Sir FREDERICK BORDEN.
My hon. friend is facetious.
Mr. SAM. HUGHES.
It is bad enough to have the Minister of Militia given this authority without military advice, but suppose we have another episode similar to
the little conspiracy we exposed the other day where will we land ?
Sir FREDERICK BORDEN.
As a matter of fact the Minister of Militia must approve. "
Mr. SAM. HUGHES.
But suppose the minister choses to act without the consent of his Council he has power under this clause, and we will have a little dictatorship.
I admit the minister must endorse the views of the Council but the Council has not the power to interfere with the views of the minister.
Sir WILFRID LAURIER.
We will let that paragraph stand.
Sir FREDERICK BORDEN.
Under section 123, the Governor in Council makes the regulations.
Mr. FOWLER.
I do not quite understand the effect of the word ' emergency ' here. In view of the powers given the government under section 77 ; powers by the way which I very strongly object to.
Sir WILFRID LAURIER.
Who do you object to ?
Mr. FOWLER.
I object to the word ' emergency ' here because of the wide powers given the government in section 77 where the Governor in Council has power to send the militia out of Canada.
Sir FREDERICK BORDEN.
Rut only for the defence of Canada.
Mr. FOWLER.
You can call almost anything the defence of Canada-you could call sending the militia to any part of the British empire doing it for the defence of Canada. The Governor General in Council should not have power to do that ; that power should remain in the hands of parliament alone.
Mr. FITZPATRICK.
We have had that power for a long time.
Mr. FOWLER.
That makes no difference, we are now discussing this Bill which makes changes in many directions and the existing law can be changed as well in this respect. I do not believe in this centralization of power in the Governor in Council. It would seem that every Act passed in this parliament now inclines to give more power to the government of the day. Parliament has no rigiit to divest itself of its inherent powers; we are here as the representatives of the people and we should hold this power in our own hands. Whether for the defence of Canada or not, the militia of Canada should not he sent out of Canada without the authority of parliament. There can be no 'emergency' arise under which parliament cannot be called together ; war does not spring up in a day or a night. ' If the country were in danger of war it would be an easy matter to call parliament and then parliament could decide if it is necessary to
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send our militia outside of Canada. It is a different matter altogether about permitting volunteers to serve in any portion of the empire.
Mr. SAM HUGHES.
Under the law in Great Britain, parliament must be called within a certain time after the militia are embodied; ten days I think. Why not insert a similar provision in this Bill. I think the Governor in Council should have authority to call out the militia, but parliament should be assembled within a reasonable time afterwards. I do not want to be too captious with my hon, friend (Mr. Fowler) with whom I agree in almost everything, but I cannot endorse him when he speaks about ' permitting ' Canadians to serve the empire as volunteers.
I maintain that no man requires any permission from any authority in the Dominion of Canada to volunteer to serve the empire in any part of the world. He requires no commission, direct or indirect, from the Governor, the Prime Minister, the Govenor in Council or the parliament of Canada, and the imperial authorities have an absolute right to put their recruiting sergeant in the city of Ottawa to-day, and recruit men without let or hindrance of any authority in Canada, to serve the empire in any part of the world.
Sir FREDERICK BORDEN.
I would like to point out to the hon. member for King's N.B. (Mr. Fowler) that the law now in existence gives wider power than the section of this Bill to which he takes exception. Under the present law,
His Majesty may call out the militia or any part thereof for active service, either within or without Canada, at any time when it appears advisable to do so, by reason of war, invasion or insurrection, or danger of any of them.
Under the proposed law :
The Governor in Council may place the militia, or any part thereof, on active service anywhere in Canada and also beyond Canada for the defence thereof.
This is a decided limitation as compared with the existing law. While I agree with my hon. friend that matters of such importance should be at once submitted to parliament, and parliament should be called, and would be called, nevertheless an emergency might occur when it would be absolutely necessary on the frontier to take advantage of military tactics for the complete defence of Canada. The matter might have to be decided in an hour or a minute.
Mr.SAM. HUGHES. Does not the minister think it would be well to have a clause inserted in this Act similar to that in the English law, providing that parliament should be called say within ten days ?
Sir FREDERICK BORDEN.
That might be, but my hon. friend will see that while in England there is a standing army of 200,000
Mr. FOWLER.
or 300,000 men, our militia is the only defence we have.
Mr. SAM. HUGHES.
We have a standing army just as large proportionately.
Sir FREDERICK BORDEN.
Oh, no.
Mr. FOWLER.
What the minister says in regard to the present law is a matter of common knowledge. But we are changing that, and how is the time to make the thing right. The power should be entirely in the hands of parliament. According to. this Act, even if parliament were sitting, the Governor in Council has power to legislate without consulting parliament at all. It seems to me that that is wrong.