Mr. E. M. MACDONALD (Pictou).

Mr. Speaker, permit me, before proceeding to discuss the motion which I am about to make, to extend to you my congratulations, and I may say also the congratulations of this House, upon your elevation to the honourable position of first commoner of this Dominion of Canada ; and the evident expressions of satisfaction and confidence in your appointment which have come from all quarters indicate the belief that you will fill that honourable position with honour to yourself and in keeping with the manner in which the distinguished men who have gone before you have filled it in previous parliaments. I desire, Mr. Speaker, to move that an humble address be presented to His Excellency in reply to the speech with which he has been pleased to open this session of parliament; and, I may be permitted first to express to the right hon. gentleman who leads this House my appreciation of the high honour he has paid to me in committing to me the task of making this motion. You will also permit me to say that I believe that honour is not one intended for myself personally, but rather for that famous and historic county which I have the honour to represent, and which to-day for the first time in a great many years has seen fit to extend its 'confidence to the distinguished gentleman who leads this House. Permit me also, sir, to ask from this House that consideration which always in the past has been freely extended to hon. gentlemen who venture to address it for the first time, as I am doing to-day.

Coming to the address, Mr. Speaker, I am sure that this House and this country

generally, will reciprocate, His Excellency's expression of satisfaction upon his appointment as Governor General of Canada. The expressions upon public questions and the evident intelligent appreciation of the importance and greatness of this country, which have marked the utterances of His Excellency both in the mother country and since he has come to Canada, have warranted the cordial welcome with which he has already been received, and bespeak an equal reception from all classes of our people and from all parts of the country when His Excellency visits them in the performance of the duties of his office.

Let me say at once that it is evident the speech with which this parliament has been opened is one optimistic in every line. It indicates the happening in Canada of a number of new events. First, we have the advent of a new Governor General. Then the speech announces the inauguration of a new railway. Next in order we have the announcement of the creation of a new province and the coming into Canada of a new and large population, in fact, the general tone of the speech is essentially cheerful as befits the declaration of a government and a people who have confidence in themselves, who appreciate the vastness and greatness of the resources of the country, and who are full of self reliance and of hope in the future as being teeming with promise.

Let me say at the start that I do not propose to weary the House with any figures regarding trade returns, because these can easily be obtained from the blue-books, but, it mitst be eminently satisfactory to know that the trade increases which have characterized every step of our career during the past eight years show no signs of diminution but rather of continued steady improvement. Those among us who have been frightened by the bogey of an adverse balance of trade will be glad to hear that in the month of December last, the exports of Canada exceeded by two million dollars the exports during the same month of the previous year, and the additional fact that our revenue shows continual growth must of course be a matter of the greatest possible satisfaction to all. Then, with regard to surpluses, it would indeed be a great disappointment if the speech from the Throne did not, as it has done during the past eight years, announce an increase in that respect also. All signs point to the fact that the Canadian people are weary of discussions on theories of political economy. For a great number of years some hon. gentlemen have fancied that there was some virtue in' the assertion of this or that or the other theory of political economy, but the business people of Canada have come to accept the idea that the making of a tariff is a business proposition and calls for dealing with conditions and not theories, and, as a consequence the tariff requires to be adjusted

advised upon authority which I deem to he the very best, that the investigations made by the surveyors who have gone through that country justify entirely different conclusions. The reports indicate the existence there of splendid pine forests, fertile agricultural lands, mineral fields of a great variety and richness, and a most important factor under modern conditions- water-powers of the greatest value. In a few weeks, 1 am advised, almost every foot of the dine from Winnipeg to Moncton will be covered by surveying parties. Already a great portion of that territory has been traversed and the route for the railway ascertained. We were told that the eastern section of this railway was one which should not be built;-whatever advantage there might be in building the other portion of the Transcontinental Railway this eastern portion should not be undertaken. I am sure that, on reflection, hon. gentlemen who represent the western portion of Canada, animated as we know them to be quite as much as we who come from other portions of the Dominion, with a desire to make this a self-contained country, would not for one moment hesitate to declare that it will never do for our National Railway to be cut off for six months of the year from a connection through our own country with our own seaports; and I am sure that they will hear with satisfaction the information which I am in a position to say, is authentic, that the engineers who have been making the surveys from Quebec to Moncton have found not the slightest difficulty thus far in locating the line. The grades and other features are such as to assure the construction and operation of the line in that .section under the most advantageous conditions. I am sure that the announcement will be received with satisfaction that the surveys are being vigorously prosecuted, and that it is believed that tenders for the construction of several sections may be invited during the present season. Because, as the days roll on, it will be found in the years to come, that this Transcontinental Railway will open up for us a new empire to the north, and that in ten or perhaps twenty years hence this parliament will be occupied in legislating for the inauguration of a new province in that northern country, the addition of another entity to this federation to which we belong.

