Mr. BORDEN (Halifax). I would like
to bring to the attention of the government the fact that the documents which have
been printed, purporting to be a return to an address of the House of Commons dated
the 11th May, 1902, for copies of all Orders in Council and other documents having
reference to the granting of provincial autonomy to the North-west Territories, are
extremely defective. I had procured a number of prints of these documents from Regina,
and. doing the work of a clerk this morning, I compared them with the return which
has been brought down, and I found that a very great number of the documents have
not been printed. In order to show my right turn as printed, I will read a list of
the documents which have not been included in it, some of which are of no great importance,
but others of which are of the greatest possible importance for the purpose of an
intelligent discussion of this question. I may say that one or two of the documents
which I have included in the list, while not directly referring to the question of
provincial autonomy, are nevertheless in answer to correspondence which does touch
that question as well as the question of better financial terms ; and these, I think,
ought to be brought down, because they are part of the consecutive correspondence
dealing with these matters. The letters which have been omitted, which I had to take
from a number of documents and therefore have got them arranged in chronological order,
are as follows : January 31, 1903, Mr. Haultain to Mr. Sifton : February 11, 1903,
Mr. Haultain to Mr. Sifton : February 9, 1903, Mr. McGee to Mr. Haultain : February
16, 1903, Mr. Keys to Mr. Haultain : March 19, 1903, Mr. Haultain to Mr. Sifton :
March 21, 1903, Mr. Sifton to Mr. Haultain : April 15, 1903, Mr. Haultain to Mr. Sifton
: December 17, 1902, Mr. A. L. Sifton to Mr. Clifford Sifton : February 5, 1903, Mr.
Sifton to Mr. Haultain : February 11, 1903, Mr. Haultain to Mr. Sifton : February
21, 1903, Mr. Haultain to Mr. Sifton : April 16, 1903, Mr. Fielding to Mr. Haultain
: April 17, 1903, Mr. Haultain to Mr. Fielding : April 20, 1903, Sir Wilfrid Laurier
to Mr. Haultain : April 20, 1903, Mr. Haultain to Mr. Fielding : April 24, 1903, Lieut.-Gov.
Forget of the North-west Territories to the Secretary of State, Inclosing an address
: June 2, 19003, Mr. Haultain to Sir Wilfred Laurier : June 6, 1903, Mr. Fielding
to Mr. Haultain : June 15, 1903, Mr. Pelletier. acting Under Secretary of Mr. BORDEN
(Halifax)
State to Lieut.-Gov. Forget ; January 30, 1901, Mr. Haultain to Mr. Sifton ; March
21, 1901, Mr. Sifton to Mr. Haultain ; March 30, 1901, Mr. Haultain to Mr. Sifton
; April 5, 1901, Mr. Sifton to Mr. Haultain : June 4, 1901, Mr. Haultain to Mr. Sifton
: June 5, 1901, Mr. Sifton to Mr. Haultain : August, 11, 1901, Mr. A. L. Sifton to
Mr. Clifford Sifton ; August 14, 1901, Mr. Clifford Sifton to Mr. A. L. Sifton ; January
11, 1901, A. L. Sifton to Sir Wilfred Laurier ; January 22, 1902, Sir Wilfred Laurier
to Mr. A. L. Sifton ; March 15, 1902, Mr. Haultain to Sir Wilfred Laurier ; March
18, 1902, Sir Wilfred Laurier to mr. Haultain ; March 27, 1902, Mr. Sifton to mr.
Haultain ; April 2, 1902, Mr. Haultain to mr. Sifton ; April 29, 1903, Mr. Pelletier,
acting Under Secretary of State, to Lieut.-Gov. Forget. I thought it would be desirable
to read this long list in order to indicate to my right hon, friend how very defective
is the return which has been brought down and printed. I recollect that at the time
the papers were first brought down, the right hon. gentleman mentioned to the House
that there would be some other papers. Possibly these have not yet been prepared ;
but might I be permitted to suggest that, in bringing down correspondence of this
kind, it would great diminish the labour of members who desire to deal with important
subjects of this character, if the documents could be printed in chronological order,
beginning with the documents, of an earlier date. That has not been done in this case,
and if we have another return printed, with the documents that I have mentioned, I
am afraid that the matter will be in rather a confused condition. Possibly it would
be advisable to nave these documents arranged in chronological order, if it would
not take too long, and printed, so as to have them in an intelligible form before
the House. The correspondence is quite voluminous, and it will be difficult to gather
its bearings unless we have it in that form.
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