Mr. Speaker, by your leave may I be permitted to read a telegram which I have just received, and which has been sent to me in order to correct a statement which was made a few days ago by the hon. member for DuffeTin (Mr. Best), with regard to contributions made in Montreal by the French Canadian people in connection with the war. The telegram is as follows:

Montreal, January 29, 1917.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier,

Ottawa.

As chairman of day's pay Committee which last year secured subscriptions exceeding five hundred thousand dollars from employees in Montreal, I can safely say that at least half of this amount was contributed by French-Cana-dian workingmen and women. The English and French-Canadian citizens of Montreal are at present working hand in hand in the organization of another campaign to raise two and a half million dollars here in February. All interests are working together in the most energetic and harmonious manner for its success.

J. W. McConnell.

Mr. BURNHAM:

May I ask if any provision has yet been made or permission granted by which recruiting can be done for specific battalions at the front instead of in the ordinary way?

Hon. A. E, KEMP (Minister of Militia): The matter to which the hon. member for Peterborough refers is under consideration. A large number of battalions are still below strength and these are being filled up as rapidly as possible.

Mr. E. B. DEVLIN (Wright):

(Resuming.) Mr. Speaker, when the debate adjourned last night I was saying that I believed it was the duty of every man in this House and every man in public life in this country to work for the harmony of the races which compose the people of Canada. I was speaking of the attacks which have been made upon the province of Quebec, and of attacks which have been especially directed

against the right hon. gentleman who leads the Opposition (Sir Wilfrid Laurier). I spoke also of the testimony which had been given at the banquet in the city of Vancouver by the late hon. the Postmaster General, Mr. T. C. Casgrain, when he said that there was no anti-war feeling in the province of Quebec, and that he could testify that at the very outset of the struggle my right hon. friend and others oh this side of the House had laid aside their political opinions and had appeared with him upon the public platform of that province to advocate recruiting. I could have gone further and instanced testimonials of loyalty which were given to my right hon. friend the leader of the Opposition at different banquets in the city of London, notably at the banquet at the Imperial Institute in June, 1897, which was presided over by the then Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII. I do not think that it is absolutely necessary this afternoon to do so, and I shall content myself simply with stating, in answer to hon. gentlemen opposite, that one of the present ministers, the Minister of Inland Revenue (Mr. Sevigny), speaking in the county of Dorchester

Hear, hear.

Mr. DEVLIN:

That "hear, hear" is very weak. However, we will let that pass. Here is what Mr. Sevigny said:

After explaining National Service as usual, Mr. Sevigny said that he was ready to retire and leave the field to Mr. -Cannon if anybody present was ready to say that Sir Wilfrid Laurier had not advised the people to sign the National -Service cards.

Sir, I give that testimony to the House for what it may be worth.

The second thought that was in my mind, and with that I shall conclude my remarks this afternoon, was the attempt which is being made by gentlemen opposite to make political capital out of this war so as to satisfy the prejudice of political opinion. We have had instances of that in this country unfortunately, both in the public press and in the utterances of men in public life. I did tell you last night, that when the right hon. leader of the Opposition was in the province of Quebec urging the young men to join the colours, the Minister of Labour (Mr. Crothers) was out in the town of Aylmer trying to incite his friends to find somebody in the county of Wright who would redeem it to the Conservative cause. Let me instance another case. The whole province of Ontario, and in fact the Dominion of Canada, was thrilled by the words

of Mr. Ralph Connor in the city of Toronto calling upon the people of this country for national unity and saying that there was only one thing worth while, and that was winning the struggle. Yet the Minister of Public Works (Mr. Rogers) sat back and contented himself with dismissing the idea by saying: "Well, Ralph Connor, after all, is only ,a Grit." Now, Sir, we have other gentlemen who have the honour of having seats on the treasury benches who are trying to make political capital out of the war-Let me begin with the right hon. gentleman who leads this Government. The House was amazed and the country was amazed the other night when the right hon. gentleman who, generally speaking, has the reputation of being broad-minded, thought it necessary to cast aspersions on the right hon. 'leader of the Opposition for some attitude, which he did not thoroughly explain, mark well, but which would give the impression to friends opposite and to others in the country that Sir Wilfrid Laurier was disloyal to the Empire during the South African war, when the history of the case, when all the facts of the case, are directly against such a contention. Is it surprising, then, that other members of his Cabinet stoop so low as to- try and make political capital out of the war. We have the -hon. Minister of-What is he now? He is Postmaster General, Mr. Blondin. Speaking in the county of Dorchester a few days ago, and what was he doing in the county of Dorchester? Was he advocating recruiting?

Oh, oh; it hurts.

Mr. DEVLIN:

It hurts? I have no doubt it does hurt hon. gentlemen opposite. What was the Postmaster General saying in the . county of Dorchester? Does it cause merriment upon the other side? It did not cause as much merriment with the right thinking people of Canada after they had read the words which were uttered by the Postmaster General. He was not advocating recruiting, but a policy of emigration from this country to the United States.

Oh, oh, "take it back"; "that's exploded."