The announcement that the government propose to send exhibits of our products to the exposition which is to be held in Belgium, is one which I am sure, in view of the success which has attended in the past the efforts of the Agricultural Department in that direction, will be received by the whole House with satisfaction. I did not have the opportunity, except from studying the various reports which have been made in regard to the great exhibition in St. Louis, of judging of the charac-Mr. MACDONALD.

ter of the Canadian exhibit, but I believe I am in the judgment of the House in saying that Canada did well there, that her exhibits were well set forth, and that the educative result of the efforts which were put forth on behalf of Canada, more than warrants the expenditure that has been made, and has given great satisfaction to ttyose Canadians who visited that exhibition. I am sure that in the exhibition which will be held in the Low Countries, among a class of people to whom Canada should look with deep interest for immigration, a similar success will attend' the efforts of the Agricultural Department, as has marked their efforts in the various other expositions where Canada has been represented.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I do not propose to detain the House at any great length. But before I conclude, I would like to be permitted' to recall one or two facts to the memory of the House. Sir, thirty-eight years ago there came to this House, in the first parliament of Canada, from the province from which I have the honour to come, seventeen out of the eighteen members who then represented Nova .Scotia in this parliament, who objected that Nova Scotia had not been treated fairly in laying down the terms of confedera-ation. Only one gentleman came from Nova Scotia who took the opposite view. That gentleman lias played a great part in the history of Canada; he was prominent among hon. gentlemen opposite, and at one time he was their leader, as premier of this country. We have sent to this parliament in the intervening time other hon. gentlemen who have led our friends on the other side of the House, one of whom filled with distinction the important post of premier of this country; and we have also given our friends on the other side another hon. gentleman who has led them in opposition. But to-day we come to this parliament from Nova Scotia, animated by very much higher and nobler motives; we come here eighteeen strong, united behind the hon. gentlemen who fill the distinguished posts of Minister of Finance and Minister of Militia and Defence of this country; we come here unanimously supporting the greatest colonial statesman in the empire. We come here to support him who, for sixteen years, has led the great party to which we belong, who found it to some extent disorganized, but who has bound it together with the strongest ties of sentiment and patriotism, and have made it the greatest party Canada has yet seen; we come as followers of the right hon. gentleman who during the eight years he has been Prime Minister, has splendidly equipped the ship of state and guided her so magnifi-i cently along the glorious way she has gone, and to whom has once more been committed the direction of her destinies. Sir, animated by these feelings, we come to this House to support the right hon. gentleman in his pol-

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icy of Canada first, Canada last, and Canada for ever. Those of us who have witnessed the improved conditions in the province by the sea, from which I come, during these latter years, join hands with those who come from the province by the sea on the other side of the continent, where there is a similar absence of a dissenting voice, and unanimously we offer our devotion to the great leader of our party. Mr. Speaker, in this, the first utterance which I have the opportunity of making in this House, I desire to be understood as speaking without prejudice 'and without partisanship, as speaking with a sincere desire that all of us, whether we come from the east or from the west or from any part of Canada, and whatever our party affiliations are may he animated during the time we sit in this House by a desire to do all we can towards building up this great heritage of ours so that those who come after us may feel that we have done our part in creating those conditions which will enable it to take its rightful place among the greatest nations of the world. Sir, I beg to move that a humble address be presented to His Excellency the Governor General in reply to the speech from the Throne.

Mr. GEORGE PARENT (Montmorency).

conflicts of opinion which its discussion will set forth, the principles of toleration and equal rights which should he sanctioned thereby.

