John Horne Blackmore
Social Credit
Mr. BLACKMORE:
Does that indicate that the principle of federation as it has been followed during the past decades is wrong, or does it indicate that we are faced with a new set of conditions? We are not going to be able to solve the problem caused by overproduction or abundant production and small employment by clamping on a strong centralized government which can force the people to stand the misery they are suffering and which will give them no chance to solve their own problems locally. If we govern this country in the right way there will be no need of a strong central government. Every province desires to be a member of a strong British union in Canada, but every province feels that it has a right to a decent standard of living. The thing this house should be considering is how to enable the provinces to have a decent standard of living. We would then have no need for strong central governments.
My group is going to support this unemployment insurance scheme. We have but little faith in it, but we want to see the people who believe in it convinced. A tremendous number of people can convince themselves only by bumping their heads against stone walls. Probably the best thing that could happen is to let the people bump their heads. They will soon find that unemployment insurance is only a bauble, is only a glittering make-believe that will lead but to disappointment and perhaps to despair.