House of Commons,
25 April 1895, Canadian Confederation with Alberta and Saskatchewan
197[APRIL 24, 1895]198
[...] only to persons having contracts with the
Government. I propose to make the penalties apply to directors and otlicers of railway
companies who have subsidies, or loans,
or advances, or bonuses, from the Government of Canada. And I think, Sir, that this
will meet the view of the House and of the
public. I hope at a later stage to discuss
the matter more fully.
Motion agreed to, and Bill read the first
time.
DOMINION NOTES ACT.
Sir RICHARD CARTWRIGHT. Excuse
me ; I suppose that the object of the Bill
to amend the Dominion Notes Act is to put
in the proviso which, in a most extraordinary fashion, was dropped from the measure
last year.
Mr. O'BRIEN (for Mr. McCarthy) moved
for leave to introduce Bill No. 16 to amend
the Dominion Elections Act. He said : The
object of this Bill, Mr. Speaker, may be
very briefly stated. Of its provisions—one
is a most important one—to make railway
companies that carry voters to or from the
polls free of charge, guilty of a corrupt practice, and also to make any persons who
abet the railway companies in
doing so guilty of a corrupt practice. In fact,
the object is to put a stop to the practice
which is well known to prevail, especially
as shown during recent elections, of railway companies making themselves election
agents and carrying voters free from one end
of the Dominion to the other to please the
Government of the day. The other portion
of the Bill relates to acts of personation.
We have on our statute a clause referring to
this offence. The Ontario Legislature has
passed an Act which provides for summary
process in cases of personation. Any one
can easily understand that cases of personation will frequently arise, especially
in the
more remote districts of the country, where
the population is sparse, and where strangers
can come in and poll votes on behalf of
persons who are not present. This Bill enacts, as an amendment to the existing law,
a similar provision to that of the provincial
Act, which provides for summary process
in regard to personation. These are the
main provisions of the Bill. I therefore beg
leave to move, seconded by Mr. Bryson,
for leave to introduce this Bill.
Motion agreed to, and Bill read the first
time.
NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES-DUAL
LANGUAGE, ETC.
Mr. O'BRIEN (for Mr. McCarthy) moved
for leave to introduce Bill (No. 17) to amend
the North-west Territories Act. He said :
On behalf of Mr. McCarthy, I beg to introduce this Bill, which has been introduced
on several previous occasions in this House
and which has not yet met with the support which its advocates hoped it would meet
with and which they believe it will ultimately meet with. I need say but little
with regard to the provisions of the Bill, for they are well known. The object is
to give the North-west Territories power to deal with the subject of education and
to abolish the use of the French language as official in these Territories. I have
said, Mr. Speaker, that this Bill has not met with the support in this House which
we think it
ought to meet with, it has met with a very
large support throughout the country, except in the province of Quebec.
Mr. O'BRIEN. Which the hon. gentleman
who interrupts me so ably represents ; and,
Sir, the public have come to the conclusion
that they are not the demagogues who strive
by every means in their power to do away
with these distinctions of race and religion
which are the cause of nearly all our troubles ; they are the real demagogues who
fatten and batten and grow into political power
and influence by means of these distinctions.
Sir, it is within the knowledge of this House
that gentlemen who are hardly qualified to
fill the position of third class clerks have
been put in high office in the Cabinet, and
have been retained there from year to year,
from one administration to another. Kept
there, and kept there why ? Not on account
of their merits, because nature never gave
them any such qualifications as to entitle
them to fill these positions, but simply and
solely because they represented a certain
race and a certain religion. And, Sir, the
hon. Minister of Marine and Fisheries is a
case in point. The. hon. gentleman illustrated his position most admirably on a recent
occasion. The hon. gentleman referred
—or perhaps it would be more parliamentary
to say reference was made—to the power
which the late Sir John Macdonald had of
judging character and choosing men, very
seldom making mistakes in that respect.
Well Sir, Sir John Macdonald made no mistake in the case of the Minister of Marine
and Fisheries. He made no mistake because
he never thought that with all his powers
it was possible to make a statesman of the
hon. gentleman, but he did believe—and that
belief has been justified by events—that the
hon. gentleman would make a most admirable placeman. A most admirable placeman
he has been, a most admirable placeman he
still continues to be. I do not propose to
say anything further with reference to this
Bill, but I beg to move, second by Mr.
Denison, for leave to introduce the Bill.
Motion agreed to, and Bill read the first
time.
FIRST READING.
Bill (No. 18) to prevent the importation and
immigration of foreigners and aliens under [...]
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