It has been stated that ' Experience is a physician called in too late ' ; and I may not be wrong in thinking that the experience acquired of late years in the province of Manitoba has been of that kind. The young men of my generation, undoubtedly, have not wholly realized the painful ordeal which our country was made to undergo at a time when the cry of race and religion prevented the quiet discussion of the question of separate schools and of the use of the French language. [DOT] We were not in the heat of that battle, wherein galling epithets and hateful words were most dangerous missiles; we did not smell the powder of that fanatical warfare. But its rumblings reached our ears; we heard its echo. It may be that owing to our lack of experience, we have taken a somewhat exaggerated view of the situation; but we could not help trembling at the sight of the turmoil into which that bitter struggle of uncompromising principles might have led our country, made up of various elements, had not the present government had the happy thought of negotiating a truce which will be some day final peace, let us hope. That result was effected, on the one hand, through the advice given to the Catholic minority from a quarter familiar to them, Rome, and, on the other hand, through the gentle promptings of diplomacy, whereby the Protestant majority were induced to take a stand making concessions easier all the time.

The young men of my age are witnesses to-day, as it were, of the aftermath only of the storm; but that hurricane of prejudice has left on its train enough ruins, it has hurled too violently one against the others the sons- of beautiful France and those of noble England, born on Canadian soil to live side by side, it has caused too much pain, brought about too many quarrels; in a word, it has done too much harm to the Canadian nation for us not to concern ourselves with its possible recurrence. I am confident that the present government, in constituting these new provinces of the Dominion, will foresee all the consequences of the setting in motion of the administrative and legislative machinery which they intend to install, and will thus prevent the crisis, the terrible effects of which have been set forth by recent events.

But if I consider from another standpoint the conferring of provincial autonomy on the Territories, I cannot but rejoice at the thought of that fine page we are about to add to the history of Canada.

The entrance of a new province into the fold of the Dominion is always greeted with a hearty welcome. If that great and beautiful Northwest has reached manhood, so to speak, if it is mature for the grave function of self government, let, in the first place, all the other provinces offer their warmest Mr. PARENT.

congratulations, and let the country as a whole rejoice as well. For the birth of a new province within the Dominion is not merely an indication of our prosperity, is not only a vindication of the manner in which public affairs have been managed since 1896. It is, besides, a step forward, made by Canada, and above all it is the certain pledge that our dream of becoming a great nation will soon be carried out. The gap which almost separates the extreme west from the east of Canada is thereby filled; our country becomes almost homogeneous and one stride more is taken in our country's noble and rapid progress towards its great destiny.

Sir, if I may be allowed to express a hope, let it be this: when self government will have been conferred on western Canada, self government which we love so much because it is akin to liberty, when the majority of that country will be left to manage its affairs, may they turn their eyes towards the province, one of whose humble representatives I am here, and whence so many courageous missionaries have gone to these distant lands; may they not close their eyes to the examples of toleration and good will which our legislators give in their dealings with the minority; may the breezes from our mountains when gently passing over the wheat fields of Assiniboia and Alberta bring with them their perfume of kindliness and generosity.

If I feel at ease in thus greeting these provinces whose advent is announced in the speech from the Throne, it is because I recall the measures taken beforehand by the government on their behalf. The older provinces have extended a helping hand to that younger sister and to ensure her growth and normal development, the construction of a great railway is now ensured.

Now, Sir, it is not my intention to deal at any length with the advantages offered by the Grand Trunk Pacific scheme. All that could be said on that subject has, or at any rate, should have been said, and to agree with me, one need only recall the innumerable speeches delivered in the course of the recent electoral contest. If, nevertheless, I make a passing reference to this gigantic undertaking, if I recall the dream of general prosperity which its carrying out will suggest for the country as a whole, if I corroborate the gratitude of my western brethren with my own humble congratulations, it is because I already can see the heavy wheat trains steaming towards my native city, crossing the river at Quebec, over that marvellous bridge, whose construction was, in my childhood, so often represented to me as impossible; and in the completion of that bridge I recognize the reward due to tiie constant efforts, to the unrelenting, unceasing labour of which I was the witness in my father's home. And should such words seem presumptuous, please be indulgent towards a son who is the witness

as well of attacks of all sorts directed against liis father.

