[...] now returned after a most successful mission
and the negotiations could be renewed. In the
meantime he could inform the House that the
Department of Inland Revenue had been
most successfully managed by the Postmaster-General, who attended to these additional
arduous duties during the whole of
the winter, though at great personal loss and
labour. The interests of the public service in
this respect had not, therefore, suffered in
any way. The thing, of course, could not be
carried on, and it was the intention of the
Government to fill up the vacancy, and place
a responsible man at the head of the Department. As to the proportional representation
of the Provinces in the Cabinet, his honourable friend would remember that it was
stated by the Government during the first
session that these matters, the formation of
the Government, division of the offices, &c.,
were of necessity experimental, and this was
the case yet. In the event of the absorption
of the great North-West and Newfoundland
into the Dominion, new duties and responsibilities would be involved, and very probably
a re-adjustment of the different heads of the
Departments. But he had no doubt that within the limits of a legitimate opposition,
the
Government would be supported in any efforts they might make to administer the new
state of affairs. As to Mr. Howe, he (Sir
John) hoped the people of Hants would soon
enable that hon. gentleman to explain his
own position on the floor of the House.
Hon. Mr. Holton thanked the Minister of Justice for
his full and explicit information. It would be unusual and inconvenient to
debate at that moment the policy involved in the explanations; but there
was just one point more that ought to be explained. The Minister of
Justice said in the course of his explanations, that negotiations had been
entered into with the view of filling the vacant offices
before the two members of the Cabinet went to England. As a matter of courtesy,
the House was entitled to know what direction these
negotiations took, and why they did not go on. Having been informed that
negotiations had been entered into, the House was entitled to know all about
them.
Sir John A. Macdonald said that at the proper time a full
and frank explanation would be given. The negotiations ought never to be
stated until they came to a result.
12
COMMONS DEBATES April 16, 1869
Mr. Mackenzie said there was one other point. The House
had just been informed that the filling up of certain offices had been a
matter of experiment. It would be desirable that the House should be informed
concerning the two offices of Secretaries of State. Of
course, this House was aware that the duties of both offices had been discharged
by one person, the member for Dorchester. The House was entitled to know
if that honourable gentleman was hereafter to discharge the
duties of both offices.
Sir John A. Macdonald was glad his attention had
been called to that subject. The office of Secretary of State had been created
because the necessity was felt for having a channel of communication
between the Dominion and Provincial Governments. It was deemed
desirable that the numerous questions which it was supposed would
arise in this way should be disposed of by some one Minister. On the
commencement of the new order of things, however, it was found that until
the relative positions of the Provincial and Dominion Governments were
ascertained, until they came to be clearly defined like those
of old established Governments, a good portion of the subjects which would be
ordinarily assigned to the charge of the Secretary
of State, had to be disposed of by the Minister of Justice. So many questions
arose in constitutional law and kindred topics, that he, as Minister of
Justice, had been obliged to direct his attention to them. Therefore a
great deal of the work which would eventually fall on some such
officer as the Secretary of State, devolved at present on the
Minister of Justice. All correspondence between the Provinces and the
Dominion of course was conducted by the Secretary of State. For the
present it was proposed that things should remain as they were, because
it was clear that if there was any necessity for the offices, before the
extension of the Dominion boundary, that necessity would be greatly
increased the moment Newfoundland and the North West became part of the Dominion.
As he had stated before, the distribution of
offices and power was of necessity to a great extent experimental in the
Dominion. From the mover of the Address they had heard what the
Government would be expected to do if they assumed the control of
the North-West. The subjects then alluded to as having to be dealt with
were numerous
18
COMMONS DEBATES April 16, 1869
Mr. Mackenzie
not among them a man who could make any
pretentions to military knowledge, and he
believed matters to be worse still in the
county adjoining. These appointments had
been avowedly made from one little party;
and they had the hon. gentleman who was intrusted with this selection avowing in his
own
paper that, until all his Tory friends had been
satisfied, not one should get a commission who
had opposed the Government or himself at
the last election. (Hear, hear.) This was the
new mode of administering the Militia affairs
of the Dominion. (Hear, hear.) In the Militia
administration there had not only been extravagance, but there had been a direct violation
of the votes passed by this House, and
the utmost practical inefficiency. He was told
the other day, on good authority, that in one
parish, where it was known there were altogether only 65 male adults, a return had
been
made of something over 300, in order to increase the amount allowed per head for
enrollment. He made these complaints with
profound regret. He was desirous to see the
Militia force organized on an efficient footing,
and he was sorry to say that, so far as he had
been able to observe, this had not been done.