Mr. DEVLIN:

Let me give his words; I am quoting now from the Montreal Gazette of January 26:

St. Germaine, Dorchester County, Quebec, January 25th: The following affidavit was

given out to-n'ght by the Liberal chiefs here:

We, the undersigned, declare that we heard last night at Ste. Rose, January 24, 1917, the Hon. P. E: Blondin make the following declara-

tion: "As for the Allison scandal and others

of the same nature, let us suppose that if these thefts have taken place, It has no importance for the people of Ste. Rose, because it was English money that was stolen."

Speaking of the danger of conscription, Mr. Blondin declared that, even if conscription was put into force, that would mean little to the people of Ste. Rose, because they had only to go across the frontier to get away.

That language was intended for home consumption, but when he found that these words had gone abroad, Mr. Blondin thought he would manufacture something else; so he immediately sent a correction, and I take his correction from the Ottawa Evening Journal, another good Tory paper. Here is what he says:

The statement which has been sworn to by certain Liberals with regard to my utterances are a distortion of my words. I never by any means intended to convey-

Mark well, that he did not intend to convey.

-the meaning which they have attached to my speech.

So it was not plain speaking.

Mr. Cannon had been stating in his speeches that the Conservative party had been grafting from the Canadian treasury in connection with munition contracts.

No man in this House or in the country can deny that.

In my speech at Ste. Rose I explained that it was not true that the Allison scandal had to do with Canadian money, pointing out that the money paid for the shells was the money of the British Government.

It was all right to steal the money because it came from the British Government; it would have been a crime if the money had come from the Canadian Government.

In regard to the conscription matter I told the people of Ste. Rose that I did not believe conscription would be necessary because so many Canadians were eager to go and fight for the cause of liberty and humanity. I added chat if any of them were afraid of conscription, if conscription should be passed and they did not want to go to the war, they had a remedy left. They could go across the United States line which is near Ste. Rose and escape military service.

Will hon. gentlemen opposite now applaud these words? There was another statement made by the hon. gentleman, only it was for exportation. It is contained in the wire which he sent to the right hon. gentleman, the Prime Minister, on the morning of the election. Mark well, for therein lies the danger. Here is an hon. gentleman in the Cabinet who makes a statement sworn to by electors of this

country. He finds that that statement is creating disturbance in the Conservative ranks, and he makes a correction which is worse than the original statement. Then he lets matters go on until the morning uf the election when he sends a telegram to the Prime Minister in which he does not refer to his words upon conscription. I hold a copy of the telegram in my hand, and not a word in it refers to conscription. He does not deny that he advised the people of Dorchester County to go across the line to the United States. And yet hon. gentlemen opposite say that they are not making political capital out of the war.

Let me say to my hon. friends opposite that their press, backed by the party, is creating the same sentiment in this country as that to which I have referred. The chief organ of the Conservative Party in the province of Quebec is L'Evenement, and here is a sample of what that paper was publishing during the Dorchester campaign. I quote it for the sake of my merry friends opposite:

I may first state, however, that the idea of L'Evenement was this: If conscription

was adopted in Canada it would not be due to any action on the part of the Conservative party; the sole blame was to fall on the head of my right hon. friend who leads the Opposition. L'Evenement prints in very large type for distribution throughout the county of Dorchester words that were signed by my right hon. friend's friend of 1911, Mr. Henri Bourassa, the friend of the Postmaster General of the present day (Mr. Blondin), of the Minister of Inland Revenue (Mr. Sevigny), and of the Secretary of State (Mr. Patenaude). The statement published in L'Evenement is as follows:

If England were, I will not say in danger, but simply at grips with one or two or several of the great powers of Europe, the Prime Minister could demand not $35,00'0,000, but two, three, or four times $35,000,0'0I0, We would put all the resources of Canada at the disposal of England. There would not be a single discordant voice.

These words were not given to the electors of Dorchester county as those of the Prime Minister of this country; they were given as the words lately uttered by the right hon. the leader of the Opposition. Again in big type, we find this in L'Evenement:

It was Sir Wilfrid Laurier who had passed in 1904 the Militia Act which would permit of the establishment of conscription in Canada. This Act is found in Chapter 41 of the Statutes of Canada of 1906.

And the article ends:

If we shall ever have conscription, it would be put into force thanks to a law passed by Laurier. Electors of Dorchester do not forget that.

I submit, Sir, that the Government have been making all the political capital possible out of this war. The Prime Minister made a statement and gave figures, which I quoted last night, purporting to show just what the Government had done for the Allied cause. He took credit to himself for having sent a large number of young men across the ocean. He stated that he had sent some 17,000 Russian, Italian, and French reservists. I want to tell my right hon. friend that if he or his Government had never existed, and the war went on, those French, Russian and Italian reservists would have had to go anyway under the laws of the countries whence they came.

Mr. BURNHAM:

I ask my hon. friend if he is in favour of conscription under any circumstances?

Mr. DEVLIN:

Will it materially aid my hon. friend if I enter into a dissertation upon conscription? The question will come up in the House when it will be discussed fully. [DOT]