(Sir, unskilled as I am at dealing with political problems, having only my good will to offer for my country's service, I have not the right to claim your attention any longer; and as I must admit, I feel a certain fright at the mere sound of my voice in this House, I loug, as yon will understand, to resume my seat. My last thought, that which has inspired me a courage which seemed to fail me at times, and one which you will greet most warmly, is, as you surmise, for the man whom all here respect and admire, towards him who not only has won the esteem and love of his fellow countrymen of all parties, of all creeds, of all races, but who has set his striking individuality in such brilliant light, that from the banks of the Thames and from those of the Seine, rays of liis glory are reflected on the Canadian home land.

My last thought, which is one of gratitude, goes to my representative, the right hon. Prime Minister, at whose feet I lay the homage of the most enthusiastic love of the Canadian youth. Of course, my testimony will not have much weight when compared with the almost unanimous acclamations which, from the maritime provinces to British Columbia, have hailed his name, a name which on the battle field was worth a flag. My testimony appears still more insignificant, if we recall the anguish shown throughout the country when, in the course of the last parliament, a terrible disease and out of which if was terribly sought to take advantage, struck the idol of the Canadian people. And lastly, my testimony would dwindle into nothingness when compared with the feelings of joy which harkened his return to health, had it not to touch the heart of the greatest amongst us, that feature of almost filial feeling, independent of noisy manifestations, that feature of inward reverence which makes of my words the sincere, though imperfect echo of the very feelings of the whole Canadian nation,

I second the motion.

Mr. Speaker, I think I shall be entirely within my rights if I ask the kindly indulgence of the House usually accorded to a new member on first rising to address this august assembly. It is not often that it falls to the lot of a new member to follow and in some degree to criticise the speeches of the new members who ordinarily move and second the reply to the address. Such, however, is my position to-day. In the first place, I congratulate very heartily the hon. gentlemen who have moved and seconded the address, in their maiden efforts in this House. The hon. gentleman who represents the county of Pietou (Mr. Macdonald) displayed an admirable confidence and a flow of words eloquent and copious, and his ideas, if they do not altogether run current with mine, certainly commended themselves to the attention of this House. Unfortunately, I was not able to follow as closely the remarks made by the hon. gentleman (Mr. Parent) who seconded the address, but if I have a proper understanding, both of these speeches were exceedingly optimistic in their trend and eulogistic in their purpose. The country obtained a due share of the remarks, and attention of these hon. gentlemen and my right hon. friend who leads the House (Sir Wilfrid Laurier) was not bereft of a becoming share, as well in their regards and their attentions. In both these respects the country is pleased to have the congratulations, my right hon. friend is pleased to have these renewed expressions of fidelity, and we on this side of the House have no fault to find with either. I. speaking for this side of the House, may at the outset say that we heartily agrae with the hon. gentlemen who have spoken, in extending our warm congratulations to the distinguished gentleman who is our new Governor General. We welcome him as we have welcomed all Governors General to this Dominion of Canada. We welcome him especially as one of a long line of ancestors who have done grand service for the extension and government of this great empire to which we all belong, and I do nof think even in this age with all the rights and privileges of self-government, that the over-seas dominions have and possess, and intend to maintain, that the field is at all closed for the exertion of similar influences, not of extension or of conquest, but of organization of development and the knitting together of all parts of the empire. Who does not know that the Canada of to-day exercises a very large influence on the policies and the tendencies of government in the British empire ? Though no expression of opinion may be made in this House, though no expression of opinio# may be officially tendered in anyway, yet there is the attentive heed paid to what are the tendencies and thoughts and wishes of the great dependencies beyond the seas, which have their influence in determining policies and in determining the trend and action of the British government itself. Is it not equally true that distinguished men, members of the empire, coming from the mother islands to the dependencies and over-seas dominions such as this, have also a very strong part to play and to fulfil in so knitting together, in so carrying out the idea of co-operation of sentiment and of effort, that this great, but yet to a large extent, unorganized world-wide empire may become more firmly and securely united than it is at the present time ? So that our Governor General, welcomed here for himself and for his ancestry, is welcomed here also by us for the work which he has to do, and which we will welcome and co-operate with him in doing.

