BRITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES
Hon. Sir GEORGE-E. CARTIER announced that the
Government had made no further arrangement for special reports of
the debates on the British Columbia measure.
Hon. Sir A.T. GALT said he was sorry that the Government had
arrived at that conclusion, for the debates would be particularly
interesting to British Columbia, and would not reach there in as full
a form as they would otherwise have done had his suggestion been
adopted. He trusted that the energy usually displayed by the reports
would on this occasion supplement the necessity that would exist
for full reports.
Mr. JONES (Leeds North and Grenville North) believed the
Government deserved credit for the decision to which they had
come. He was about to proceed further, when
The SPEAKER called him to order. There was no question
before the House.
Mr. JONES (Leeds North and Grenville North) thought he
had as good a right to speak on the subject as other hon. gentlemen.
The SPEAKER explained that a minister of the Crown had
simply answered a question put on a former occasion by the hon.
member for Sherbrooke, and there the matter should drop.
Mr. JONES (Leeds North and Grenville North) said he was
sorry to be obliged to resort to extreme measures, but he had a
precedent for it only the other day. He moved the adjournment of
the House. (
Laughter) He continued at some length to explain that
he was elected on the Independent ticket, and though he might have
erred in judgment, he had always endeavoured to preserve economy
in the administration of public affairs. (At this point the hon.
gentleman's voice became inaudible, owing to the slamming of
desks and other noises in the House resorted to, to silence him.) He
did not approve of going to any additional expense in the British
Columbia matter.
The SPEAKER suggested that it would be as well to postpone
the discussion until the British Columbia Bill should be before the
House.
Mr. JONES (Leeds North and Grenville North) bowed to the
opinion of the Speaker, and withdrew his motion.
Mr. RYMAL rose to reply to some remarks made by the hon.
member for Leeds and Grenville, with respect to his (Mr. Rymal's)
course in Parliament. The hon. member had seen fit to take him
(Mr. Rymal) to task and would fain make the House believe that he
would encourage extravagance in the administration of public
248 COMMONS DEBATES
March 23, 1871
affairs. He (Mr. Rymal) believed that his course would show that he
had advocated economy whenever it was in the interest of the
public, and he had no desire that every man's utterances should be
fully reported in the case. He had no desire that a column should be
given to his own speech, though the hon. member for Leeds might.
Whether that hon. gentleman was reported in the regular way or
not, he (Mr. Rymal) could not say, but he had frequently noticed
that if the hon. member only spoke for five minutes in the House, a
column report of it, at least, appeared in the papers. (
Laughter) No
doubt the hon. member engaged a special reporter to record his wise
sayings. As for the charge of inconsistency and want of
independence, he (Mr. Rymal) left it to those who had known them
to say whether he or the hon. member for Leeds was the more
deserving of the charge. The hon. member's course had been what
Wm. Lyon Mackenzie had said of such members—that those who
boasted of independence in the House were those who never could
be depended on. (
Laughter)
***
WEST INDIES MAIL
Mr. FORBES asked whether, in view of the business between
the Dominion and the British and Foreign West Indies, it is the
intention of the Government to increase the mail accommodation
during this year between those countries so as to give greater
advantage and larger development to this important trade.
Hon. Mr. TUPPER said the attention of the Government had
been drawn to the importance of establishing such a service, but
considered it not advisable to undertake it yet.
***
ST. CLAIR FLATS CANAL
On the order for Mr. Mackenzie's resolution for the
correspondence relative to the canal built by the United States
Government at St. Clair Flat,
Mr. MACKENZIE said the first Minister of the Crown had
promised a portion of this correspondence, and he wished to know
if that correspondence could be brought down now.
Hon. Sir GEORGE-E. CARTIER said it would not be
conducive to public interests to bring down any portion of the
correspondence. The correspondence was still going on between the
Canadian and Imperial Governments and the Government of the
United States. He hoped the hon. gentleman would accept his
declaration, that it would not be in the public interest to bring any of
it down.
Mr. MACKENZIE said he was of course bound to accept the
assurance of the Government.
***
ADMISSION OF RUPERT'S LAND AND THE NORTH-
WEST
Mr. BLAKE moved that this House do resolve itself into a
Committee of the whole to consider the following resolutions:-
1. That the sense of the Houses of the respective Legislatures of
the Provinces Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick was taken
as to, and formed the basis of the Imperial Legislation under which
the said Provinces were federally united into the Dominion of
Canada.
2. That it was by the British North America Act (1867) enacted
that it should be lawful for the Queen, by and with the advice of the
Privy Council, on Addresses from the Houses of Parliament of
Canada, to admit Rupert 's Land and the North Western Territory,
or either of them, into the Union by the said Act created, on such
terms and conditions as the Queen should think fit to approve
subject to the provisions of the said Act; and that the provisions of
any such Order in Council should have effect as if they had been
enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
3. That Addresses have been passed by both Houses of
Parliament of Canada touching the admission of the said Territories
into the Union, and Canada has paid large sums, and incurred large
liabilities in order to accomplish such admission, and an Order in
Council has been made by the Queen for such admission.
4. That the Parliament of Canada has assumed to exercise
jurisdiction over the said Territories and to make provision for the
erection of part of the said Territories into the Province of Manitoba
and for the establishment of federal relations between the said
Provinces and Canada.
5. That it has been made to appear to this House that the
Canadian Government has requested the Government of the United
Kingdom to submit to the Parliament of the United Kingdom a Bill
touching the said North Western Territories or some part thereof',
and that the Government of the United Kingdom in consequence of
such request has proposed to the Canadian Government to submit a
Bill, a draft of which it has forwarded to the Canadian Government.
6. That in the opinion of this House the sense of both Houses of
the Parliament of Canada should be taken as to and should form the
basis of such proposed Legislation.
Mr. BLAKE said that he proposed in these resolutions to
establish the principle that legislation on matters affecting this [...]