Mr. LAFORTUNE:

Yes, even at Saint-Jerome, which is a very peculiar place; but, out in the country, it is a good deal more difficult to get mews from every part of the world.

My constituents are not satisfied with this change. To go round those two counties is a task which it would take four months to fulfil. Meetings cannot be held on week days, people are 'busy everywhere, we can meet them only on .Sundays, after high mass or vespers, or at might. The county of Montcalm numbers thirteen parishes and the county of L'Assomption eleven, twenty-four parishes in all. Therefore, it would take twenty-four Sundays to go round both counties-about half of the year, because as we figure it, the year is composed of fifty-two weeks. Is that fair? I say it is not. The leading commercial houses, the leading industries, the banks, the great companies, the capitalists are to be found in the large cities. Now, are not all those people in a position to protect themselves and even to exert a great influence? We very seldom see a minister out in the country, whereas in the city is all the reverse. In many cases the great centres supply the deputies to the country, and those deputies exert their influence in the great centres where they live.

Mr. PELLETIER:

With the county of L'Assomption added to your own, where you will be elected, you will have a better chance to become a minister.

Mr. LAFORTUNE:

If you happen to disappear, as I hope you will before long, perhaps I shall have a chance. But I con-

fes-s that I never sought after this honour. My ambition does not go beyond representing my constituents worthily, beyond doing my duty towards them. I reside in the county of Jacques Cartier, but I am in Montreal every day. I am quite disinterested, as you -see; but I submit that the electors out in the .country are not protected and cannot protect themselves as these who reside in the cities.

I cannot approve the principle according to which those counties are being coupled together. I do not (know whether I shall be elected in this double constituency. The present member for L'Assomption, who represents this division in a worthy manner, may be called upon to represent those united counties. I do not find amiss, nor shall I discuss this choice, which will be a happy one as far as merit goes. But I am voicing the sentiment of my constituents, who say that they have no use for the uniion of those counties. If I am here, I owe it to my good behaviour, to my work, and I have no other ambition than to serve the public honestly.

Having made those few remarks, which, I know, will have no influence, because everything has been arranged beforehand, I feel that I shall be able to meet my electors and to tell them that I have done my best, that I have protested, that this change was made against my will. Then, I shall be able to add this: The Government is powerful, they said the change was necessary. Well and good. But I have some doubt as to whether it was necessary.

Mr. PELLETIER:

You must not forget to add also that both parties are agreed.

Mr. WILSON:

No, I protest against that, the House was not much consulted about those changes.

Mr. LAFORTUNE:

I shall be fair, I do not need to alter the truth, to be a candidate, and if I plead my case well, I shall win it. There is a compensation to everything, and if the union of the two counties is sanctioned, I shall come back to the blessed and sacred land of my forefathers. My family has always lived at L'Assomption. If I am called upon, later on, to seek the suffrages of the electors of that county, I shall feel perfectly at home, and this will be a great solace to me.

The hon. member for L'Assomption (Mr. Seguin) has precedence of me. He came here before me, and as a matter of justice, I might perhaps acknowledge that preee-

dence in fact and let him go ahead, which I will not regret to have done. Believe me, nobody can go through an electoral contest without leaving some of his woo1! on the field. That^ind of fight costs a great deal of work, a great deal of sacrifice, and in many cases it wil make a man poorer in the end than he was at first. I know by experience what life is, and I have something else to do than to deal with politics. I shall continue as Crown Attorney, as long as the Quebec Government remains in power. I have bread in reserve and I do not dread the rainy days. I have been saving, working and fighting so much that I finally succeeded in gathering up some property. I do not dread the future. If I am a lawyer, 'like the Postmaster General, I owe it to my persevering work.

I shall now conclude those observations by thanking the hon. members for having listened to me with so much benevolence. I shall support the chances of war. If both counties are united together and if I am not chosen as a,candidate, I shall submit to the decision rendered, for there is no resistance to offer against might.

Wright and Labelle:

Mr. DEVLIN:

Representing the electoral district of Wright and a great portion of the territory which will fall under the electoral district of Hull, I think I am voicing the views of the electors in that division when I say that they will welcome two members where they only had one before; but I am somewhat at a loss to understand just why the townships along the river Lievre have been attached to the new electoral district of Hull. Of course, I am very glad to see those townships attached to the electoral district of Hull, but for the coup vCnience of the people of those townships and of the people in the new district of Hull I fail to see just why the townships of Portland East and West, Derry, Bowman, Villeneuve East and West, Blake, McGill, Bigelow, Wells, Wabasee, and Dudley should be put into Hull. According to the last municipal census, the city of Hull had a population of over 20,000.

Mr. PELLETIER:

It must be making

immense strides.

Mr. DEVLIN:

I have asked the officials at the Hull city hall as to the population, and they assure me that it is over 20,000, and thai simply includes the city of Hull. According to the last Federal census, Hull

city has a population of 18,220: the township, 3,626; the town of Buckingham, 3,133; the township of Buckingham, 1,394; L'Ange Gardien, 993; and Gatineau Point, 1,751. So that according to the last census this district has a population of 32,681, but personally, I think it must now be nearer 40,000. You would have had ample population there to form a county without the necessity of taking in those other townships. When the old county of Ottawa w,as divided into Wright and Labelle in 1896, these townships were joined to the county of Labelle on account of the facilities of transportation existing between them.

Hon. RODOLPHE LEMIEUX (Rouville):

(Translation.) Mr. Chairman, as in the memorable knight, I see that I am forced to vote my own death without a phrase. The county of Rouville disappears officially from the electoral map; but before I take leave of my constituents, I must thank them heartily for the so generous support which they have given me in September 1911, and I must .assure them that they may depend upon my devotion and my sympathies in the future as they did in the past.