In reference to the speeches, we may say that the statements which have been made by the two hon. gentlemen who have moved and seconded the address, could be characterized

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under three or four heads-we are here; the country is behind us; the country is prosperous. We do not find fault with that assertion. On this side of the House we stand to assert and to maintain that with equal strength and power with hon. gentlemen opposite. We may be pardoned, however, il' we may have ideas differing from those hon. gentlemen opposite as to the reasons why this country is prosperous at the present time. When we take the great interests of this country and look at them separately, even though briefly, we may be pardoned the expression that though there is great prosperity in this country, it is quite possible that there might be still greater prosperity, and we are not of that kind, at least, who in these respects think it is best to let well enough alone. We never can be so prosperous in this country but that we must hope and aspire to still greater prosperity. Take, for instance, the great lumbering industries of this country; I do not think that hon. members opposite will maintain that the lumbering interests of this country from the Atlantic to the Pacific are in a very buoyant and prosperous condition at the present time. I think representations have been made to hon, gentlemen opposite as to the reasons why this great industry is not so prosperous as it might be. In this year of grace the mills and productive power in the lumber interests of this country are doing only part time where they might be doing more time, and the reason is not far to seek. It is because of the unequal and unfair competition which is imposed upon this industry from the country south of us. This then is the condition of one * of the important industries or interests in this country which might be better than it is if the government had taken the proper steps to moderate that competition and bring*it down to a fairer and sounder basis as between us and our neighbours to the south of us. Take again, the mineral interests of this country. They are great; they are important, but is it or is it not a fact that any single line of policy of hon. gentlemen opposite has contributed to make the mineral industries of this country more prosperous than they would otherwise have been ? Is there to-day a single thing which goes into the products of the miner which is got by him at less cost than in 1896? On the other hand, has the market for the minerals which are produced been widened or extended? With respect to that second great branch of the interest and industries of this country, the mineral or mining interests, things certainly have worked out in their own way, and no great claim can be made of their having been extraordinarily helped by hon. gentlemen opposite through any line of their policy.

Take again the great agricultural interests. They are prosperous in a part of our Dominion' most certainly ; in other parts of our Dominion they are not so prosperous. The centre of agricultural prosperity to-day Mr. FOSTER.

is to be found in the great Northwest ; in that land so lately opened, so richly endowed and so full of promise for the future.

Take the remaining great interest of Canada, the industrial interests of the country. Although these , are to a certain extent prosperous, one seeks in vain for any very strong reason why they should have enjoyed that prosperity from any help or aid which has been given to them by hon. gentlemen opposite through their policy. Yes, the country is prosperous, but who laid the foundation of that prosperity ? One of my hon. friends who has spoken to us to-day declared that the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Canadian Northern were the great harbingers of the prosperity of the west. The prosperity of the west is due, outside of that country's own intrinsic richness, outside of its own great productive capacity and extent, to two things : It is due to the opening up and the proving up of that country. If hon. gentlemen go back in their minds to 1897, when they came into power actively, they will find that every system of transport into and out of that Northwest which exists to-day was at that- time existent in the Northwest. By whose policy ? By whose action? If there has been any expansion of any transport system it has been by extension only, by extension in carrying out the system which was laid down, made possible, made existent under the guidance and by the aid of the Liberal-Conservative party of this country. The great Northwest had not only been opened up, but it has been proved up. There was the experimental stage. Time was necessary in order to prove to the world that however rich that country might be, and however broad its acres, its proiluctivity was likely to be permanent and to be built up upon broad foundations. It was necessary to prove to the world the uniform and permanent productive power of that country ; that required a period of experimentation, and for eight, or ten, or twelve years the pioneers of that great Northwest country were busily engaged in that work of experimentation. The frosts had to be combated and studied, the conditions of climate had to be given attention to, the methods of cultivation, which were different in that country from those in the countries to the east, had to be studied and carefully noted, and through year after year of failure and experimentation in the course of ten or twelve years, proof has been given to the world, not only of the productivity of that country, but of its permanent and uniform productivity. These two things done; the permanent productivity of the country proved to the world and its transport system opened up, then prosperity began to show itself. Then people came into that country ; then production increased ten, twenty, one hundred, a thousand-fold ; and by men who wish to reason soundly or to come to just conclusions, these things must be taken into account. The chronicler has given us a brief and interest-

ing history of this Dominion of Canada for thirty-eight years. Did it occur to him in his self-jubilation that of that thirty-eight years twenty-five years were under the guidance of a Liberal-Conservative government and a Liberal-Conservative policy ? Thus, though the country is prosperous-[DOT] and we admit that prosperity, and maintain it, and rejoice in it-we must not come to the illiberal conclusion that that prosperity is to be attributed to the hon. gentlemen opposite, who came into power in 1896.

