for independence
would come, and unless we
were prepared for it, unless our legislation be
framed with that view, we would be found
then in the same position as now, and being
unprepared for separate political existence, we
would have no choice with regard to our
future. Confederation was an Act of Imperial
as well as of Colonial policy. The intention of
that Act, he believed, was to secure, by the
union of all the scattered British North American Colonies, a united country of sufficient
power, population and wealth, to be able to
maintain itself alone. That policy was to a
certain extent carried out by the British North
America Act and his complaint against the
Government was that they had not made use of
the prestige which Confederation gave them;
that they had not been successful in their
efforts to consolidate Confederation. They had
not heard from the Government any line of
future policy whatever, (hear, hear). Nothing
had been suggested by the Premier with reference to the future that is anticipated
to arise
from Confederation. If the legislation recommended by the Government had been successful,
instead of being obliged to beg at the doors
of Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island,
they would have come and asked us to take
them in. But the only result of Confederation,
so far, had been a simple change in the mode in
which the legislation of the country was conducted. That was not what the public at
large
expected from it. The prestige which was given
to this Government by the Act of Confederation ought to have enabled the Government
to
do more than they had done. It was because
they had done nothing, because he saw no
prospect in His Excellency's Speech of our
entering upon a new career, and because he felt
delay to be dangerous, that he complained of
the course of the Government. The explanations they had heard in this debate with
reference to the filling up of the Cabinet, and the
claims of individuals, indicated that the mind
of the Premier, at least, was more devoted to
the keeping up of the personnel of the Government than to the consideration of great measures of public policy, (hear,
hear). He was very
far from desiring to make these remarks in an
offensive way to the hon. gentleman, but no
one could avoid seeing that where his whole
attention was taken up in attempts to preserve
power, he could not give proper attention to
the great interests in his hands. He would only
repeat what he had said the other night, that
holding the views he did, with regard
to the
future of this country, he regretted that he
could not feel satisfied at the way the gentlemen at the head of public affairs were
managing them. He regretted very much that differing with them on this matter, he
found himself
compelled to oppose them. With regard to the
116 COMMONS DEBATES February 21, 1870
personal relations which had long existed between them, he trusted that his changed
position towards them politically would not impair
these friendly personal relations.
Hon. Sir George-É. Cartier said that the
tone of the debate had proved that Confederation had worked great improvements on
the
part of Lower Canada. He thanked God that
Confederation had delivered them of the petty
quarrels between the representatives of different sections of politicians. He was
gratified to
find the confidence reposed in him, and congratulated the House on the patience with
which the Government had listened to the
complaints put forward by the Western members as to the composition of the Government
and the number of Liberal members in the
Cabinet. The question was for them to know
whether they could depend on their fellow
members to give them a majority by which to
carry on the Government. It was not necessary
that they should have a majority in every
Province, but of course a stronger majority
would be founded on a majority gained in this
way. If the Western Province (Ontario) were
prosperous, the other Maritime Provinces
shared it, and they had no right to be bumptious about it. The question of the day
was
whether the Government had such a majority
as to be enabled to carry on its measures; but
they did not require a majority in each Province, though the majority now commanded
by
the Government was a majority from each
Province. The question discussed by the
Ontario representatives with regard to the
composition of the Cabinet, did not interest the
representatives of the Maritime Provinces,
among which he included Quebec. He was glad
to see the member for Lambton in his seat, for
they all respected his industry, his talents, and
the cautious manner in which he spoke. He
had, however, brought forward disagreements
about the representations of the Reformers in
the Cabinet.
Mr.
Mackenzie—I did not bring it up as a
grievance, but as a deception practiced upon
Reformers at the elections in 1867. I wish the
whole of you were Conservatives, and then we
would have no difficulty.
Hon. Sir
George-È. Cartier said the matter
did not affect or interest the representatives of
the other Provinces. The hon. member for
Lambton said that he wished to see them all
Conservatives; but let him try to get up a
Liberal party. With regard to the charge of the
want of success in Confederation, and supporting it by the cases of Newfoundland and
Prince
Edward Island, and the North West, he would
refer to those countries. With regard to Newfoundland, it had rejected the proposal;
but the
terms were not those of the Government but of
the House. The House agreed to their proposed
terms, and then they ceased to be their proposals; and he was surprised to see that
such
intelligent men as the members for Lambton
and Sherbrooke should found their charges
upon such a foundation. He would tell the
House that if they would be quiet, in a short
time the terms would be accepted. With regard
to Prince Edward Island, the Government had
made certain proposals, but they did not like to
do anything without the approval of Parliament. They had telegraphed the terms they
should submit, and they had not yet received a
reply. They could not force such powerful
Provinces as Newfoundland and Prince
Edward Island to accept their terms, but they
must wait. With regard to the North-West Territory, the proceedings adopted had not
been
the action simply of the Government, but had
been adopted by the House. After the plans had
been adopted by Parliament the House was
responsible for them. He hoped his hon. friend
did not object to that. The responsibility rested
not upon the Government, but upon the Parliament which had passed it; they had done
all in
their power to bring about the admission of the
North-West into Confederation. He would
admit that at the time the Confederation Act
was discussed in Quebec, and at the discussions on it, they were not in possession
of all
the information that was desirable. The idea
was that the Hudson Bay Company were not
treating the inhabitants kindly, and that they
would enter the Union gladly, but recent circumstances showed that the Government
of
the country was not as unpopular as it was
represented. His own impression was that the
population had become indifferent to it, and
the late lamentable circumstances proved that
it was partly unpopular. He regretted that his
own colleague was now to be addressed as an
opponent. Before he accepted the office, he
came to him (Sir George) and asked him
118 COMMONS DEBATES February 21, 1870
whether he would
support him. He promised
him to do so for he thought that he would have
been a good Governor. He thought now that he
would have been a good Governor if he could
have got into the country and could have
explained to the settlers that the Government
intended to do them no wrong. There could be
no doubt that the Scotch and English halfbreeds did not find fault with what the French
Canadian half-breeds were doing. It had been
published in some papers that there was a
conspiracy against his hon. friend, because a
French Gouvernor ought to be sent there, and
that the Territory ought to be a second Quebec.
