Empire, which meant ruin to Canadian industries; that the Canadians with raw material at their doors could compete with United States interests and especially in wheat, bacon, fruit and dairy products;; that Sir W. Van Horne, who invested money in Cuba, and Sir E. Walker who sent it to the United States, were not safe advisers; that there was no real financial fear of the issue or C.P.R. stocks would not be at the highest point in its history; that Canada's policy was not militarism but continental friendship and the arts of peace. He then moved a long Amendment of which the points were as follows: 1. That Canadian development and existing prosperity were due to the policy of the Laurier Government. 2. That in this latest evolution of policy Sir W. Laurier would have attained the objective of all Canadian statesmen since 1866. 3. "That Canada is, and for a long time will continue to be an agricultural country, producing a large surplus of food products which must find a foreign market, and the free entrance of such foodstuffs into the United States will result in a very material increase in the income of the farmers of Canada (who are the largest and most important class in the country) with a corresponding increase in the value of their farm lands and betterment in their condition of life." 4. That this result would be obtained with no restriction upon Canada in the matter of changing its tariff toward Great Britain or altering the Agreement with the United States. 5. That Reciprocity would increase the prosperity of all Canadians, attract more settlers to vacant lands, increase the carrying trade of the railways, build up a great paper manufacturing industry in Canada, and, "by cementing peace and concord between the two great English-speaking nations of the world, do a great service to the British Empire." 6. "That this House most earnestly deprecates the expression of views that the loyalty of Canada is a purchasable quantity, only to be retained by Great Britain by paying the price of a complete change in her fiscal policy and saleable to the United States in exchange for tariff concessions; brands such expressions as those of traitors to their King and country, and reaffirms that, by blood, by association, by the great heritage of language, literature, religion, social and political ideals, and by freedom, slowly broadening down from precedent to precedent, the people of Canada are unitedly, whole-heartedly and indissolubly devoted to British institutions, to the British Empire and to the Throne and person of our Most Gracious Sovereign." By a vote of 75 to 17 the House rejected Mr. MacKay's amendment and by 74 to 17 passed the Premier's Resolution-one Conservative member having to leave to catch a train. Mr. Studholme (Lab.-Ind.) voted with the Opposition. Sir James Whitney, in his reply to Mr. MacKay, declared that the Liberal arguments were chiefly based on the difference in prices between Toronto and Buffalo.. This difference was much greater between Chicago and Buffalo, or Chicago and Omaha, or New York and San Francisco. In dealing with the debates in Congress he said: "I am in a position, knowing the importance of what I say, to state that dozens of speeches containing references to Annexation were suppressed and never appeared in the Congressional Record." Following the vote the members joined in singing "The Maple Leaf," "Britannia," and, with the crowded galleries, "God Save the King." From this time on for three months Mr. A. G. MacKay carried through a vigorous campaign in all parts of the Province in favour of Reciprocity. He was at Bowmanville on Mch. 11, and in West Toronto on Mch. 18th, when a vigorous attack was made on what he termed the "so-called Liberals" who were opposing the policy. "If capital raises its haughty front and says we ought to consider its interests before those of the masses, then I say, for Heaven's sake let us make the capitalist understand what we mean. I would rather see the good old Liberal party go down in defeat than see it crawling to capital. The Liberal standard is swung out clear of the corporations and trusts and stands for the mass of the people." He spoke at Zurich on Apl. 10, at Tottenham on the 11th, at Odessa on the 12th, at Markham on the 15th, at London on the 17th, at Kingsville and Windsor on the 18th, at Straffordville on the 19th and Aylmer on the 20th, at St. Thomas on the 21st and Woodstock on the 22nd. On Apl. 24th he was at Chesley, on the 25th at Walkerton, on the 26th at Lucknow, on the 27th at Brussels, on the 28th at Wingham, on the 29th at Dungannon and Goderich. The speeches made the best of the case and appealed, especially and directly, to the farmers. From this tour The Globe on Apl. 19th hoped much; of the Opposition Leader it declared that "with all the purely mental qualities of statesmanship he possesses, in a superlative degree, the peculiarly magnetic personality which is the source of power on the platform." Of the result it stated on May 1st that the Ontario farmer had decided "to give Reciprocity a chance." Favourable resolutions were passed at all the meetings. Meanwhile British