I do not complain of the legislation by which Rouville is being coupled with Saint-Hyacinthe. Upon consulting the .statistics of the census, I find that my county does not possess the electoral unit fixed as the basis of representation. A smaller population is to be found only in Soulanges, Quebec West and Vaudreuil. But I hasten to say to my electors: Non nuimerantur, sed ponderantur. If they are not the number, they are the weight.

The old historical county of Rouville is one of the richest in the land. It is the pride of the valley of the Richelieu. In fact, as far as education, or wealth, or progress goes, Rouville ranks first. If its population is not increasing, it is due to the special configuration of that county, the fertile territory of which is confined between the Richelieu river and the Yamaska river. [DOT]

I must say that my opponents were willing to be easy-going towards me. They officiously offered me a county of Rouville enlarged. I was asked to cut out right and left in that district so downright Liberal. I could thrive at my neighbours' expense, hut by practising egotism I would have led my friends from Missisquoi and from Bagot into danger. I refused that Grecian gift,

and the Liberals of Rouville, whose traditions of fair play and of political honour are known, will approve me.

Ii I regret, personally, the disappearance of Rouville, I must, however, do homage to the spirit of justice shown by the members of the commission. My hon. friend from Beauce (Mr. Belaud) gave heed to the wishes of my county. In fact, the disappearance of Rouville made the union with Saint Hyacinthe logically inevitable. The relations between those two counties were always cordial from the very beginning.

Whatever may be the fate awaiting me at the next election, I proclaim, once more, and proudly so, that my constituents of Rouville may always depend upon my devotion. The new county of Rouville-St. Hyacinthe, I may assert it without boast, will remain true to the great Liberail tradition.

The parish called L'Ascension, in the county Richelieu, is transferred to the electoral district of Yamaska.

Mr. LEMIEUX:

Why was this addition made?

Mr. PELLETIER:

This was asked by the members for those two counties at the time. The people concerned desired it and the members for those two counties had no objection.

Mr. LEMIEUX:

This was agreed to by the committee?

Let- me point out to the committee that the parish of Saint-Marcel is located on the east side of the river, which is the natural limit. Moreover, the . county of Yamaska has a much smaller population than the county of Richelieu.

The parish called 1/Ascension, in the county of Montcalm, is transferred to the electoral district of Labelle.

Mr. LAFORTUNE:

One would be perfectly right in saying that it was necessary that this parish should be cut off the county of Montcalm and added to the county of Labelle. It is far away from Montcalm and one must travel through Labelle to reach it.

Mr. PELLETIER:

This parish appears on the electoral map of the province of Quebec as being in the county of Labelle.

Mr. LAFORTUNE:

I fully approve of this change, which was necessary.

[Mr. L,emieux.j

New Brunswick:

Mr. BELAND:

I understand that all the provisions respecting New Brunswick are according to the agreement reached between my hon. friend from Pictou (Mr. Macdonald) and my hon. friend from Cumberland (Mr. Rhodes) ?

Mr. ROGERS:

Yes, entirely.

Nova Scotia: Digby and Annapolis :

Mr. JAMESON:

Mr. Chairman, I desire to address a few remarks to the committee on this section inasmuch as it refers to the constituency which I represent. The measure that is before the committee is based upon the report of a joint committee composed of hon. members from both sides of the House. Their report, I understand, was practically unanimous and I have no doubt that this legislation will eventually be pdopted by this Parliament. Indeed, it is very obvious from the manner in which the various clauses affecting the redistribution in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec have been adopted this evening that such will be the case. By this Bill the province of Ontario loses four seats, New Brunswick two, Prince Edward Island one, and Nova Scotia two. Quebec holds its present number of seats, though many Changes are made, and all western provinces gain seats. But in all there are nineteen seats throughout Canada wiped out by this Redistribution Bill. The Bill seriously affects the constituency of Digby. At the present time, in western Nova Scotia, there are three electoral divisions, Yarmouth, Digby and Annapolis, and it is proposed to divide Digby, attaching the municipality of Clare to the county of Yarmouth, uniting the municipalities of Digby and Annapolis, and forming the constituencies of Yarmouth-Clare and Digiby-Annapolis. When, some time ago, it was persistently rumoured that the constituency of Digby was liable to be effected toy this redistribution, I conferred with my 'hoe. friend from Cumberland (Mr. Rhodes), who was the Nova Scotia representative on the Redistribution Committee and I then presented my views to him and 'he noted my objections. At a subsequent time I wrote my hon friend restating my objections in this matter.

I have no doubt that the Redistribution Committee has acted according to its best judgment. I am sure that its responsibilities were great; that its difficulties were many, and that amidst con-flicting interests it had its own troubles; but, Sir, of course any member of this House, whose constitu-

ency is materially and prejudicially affected, naturally dislikes the situation, however necessary it may be to make changes of that kind in order to effect a redistribution in this country. In common with a large number of other members in this House from the province of Ontario and Quebec and the Maritime provinces whose constituencies are affected in that way, I must therefore express my deep regret that the committee has found it necessary to make this arrangement. The fact that the Maritime provinces lose five seats in this redistribution is a matter which I regret as well, as in the last two preceding redistributions those provinces have suffered considerable loss. But I believe that the Maritime provinces are to-day on the eve of a very considerable development, and that further redistributions may, in some measure at least, redress the losses which are now being sustained. In the meantime, this Parliament is confronted with the provisions of the British North America Act, with the result of the last census and with the necessity of passing a Redistribution Bill. In this situation of facts, I can merely re-state the regret which I have expressed, that it has been found desirable or necessary to make a redistribution which will so materially effect the constituency which I have represented in this House during the past two Parliaments.