The Minister of Militia was not directly to
blame, having been absent from the country
for six months, but some one ought to be held
responsible. Until the papers were brought
down, it would be manifestly inexpedient to
discuss the question as to the admission of
Newfoundland into the Confederation; but
as a sincere friend of the Union of the Provinces and British connection, he congratulated
the Government, the House and the
country on the application of another of our
North American Colonies to be admitted
into the Union, and he begged to say that
anything he could do to aid the Government
in carrying this matter to a successful completion should be done most heartily and
most cheerfully. (Hear, hear.) In regard to
the opening up of the North-West Territory,
he hoped the propositions of the Government
would be so well considered that it would
not be necessary for the hon. gentlemen acting
with him to propose any serious amendment,
as it was for the interest of the country that
all questions connected with the opening up
of that vast Territory should be settled as
soon as possible, and upon as equitable a
basis as possible. It was a serious matter to
undertake the government of that great Province, as it soon would be, and the whole
matter was one which would require the
utmost attention of the Government and all
other members of this House. He particularly
recognized in that his own responsibility, as
a member of the House, and should aid in
perfecting arrangements which would have
an influence on the condition of all the Provinces for many generations. Mr. Mackenzie
then reverted to the pernicious system inaugurated by this Government, in allowing
officeholders to retain their seats in the House
without even requiring them to go before
their constituents for re—election. He said they
might just as well admit Judges and other
such functionaries as the Arbitrator between
the Provinces and the Intercolonial Railroad
Commissioners. He had heard that another
member of the House was to be appointed a
Commissioner for codifying the laws; but he
sincerely trusted that if such a step had been
intended it would be reconsidered. Such a
policy was in the highest degree destructive
of public morality, and would gradually destroy in the public mind that respect which
ought to exist for the Legislature of the
country. There was another point to which
he would allude before sitting down. The
Minister of Justice professed to have constructed this Government on the Coalition
principle. They had been told by the Minister
of Public Works and the late Minister of
Inland Revenue that it was solely because it
was a Coalition Government that they had
entered it—that it was solely because such a
Government was necessary in order to the
right conducting of our affairs, and in order
to sustain some hon. gentlemen in the Lower
Province who had taken office, that they had
consented to enter it. Those hon. gentlemen
also claim that the three Reformers from Ontario, and the others from the Lower Provinces,
would be able to counterpoise the
Conservative element, or at least to equal it.
Well, if it was necessary that the Province
of Ontario should have three representatives
from the Reform ranks in the Cabinet, how
must it have suffered when there was only
one such representative, and that one absent
from the country for the last six months,
allowing the Conservative element to run
riot in the organization of the militia, the
management of the Intercolonial and everything else. (Hear, hear.) The Minister of
Customs belonged originally to the Reform
party, and perhaps it might be said that the
hon. gentleman had been suflicient for the
interests of that party in the Cabinet, in the
absence of his colleague; but if the hon.
gentleman yielded as easily on every matter
that concerned the party he professed to represent as he seemed to have yielded with
reference to the Intercolonial route, the protection given by him amounted to very
little.
The result had shown that he (Mr. Mackenzie) was right in the prophecy he
ventured to make when the Coalition was
20 COMMONS DEBATES April 16, 1869
formed, that it would end in the absorption
of the minority element. (Hear, hear).
