Hon. Sir A. T. Galt Brunswick. He could not congratulate the
House upon progress of Confederation. It was time it was carried, but
from expressions he had heard from members of this House he was forced to
conclude that the Province was not satisfied. The policy of the Government with
reference to the Intercolonial Railway had already been fully discussed
and he did not intend to say anything further than that he should have
been glad to have seen the policy with reference to the construction of that
road materially altered. He thought a policy of economy should have been
pursued. The policy which had been adopted in the construction of the
Intercolonial Railway has given us the management of several hundred miles of
railway—an arrangement that could not be carried on as well
under Government control as by private parties, and it involved
responsibilities which it would have been better not to assume. He was
convinced that the expenditure upon this railway would itself form a serious
burden upon the resources of the country. He regretted to observe that
the policy which had been pursued with reference to Newfoundland and
Prince Edward Island had borne results worse than barren. They had
received a more decided negative from Newfoundland as regards Confederation. And
this House stood in the awkward position of having
legislated with regard to terms to be offered to Prince Edward Island,
which terms had been rejected entirely. With regard to the North-West question
he was sorry to arrive at the same conclusion. An avowed resistance had
been given to attempts to incorporate that Territory into the Dominion. Who was
responsible for that state of things he would not
pretend to say until all the correspondence and other papers connected
with the matter had been laid before the House. When he looked from one end to
the other of the Dominion he must pronounce the administration of the
hon. member for Kingston a failure as regards the important measure
entrusted to him, (hear, hear). He would further say that if
there had been one thing that had saved Confederation from public disapproval, it
was not what had been done by the Dominion Government
but the efficient management which had characterized the Local
Governments of Quebec and Ontario—eminently the populous and wealthy
Province of Ontario, and these Provinces could be appealed to as a proof
of the satisfactory manner in which local powers had been administered. The
Speech of the Governor General was a serious disappointment to him. There
was but one source of congratulation in that Speech—it was thankfulness
for the bountiful harvests; there was no hope held out that there would be a
reconciliation of difficulties with that Province, and there is
nothing to make us hope that [...]
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