Another note is that the population is increasing. We are glad of that. The population is increasing by virtue of immigration, the attraction of those without ; and population is also increasing by virtue of retention, that is, attraction of the people who are born within the country and who are kept within the country. There was no possibility of these two forces working to their full extent until that period of opening up and of proving up of the country was gone through with, so that confidence would be given, so that the productive power would become known and would be strong to draw people from abroad, and also to keep in this country its own sons, rather than have them go to foreign countries. These are things which we should bear in mind when we come to give reasons for the great progress and the great prosperity of this country. That hon. gentlemen opposite have done what in them lay in order to take advantage of these conditions and have, to the extent of their ability and in good faith, striven in order that this prosperity might have its constant and unchecked growth is to their credit, and we give them full credit for it, but it is quite another thing to make the policy which has been in force for eight or ten short years in this country the father and sponsor and creator of all the prosperity in this great, broad Dominion. But I can read in the smiling face of my hon. friend opposite, and in the smiling faces of the mover and seconder of the address the great ictea that the country has endorsed them; that it has wiped out and condoned all their sins of the past, that it has given them a full mandate for the future. Well, whatever comfort there is in that Jet hon. gentlemen take it, let them enjoy it to the full. But sometimes it is possible that a great victory may cost too much, and may in the end prove too expensive-too expensive for the party itself and for the country as well. A victory gained by fair and reasonable argumnt, upon a representation of policies and principles, is a victory which is enduring ; but a victory which is to be ascribed to other influences than these, may be, as I have said, too expensive and too costly.

The opposition had some things to contend with in the last election. It is strange, but it is absolutely true, I think, that prosperity tends to dull the critical faculty ; and a government which goes to a country in a time of prosperity slips through with less of its sins of commission and omission scrutinized

than it does under different and less auspicious circumstances ; and hon. gentlemen opposite, in gauging their victory, must give a little credit for their fortunate escape to the prosperity of the country and the dulling of the critical faculty which results from that prosperity.

There are some thiiigs, though, that have been injected into the late contest and that have contributed to the late victory, which are not quite so pleasant to contemplate. I do not think that ever before in the history of this country was there a hal'd and fast co-partnership made between a government and an immense and widely extended corporation. Whether that is to the interest of the country, whether in the long run it be even to the interest of the corporation itself, is something which is well worth considering. In this last election an immense corporation actually adopted the party flag and the party shibboleths, and set itself with untiring and relentless force to elect the government through whom it proposed to get, and by whom it was promised one of the greatest and richest franchises that have ever been given to a corporation. Whether that is indicative of good conditions in the present, or of sound conditions in the future, or not, is a thing which I think may be well open to doubt, and which may well he given serious consideration. But I know from personal experience, as does almost every man sitting on either side of this House, that one of the most relentless forces against which His Majesty's loyal opposition had to strive in the last ^election, was the untiring, immense and widely extended influence and power of the corporation with which the government had allied itself. In every consitueney where their power was felt, the suffrage was made to aid their purposes, the suffrage of their employees was thrown strongly, by all the influence that could he brought to bear, for the government and against the opposition:-and generally for what purpose? For the immense franchises and gain and profit which promised to come to them if the government were sustained and the opposition were defeated.

Outside of that, am I right or wrong, Mr. Speaker, in saying-and I leave it to the country to decide-that there probably never was in the history of this country an election in which the argument of the material was more profusely and relentlessly used than in this last election. I acknowledge that it is a difficult thing in a young and growing country to entirely eliminate from the electorate the discussion and consideration of public works ; but there is certainly a sane and decent limit by which this ought to be bounded; but in this last election, from one end of this country to the other, it did seem as if the grqat argument, the great consideration, the great point brought before the electorate was the dangled bribe of public works promised by the candidate

and endorsed of course by the letter or the word of mouth of the minister out of whose department the public work had to emanate. Everywhere this was so. My hon. friend said: Here is a solid Nova Scotia.

