4
THE LEADER THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 11, 1903.
IN SESSION AGAIN.
(Continued from page 1.)
TUESDAY, June 9th.
Speaker Gillis took the chair at 2.30
p.m. The first Order of the Day was
the second reading of Bill No. 2 respecting Foreign Companies. In moving the second
reading
Premier Haultain said the necessity for the Bill
emphasised the necessity of the immediate granting of the provincial
status to the Territories. In 1901 an
Ordinance was passed regarding the
licensing of foreign corporations to
carry on business in the Territories and
was disallowed by the Federal Government. The question of the disallowance of the
Ordinance was suggested
by certain companies incorporated
under Dominion charters and who
objected to paying a further corporation fee to do business in the Territories. So
far as the powers of the Legislative Assembly of the Territories are
concerned, said the Premier, we have
to-day in this respect practically the
same powers as are conferred on the
provincial legislatures. We stand in
precisely the same position as if we
were a province, and in dealing with
the disallowance of the Ordinance it is
only fair to inquire what was done by
the federal authorities with respect to
similar legislation by the provinces.
The Ordinance of 1901 called for the
registration and licensing of foreign
corporations, that is companies incorporated otherwise than under the Ordinances of
the Territories. A foreign
corporation was some company formed
for the purpose of carrying on some
business which fell within the powers
of the Territories. By the Ordinance
of 1901 the Territories did not attempt
to control companies carrying on business which was outside the powers of
the Territories. The fees prescribed to
be charged these companies were made
by order-in-council.
WHY ORDINANCE WAS DISALLOWED.
Objection was taken by the Minister
of Justice to this Ordinance and to put
it shortly these were: First, that the
Ordinance was ultra vires of the legislature, and second, an interference
with Dominion policy by discriminating against Dominion companies in
favor of Territorial companies. So far
as this latter objection was concerned
there was a measure of truth in it. By
order-in-council the fees were fixed at
$150 instead of on a sliding scale as
would be the case under the Territorial
law. In response to the representations of the Minister of Justice the
Territorial Government undertook to
amend the Ordinance so as to make the
fees the same in the case of all companies. With regard to the first objection the
Territorial Government
took the straight ground that the
Ordinance was not outside the powers
of the legislature and that our contention was upheld by former ministers of
justice, more particularly Sir Oliver
Mowat, who, in his time, was the greatest authority on such questions in
Canada.
DIFFERENT TREATMENT TO PROVINCES.
It was admitted that the Ordinance
was framed for the purpose of taxing
and regulating these comp[anies but
that it only had to do with companies
over which the Territories had jurisdiction and such as the Territories
could license themselves. The Premier
went on to quote the judgment of Hon.
David Mills and Sir Oliver Mowat to
the effect that while the Dominion had
the right to grant such charters the
provinces had power to regulate and
license them. These opinions were
given on a British Columbia and an
Ontario case. The Dominion Government had disallowed a Manitoba statute but the question
was not the same
inasmuch as the Manitoba law undertook to license and regulate companies
which were beyond the jurisdiction of
the province. In conclusion Premier
Haultain said: The British Columbia
law, which was the same as ours in
principle on all the important points on
which ours was disallowed, was allowed to go into operation. The
Ontario legislation was allowed to go
into operation although it went further
than ours. Manitoba's was disallowed
but it certainly was objectionable along
the lines I have indicated. Ours, however, was disallowed. This only demonstrates
another reason why we
should have provincial status for there
does seem to be a difference in the way
in which a strong provincial government is treated and the way the Territories are
treated. It was a question
whether the Territories were to be
allowed to legislate in regard to matters which were clearly and distinctly
placed under the control of the Legislative Assembly. The Bill now submitted meets
all the objections of the
Minister of Justice except on the one
point that the Assembly had exceeded
its powers. He was not willing to
yield that point and he asked the legislature to re-enact the Ordinance. The
Bill was then read a second time.
Source:
Regina Leader, 1896-1904. Digitized by Google Books.
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