Columbia, another Conservative Province, had moved a little before Ontario. Mr. W. H. Hayward (Cons.) presented in the Legislature, on Feb. 3rd a Resolution as follows: "Whereas a provisional Agreement has been arrived at between Canada and the United States having in view reductions in the tariff on certain commodities and the free exchange of others; and whereas the proposed tariff re-adjustment will be highly detrimental to the agricultural interests by the flooding of the Canadian markets with American-grown produce of all kinds; and whereas the arrangement will inure to the disadvantage of British Columbia in several important respects without any compensating advantages in other respects; therefore be it resolved that a respectful Address be presented to His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor, praying that he will be pleased to move His Excellency, the Governor-General, to take into serious consideration the effects of such proposed changes in the tariff." The mover deprecated the effect of Reciprocity on Provincial fruit, agriculture and timber interests. On the 6th Hon. Price Ellison, a member of the Government, declared that Reciprocity would para lyze the fruit industry of the Okanagan Valley and made this much-discussed assertion: "This Treaty has been brought about, chiefly, by a handful of people in Manitoba who have gone down. and asked for it. I have heard that James J. Hill put up $50,000 to aid these people to go to Ottawa and raise a cry of free-trade. Why was it done? Because it would divert railway traffic from eastward and westward to northward and southward and so benefit Mr. Hill's lines." On the 7th H. C. Brewster, representing the Liberal Opposition of one in the Legislature, supported Reciprocity and declared that "the finest fruit in the world" would still have its market in London while he quoted Messrs. MacRae and Campbell, heads of two big British Columbia lumber concerns, to prove that there was no danger to that industry. The debate was resumed on the 15th when Mr. Premier McBride attacked Reciprocity strongly. One point was made as follows: "While in 1910 the people of the Province produced a little over $11,000,000 of agricultural produce they had brought from the outside $14,000,000 worth and there was little encouragement for the Government of British Columbia to persevere in its efforts to develop agriculture and home supplies when they found those efforts destroyed by a trade bargain, many of the provisions of which had not been given the consideration to which they were decently entitled." As to fruit he was explicit: "This Agreement will bring the Provincial Fruit-growers into competition with Washington, Oregon, and California, all older communities where there are easier conditions for development, where labour is more plentiful and transportation cheaper. In this Province we have not yet come to full manhood in fruit-growing. We are, indeed, in our earliest infancy in this respect." He concluded by declaring that the true policy for Canada was one of closer union with the Empire; there was no necessity for the proposed change, it was ill-timed and ill-considered and should be deferred for further study by those responsible for it. Parker Williams (Soc.) thought the Agreement would benefit the Western farmers and hurt British Columbia; he would vote with his own Province. J. H. Hawthornthwaite (Soc.) deprecated Imperialism and would like to see the United States boundary line abolished; but the time had not come for this or for the destruction of capitalistic patriotism and he would, reluctantly, support the Resolution. It was then passed with only one dissentient. To the London Daily Express on Feb. 23rd Mr. McBride cabled: Reciprocity will suddenly dislocate Canada's present trade and will divert a great deal of it to the advantage of the United States. This will also have an effect on our trade with Britain, our best customer, which at present absorbs the greatest part of our exports. It will not tend advantageously toward an early solution of the problem of Imperial federation. Undoubtedly the United States is actuated by a desire to secure greater control of Canadian resources and at the same time to secure a larger share of the Canadian market for her manufacturers. On the other hand Canada's better plan is to trade as freely as possible with the Motherland and other parts of the Empire to their mutual advantage, instead of tying her hands with an outside country which may at any time decide to end the Agreement, with the result that Canada's trade would again be dislocated. Manitoba expressed its Conservative opposition to the Agreement promptly and strongly. To the Toronto News of Feb. 4th Mr. R. P. Roblin, Premier of the Province, said: "I am opposed to it because it will naturally and necessarily pry us loose from British connection; because it will injure and make, in some cases, useless the millions that have been used to construct avenues of trade East and West and to develop inter-Provincial business; because it will foster and strengthen the feelings of the large number who are coming to us from the United