(Some hon. MEMBERS. Hear, hear.

Mr. FOSTER.

In Heaven's name, why should it not be solid, if in one county alone sixty-six appropriations for public works were sent down and held up as the price of its support ? My right hon. friend possibly may recall the circumstances of a devoted follower of his, brought out under his own wing, launched upon his constituency by my right hon. friend himself at a great public gathering, who on a postcard-of larger size than usual, of course- went into an elaborate calculation of how many dollars per minute, per hour, per week, per month and per year he had got for his constituents during the short three years that he had sat in parliament; and after having spread this over the large-sized postcard, he declared : ' And this is on-ly the first fruit, this is just the budding promise of what I will do for you if you send me back to support the government.' But is it not rather sad and rather bemeaning, that in this great country all decency in that respect should be thrown to the winds, and from the Prime Minister down to the latest acquisition to the cabinet we should have a crusade based on promises of public works? Why send a,member of the opposition, who can do nothing for you? Send a supporter of the government; here is his promise, and here is the endorsement of the minister. Well, sir, I am not going to follow out what influence that has upon a country. It is not an ennobling influence; it does not raise the morals of public life. It may be treated with the light laugh and even the sneer by the practical politician; but I tell you that we shall reap the fruits in future years in a deadening of the public conscience and a decline of public morality in this country.

What else has been interjected into this contest? How brave these gentlemen were in that time, long, long ago, when they believed in theories. Now my hon. friend says the Liberal party has discarded theories. Very true, very true; but the time was, in the memory of men sitting on either side of this House, when hon. gentlemen opposite had theories. One of the theories my right hon. friend held then, and held very strongly, was that there should be no partnership between provincial governments and the Dominion government- that provincial affairs were provincial and should be kept by themselves, that Dominion affairs were for the Dominion and should be kept for themselves, and that the joining of the two only led to corruption and a lower public life. Yet to-day, in this broad Dominion, who has been a greater sinner in this respect than the right Mr. FOSTER.

hon. gentleman opposite. In all the elections which have taken place, since this government has, been in office, the patronage and the power of the Dominion government have been joined with every possible provincial government for a common end, with of course the full and perfect understanding that in the time of trial these provincial governments would in like manner come to the rescue of the federal administration. A Liberal of the old English school ! How often have we heard my right hon. friend use that phrase ? A. Liberal of the old English school, standing in Liberal shoes and yet allowing what my right hon. friend allowed to be done in the province of Quebec in order to destroy the Liberal-Conservative party in the provincial election! In the pursuance of such tactics, long before the Quebec provincial parliament should have finished its legal existence, advantage was taken of the result of the Dominion elections and the consequent disorganization of the Conservative party in that province, to spring a dissolution on the people and put out of the way that strongest safeguard of our constitution and the political freedom of our people-a fair, reasonable, virile opposition. No English Liberal of the old Liberal school would, I am sure, have countenanced any such course. A similar course was followed in the province of Ontario. In that province the people in 1898, 1902, and since, have refused to give their endorsation to the provincial government and are to-day trying to rid themselves of a government they have denounced, which represents but a minority of the people, and has been ' in articulo mortis ' for the last five years. Seeing the dire straits into which that government has fallen, the right hon. gentleman, I understand, has come to its rescue, and is about to invoke the organization and power of this government in its behalf, and has sent around to the leading men of the party the watchword ' save the Ontario government.' These partnerships are demoralizing, they do not tell for pure politics and honest administration ; and my hon. friend was badly advised when he saw fit to lend the power and patronage of this government to aid the local administration.

But there are still worse things being done. I do not know how well founded are the stories that are being told, but I do think that they merit the attention of this parliament; and I hope that at the proper time they will, if they have any foundation, be pressed to the very end, and that this parliament will do its duty- There are strange stories floating of the manipulation of the voters' lists in Manitoba, the Northwest and the Yukon. There are strange stories told of the doings of the enumerators in the far Yukon, where, I believe, the enumerators had to be hunted among the mountains in order that electors might obtain the lists which they had concealed about

them and which they refused to make public so as to prevent the voters from exercising their rights. There are circumstances and things still worse.than any 1 have mentioned, and if they be true, I hope that they will be -placed before this House and thoroughly ventilated. The bogus ballot boxes we will not discuss to-day. They are, however, but the outcome of a long series of malpractices which have developed into a political mechanism, the invention of fertile brains, in order to manipulate elections and prevent at the last moment the ree expression of the people's will.