He thought that these statements were the
most wicked untruths that had ever been published. He had promised his friend his
support,
and he should not have been guilty of doing
anything to give the least appearance of truth
to such a wicked and mischievous untruth. The
French Canadians were an impulsive race, and
he thought it very wrong for a writer or a
speaker to attempt to raise a disturbance in the
East as well as in the West. They were French
Canadians, but they were also British subjects
(cheers), and were as much British, even if not
more so, than the British, (cheers). He was a
pure Frenchman, and he defied them to produce a more loyal man. Suppose that he was
appointed to the Governorship, would his
being a French Canadian make him unfit for
that position? (No! no.)
Sir G. -É.
Cartier then
contrasted the liberality of the Provinces of
Ontario and Quebec, and gave a stirring
description of the loyalty of the old French
inhabitants of the Province of Quebec. As to
the inhabitants of the Red River, the French
had gone there with their fathers, but some
stupid fanatical papers had said there should
be no Frenchmen there. At any rate there was
no intention to send a French Government
there; but still their paper had no right to
speak of the French population as they had
done. The Red River must be a Province like
Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, or New Brunswick, but a Province for every race to settle
in.
He thanked God there were in Lower Canada
250,000 honest English-speaking residents; and
he and his co-nationalists only regretted that
there were not double the number. At the last
census there were 80,000 French Canadians in
Upper Canada. He hoped at the next census
there would be 100,000 more (laughter), and he
was convinced that the Upper Province would
not be the worse for this increase. The address
stated that the policy of conciliation would be
adopted. There was the case of Ireland, conquered hundreds of years ago, and the misgovernment
there was only now about to be
relieved by Protestant votes. We wanted no
such state of things here—no country baptized
in blood. The House and country ought to be
thankful that the
North-West Territory would
be annexed without a drop of blood being shed,
(hear, hear). The moderation of the half-breeds
had been remarkable; and now they understood the policy of the Government was to be
pacific. He was afraid that Mr. Macdougall had
been misled by some designing people in Red
River. But papers would come before the
House, and they would show the necessity of
having this unfortunate difficulty settled as
soon as possible. Some papers asserted that
Bishop Taché had encouraged the movement.
He had the authority of Bishop Taché to deny
it
in toto. Some days before Bishop Taché left
for Rome in December last, Bishop Taché was
informed that Mr. Macdougall was to come.
The Bishop wrote to the College of St. Boniface, to the nuns in the convent there,
telling
them to welcome Mr. Macdougall. The nuns
having the little children under their control,
were prepared to receive him by singing the
National Anthem. As to the remarks which Mr.
Mackenzie had made as to the militia he (Sir
George) could inform him that there were
enrolled in Lower Canada 43,000 men, or 3,500
beyond the quota. There was also an excess
over the quota in Ontario, New Brunswick, and
Nova Scotia. There had been strictures as to
the success of Confederation, but could it be
denied that the Nova Scotian's difficulty
de
facto had been settled? It was well after all that
the Constitutional Act of Confederation had
been tested in Nova Scotia. There the Local
Parliament was against the Dominion Government, but still it could not impede the
whole of
Confederation. By the action of the last Parliament giving justice to Nova Scotia,
the cause of
Confederation had been vastly strengthened.
Sir A. T. Galt had accused the Government of
slowness in carrying out Confederation; but
New Jersey and Rhode Island had been for
years out of the American Union. Let Sir A. T.
Galt, who is so great an admirer of American
institutions, give the Dominion the same time
for the work of Confederation. The work of
incorporating Red River, Newfoundland and
Prince Edward Island would be completed
before our American neighbors had settled
their difficulties. The Hon. Mr. Huntington had
taken part in a meeting in the Eastern Townships, called for the discussion of Independence,
but luckily the member for Missisquoi
(Mr. Chamberlin) was there and opposed him.
The result was that Mr. Huntington did not try
to hold a meeting of the same kind anywhere
else in Lower Canada.
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