States at the rate of 100,000 or more a year, to continue to sell their produce in the cities to the south of the line and to bring the supplies they require from the same source." In his Legislature on Feb. 13th the Premier gave an idea of the Provincial Government's feeling, during the debate on the Address: "I do not hesitate to say that a cloud, although not bigger than a man's hand, has appeared on the horizon, but I trust that it will pass away before it darkens the sun of our prosperity, dampens the ardour of our national youth, and bends the inclination of the people in a direction that a true Britisher would very much regret." On Feb. 20 Mr. T. C. Norris, Leader of the Manitoba Liberal Opposition, presented the following Resolution to the Legislature: "That this Legislature approves the Agreement for reciprocal tariff concessions between Canada and the United States made by the Governments of the two countries, and recommends it to the Dominion Parliament for immediate approval. And this Legislature also respectfully suggests to the Dominion Government that further consideration be given to the matter of the tariff with a view to further substantial reductions in the duties on agricultural implements or to a free interchange in these articles with the United States." A little later Mr. Rogers, Minister of Public Works, presented the following amendment: Whereas it is desirable that the bonds of Empire should be strengthened, trade relations within the Empire fostered and developed, and the inter-provincial trade of Canada built up and maintained; and whereas it is the expressed wish and desire of the people of Western Canada to maintain a high standard of grade for their chief agricultural produce, namely wheat, and to prevent the mixing thereof to the detriment of our farmers; and, whereas, as a result of the proposed Agreement the identity of our Canadian wheat, such as will find its way to the United States, will become subject to the mixing practices in that country; and, whereas, better and more desirable relations could be obtained by and along the lines of the policy known as Imperial Preference which by freer (U. S.) trade will be prejudicially affected; and, whereas, Canada has spent and pledged its credit to the extent of hundreds of millions for the development of inter-provincial trade between the different Provinces from British Columbia on the west to Nova Scotia on the east, which investments, securities and trade will be prejudicially affected; now, therefore, be it resolved that this Legislature is of the opinion that the proposed reciprocal Agreement is not in the best interests of the Dominion and that the prosperity and national development of Canada would best be served by the adoption of the policy known as Imperial Preference and by the freer extension of trade within the Empire; further, that the House regrets that the hands of the Parliament of Canada, in the matter of tariff, and especially agricultural implements, are unnecessarily tied by the proposed reciprocal Agreement. In his speech Mr. Norris declared that the Premier did not represent Western opinion in his recent utterances; that if Western wheat went south under Reciprocity it would be to get a higher price and if it did not do so there was no need for anyone to be alarmed; that Mr. J. J. Hill thought the Winnipeg wheat market would go up in price to that of Minneapolis-an opinion he preferred to Mr. Roblin's statement that the procedure would be reversed; that according to Senator Young of Iowa $100,000,000 of United States money was awaiting Reciprocity to be invested in Western lands-an increase of $5.00 an acre; that a free United States barley market meant 30 cents a bushel more for Canadian barley; that Sir Donald Mann had said the increased population would compensate the Railways for any trade diverted to the south. Mr. Robert Rogers, Minister of Public Works, replied at length. He declared that Messrs. Fielding and Paterson had bartered away, or tried to do so, the political liberty and fiscal freedom of Canada; that the Republican President of the United States was trying to save his party at Canada's expense and was pledged to lower certain duties anyway; that a few years ago the Liberals had claimed the Grand Trunk Pacific construction to be necessary in order to prevent diversion of Canadian trade to the south; that the price of wheat was made in Liverpool and not at Minneapolis; that the new policy was one of placing the natural resources of Canada open and free to the plundering of the United States; that American fixing and framing of Canadian tariffs and control of Canadian wealth could only have one end. He concluded an eloquent speech by quoting a Quebec poet as follows and moving his lengthy amendment: Begotten of free-born peoples, the lords of the land and the flood; Lord God of our Fathers be with us, rise up at Thy peoples' cry, For blindness has stricken the nation and the doom of our land draws nigh. Rise up ere it falls, Lord, and save us, and blast with the fire of Thy mouth The treason, that barters our birthright for the gold of the Kings of the South. |