'My hon. friend made an appeal for cordiality and good feeling and for the repression of race and creed issues. No one would join him more heartily in that appeal than Have we not arrived at a stage in our existence as a people when we ought to be more manly, when we ought to have higher ideals and scorn to appeal to racial and creed issues and prejudices ?/My hon.

"TiTend will join me in the expression of that wish, but is it not a fact that he owes the election to this House of some of his supporters to these very racial and creed cries ?

No, no.

Mr. FOSTER.

We, I am sure, not only on this side but on that, deplore the absence from this House of my bon. friend from Montmorency (Mr. Casgrain). He was a public man who did credit to bis province and this parliament, and the fact that he is not in his seat to-day is not because his policy was not approved of by his constituency, not because bis character w.as unworthy of their confidence, but because of race and creed cries which were raised against him. .

No. no.

Mr. FOSTER.

Some hon. gentleman on the opposite side says ' no, no.' Well, I cite this case as an example which is indicative of a sentiment which in .my humble way I am trying to show is not to the benefit of this country. Let us admit that this course was followed without the knowledge of the leaders of the party ; yet I submit that he does a public service to this country who brings out of the byeways and the lanes into full public notice political trickery of this kind. I believe that my hon. friend has, by a dexterous use of judgeships and senatorships, secured to himself an organizer in the province of Quebec. That gentleman is a senator, whose name I shall not mention here. But I believe that in the county of Montmagny there is a newspaper which is certainly controlled, if not owned, by that gentleman. What do I find published in that paper as an advice for the electors of that county ? Let me read the following which was published in it and sent broadcast to the electorate :

(Translation.)

Electors and fellow-countrymen of Montmagny, be on your guard !

In their * mandement' their lordships the bishops say that it' is our duty to vote for a man who is able to defend both our religious and national interests. Now. can you, in conscience, vote for a man like Harry Price, a mere clerk in his brother's employ, who does not speak French, an English-speaking protestant, holding the French Canadians in contempt ? Let us be spirited men. The Price concern import men from Great Britain to occupy the most important places in their offices. W-hy not do like them, chiefly when we are called upon to elect' a member, and the fate of the Laurier government is at stake ?

Once more, let us be on our guard, and shame on the cowards and those who crouch on all fours before money, drink and the crusts of bread thrown by Price, the candidate.

Hurrah for Laurier !

Hurrah for Lavergne.

Hear, hear.

Mr. FOSTER.

Is there any need for an appeal like that in any county in any part of this Dominion of Canada? And was it with the knowledge of the Senatorial organizer of the elections in the district of Quebec? Was it known to my right hon. friend, and if it had not been known to either of these gentlemen, would it have been allowed ? Surely then, I am doing a public Service in calling their attention to the fact that this was the kind of thing that was done to swell the majority of my right hon-friend. But something more. Here are interrogations in le Courrier :

(Translation.)

Do you speak English ? Such is the Conservative formula, this year. .

October 27, 1904.

Does Mr. Price require from his followers that they should take the test, denounce the sacrifice of the mass and anathematize the Blessed Virgin and the Pope ?

AVhy was a question like that asked ? Was it in order to forward the trade policy of hon. gentlemen opposite ? Was it to carry the Grand Trunk Pacific ? And does my right hon. friend regard it as a lofty, noble canvass ? Is this the kind of thing that will join the people of Canada in bonds of amity and will make them a people whose sole aim in public affairs shall be the good of their country ? Is this the kind of appeal that will lead to the wide and proper toleration of every creed and every race among our people ?

(Translation.)

Is it true, Mr. Price, that you have promised the fanatics of Ontario, Sam. Hughes, Dr. Sproule, Mr. Barker, &e., that you would deliver over to them the splendid and patriotic county of Montmagny, with its population, all French-speaking and deeply Catholic?

' October 31, 1904.

Who are these terrible monsters whose names have been invoked in order to swell

the majority of my right hon. friend ? And is he proud of a majority swelled by appeals of this kind ? And here is another extract : (Translation.)