Some of the Conservative organs, indeed,
had claimed that, as at the last election, the
Conservative element came a majority
amongst the representatives of Ontario;
therefore, the Ontario Conservatives were
entitled to three seats in the Cabinet, and the
Reformers to but two. With reference to this
he (Mr. Mackenzie) contended that this result
had been obtained by its being sedulously
urged upon the people that it did not matter
whether a Conservative or a Reformer was
elected, and that the only question with reference to a candidate should be whether
he
would support the Government. In this way,
by the joint action of the Minister of Justice
and the Premier of Ontario, the Reformers
had been cheated out of a fair representation
in this House.
Mr. Mackenzie said they had tried to beat him, but had
completely failed. The honourable gentleman ventured to make a pilgrimage
into his (Mr. Mackenzie's) county, but was compelled to beat an ignominious
retreat, and his majority was twice the number of the electors,
if not of the souls, in the whole constituency. (Hear, hear). He had
thought it expedient to call the attention of the Liberals in the House to the
manner in which they had been treated by honourable gentlemen opposite.
He had never expected that the Minister of Public Works would be either
the representative or the protector of the Reform party in the Cabinet; but he
had expected that some decent measure of attention would have
been paid to the position that was taken in the organization of the
Government. Mr. Mackenzie then said he would refrain from entering on any more
full discussion of the matters embraced in the address, until the papers
were brought down, and again congratulated the House on the prospect we
had that we should soon be not merely in theory, but in fact, a Confederation
of the British North American Provincesknit together in such a
way as to promote mutual interests and to maintain the glory of our
fatherland and our connection with it. (Cheers).
Paragraphs two to five were agreed to.
Paragraph six, relating to the North-West
negotiations having been put-
Hon. Mr. Holton said there was an evident desire
on the part of the House not
to prolong the debate, and agreeing in that desire, he would not make a speech.
He felt bound to say, however, that so far as he could judge from the
papers which had been published, he conceived we had nothing whatever to
congratulate ourselves upon in the result of the mission to England. He
had been from the initiation of the movement an agreeing party to the
policy of acquiring the North-West and he still thought it most desirable we
should acquire it; but he must say, so far as he could judge from these
papers, that our case had been most deplorably mismanaged. We had now,
perhaps, an opportunity of getting that Territory; but it was on terms
which ought never to have been assented to. He should be prepared at the proper
time to show, unless there were something in the papers which had not yet
been given to the public, that our representatives had been completely
out-generaled by the very able men who represented the H. B. Co. in England, and
also by the Colonial Minister himself.
The sixth and the remaining paragraphs
of the Address were agreed to.
Sir John A. Macdonald then moved that the resolutions be
referred to a Committee, consisting of Messrs. Cartier, Tilley,
Langevin, Simpson, Bolton and the mover to prepare and report an
Address—Carried.
The Committee immediately reported the
Address, which was ordered to be engrossed
and presented to His Excellency by such
members of the House as are members of
the Privy Council.
Hon. Mr. Holton reminded the Premier that the names of the
Intercolonial Railway Commissioners had not yet been finally announced to the House.
Sir John A. Macdonald said a message, making the
announcement, was in his office ready to be brought down.
Mr. Mackenzie asked when the papers relating to the Nova
Scotia arrangement, the admission of Newfoundland and the acquisition of the Hudson's
Bay Territory would be brought down?
Sir John A. Macdonald said the Nova Scotia
papers were complete, and would be brought down immediately. The Newfoundland papers
were incomplete, but he would consider whether he
could bring down the papers showing what had been done so far. The
Hudson's Bay papers were also incom
22
COMMONS DEBATES
April 16, 1869 plete. The Governor-General was warranted
in making the statement he did as to the acceptance of the proposal by
the Company, having received a cable despatched to that effect from Earl
Granville; but of course a despatch from Earl Granville must be received before
the House could be invited to take action.
Hon. Mr. Rose then moved that on Tuesday next
His Excellency's speech be taken into consideration as the first formal step
towards constituting a Committee of Supply. Carried.
The House at 20 minutes past 5 adjourned
till Monday.
This individual participated in:
