound for Canadian tomatoes, when I can have American tomatoes for 20 cents. It is really going too far. This shows conclusively that tomatoes cannot be grown here with advantage in the winter months. So with asparagus and cucumbers. We do not produce asparagus nor celery in the winter season. There is not to be found one single gardener in the whole island of Montreal, or around Ottawa or Toronto, who can grpw lettuce as good as that imported from the United States in the winter.

It is idle to appeal to prejudices. There are enough people buying tomatoes and lettuce, for let it be known that I am speaking the plain unvarnished truth. Cauliflowers are not grown in the winter months in Canada. I agree that during a certain season of the year they can be kept, perhaps during two or three months. The cauliflowers we buy in the winter are imported from the United States.

In short, I believe that what the hon. gentleman is aiming at is to make political capital with the electors and to catch popular favour rather than appealing to their reason. Let my hon. friend allow me, in all due deference, to call his attention to the fact that, in the province of Quebec, as elsewhere, farmers have a great deal of common sense. Go through the county of Laval and ask the market gardeners if they can produce cucumbers, celery, tomatoes and cauliflowers in the winter months, and they will tell you that they cannot do so.

Mr. LEONARD.

(Translation.) How then does the hon. minister account for the uneasiness which prevails among market gardeners ?

(Translation.) It is very easy to create ill-feeling among people who think they do not sell their products high enough ; but that grievance can easily be remedied. The market gardeners around Montreal receive just as much protection as any other class of the community does, and I may further say that those gardeners are the most prosperous people in the country. Should I be disposed, _ nevertheless, to add something to their hap- " piness, would that be conducive to the happiness of other classes of the community much more numerous than the market gardeners are. To my mind, the consumers of Montreal should not be forced to pay extravagant prices for these products.

The consumers would be forced either to deprive themselves of vegetables or to pay exorbitant prices for them. Should we impose additional duties, consumers would have to pay 25 or 30 per cent more, nor could we hope thereby to increase the production of those articles which cannot be grown to advantage in this country the

whole year round. There are seasons when we must import vegetables from the United States, because they can there be grown more easily and much more cheaply.

As I have stated before, the Canadian tariff is the same as the American tariff.

Mr. TALBOT.

(Translation.) With the exception of potatoes, which pay 10 cents more in the United States.

(Translation.) I say that our tariff is about the same. Now, by increasing our tariff all we would gain would be to see our products shut out from the United States.