BRITISH COLUMBIA
Hon. Sir GEORGE-E. CARTIER moved the second reading of
the Address to Her Majesty for the union of British Columbia with
the Dominion.
Mr. MACKENZIE did not propose to reply to the speeches of
the hon. members opposite delivered last night. They extended over
a good space of time, but there was nothing in them. He merely
wished to enter his protest against the extraordinary address now
about to be read a second time. He, therefore, moved the following:
"Resolved that this House, while willing to give its best
consideration to any reasonable terms of union with British
Columbia, is of opinion that the terms embodied in the said address
are so unreasonable, and so unjust to Canada, that this House
should not agree thereto."
Hon. Mr. TUPPER said he had not taken any part in the debates
on this subject so far. He had listened with mingled pain and
pleasure to the speeches of hon. members. He had heard with pain
old friends of Confederation opposing this union movement. He
defended the policy of the Government at considerable length,
arguing that everything conspired to favor the construction of the
Pacific Railway. While the United States had to contend against
great natural difficulties in pushing their railways to the Pacific, the
territory through which the Canadian route would lie, was of great
natural fertility, and presented comparatively few engineering
difficulties to the construction of a railway. It gave us a pass
through the Rocky Mountains 2,000 feet lower than the best pass
through that chain on American territory. The hon. member for
Lambton had endeavored to show that the route from Nipissing to
Fort Garry was an almost impassable wilderness. Only last session
the hon. member had taken a very different view of the question
and had stated that the very best route to the west lay through
Canadian territory North of Lakes Huron and Superior. The hon.
gentleman could not say that he had heard anything to present the
matter in a different light. There were then, all these favourable
circumstances to aid this great enterprise, but in addition to all that,
the route once opened would place Canton and Liverpool 1,000
miles nearer than by any other line of communication that could be
found. The hon. member had pleaded for delay in order to submit
this question to the people, but the hon. gentleman had taken the
ground on a former occasion that Parliament, representing the
people, could act for them in a case like this.
Mr. MACKENZIE said this was a very different matter. When
the Confederation scheme was first mooted he (Mr. Mackenzie)
went before his constituents and presented the matter to them in
twenty speeches held in different parts of his constituency and told
them that if they were not favourable to Confederation they might
elect some one who would oppose it in Parliament, he would not.
Hon. Mr. TUPPER admitted that the honourable member for
Lambton was an important member of the House, and honoured the
intelligent electors who sent him to Parliament, but he did not
represent the whole people, and the Confederation scheme was not
submitted to the country generally. But this question had been
submitted to the people of British Columbia and the terms had been
accepted by them. It was not new to the people of Canada. Six
months ago the Toronto
Globe had published the terms and they
316 COMMONS DEBATES
April 1, 1871
had appeared in other leading papers. No objections were urged
against them that he had heard of, till now. He did not believe the
people were so wanting in intelligence that they would silently
submit to terms which did not meet their approval without
protesting against them. When a small question of duties came
before this Parliament, the people who disapproved of them
petitioned against them, and the Press generally discussed the
question very thoroughly. It was absurd, therefore, in the face of
these facts to say that the people were taken by surprise on this
question, or that the scheme met with their disapproval. But if this
House had accepted the position which the hon. members of the
opposition wished to force the country into, they would bring
discredit on this country which would probably be fraught with
consequences which might be irreparable.
The hon. member for Sherbrooke had raised a question as to how
far this enterprise lay within our means. The hon. member had done
better justice to the position of the Dominion in a former speech in
which he had depicted the prosperity which Confederation had
brought upon the country. It showed that the hon. member who first
presented Confederation in a tangible shape, in the year 1858, had
spoken with prophetic zeal when he referred to it as the great means
of elevating them, not only in the political, but in the financial and
commercial scale. The friends of Union might proudly point to the
present position of the Dominion as irrefragable proof of the
correctness of that statement for the prophecy had been more than
realized. The Confederation was but a movement of yesterday, and
the result already was a large surplus in the treasury after meeting
all the Dominion engagements that the necessities of the Local
Governments required, but the Government of this Dominion could
come down, and not only point to the prosperity of every one of its
component parts, but at the same time, show that this Dominion
had entered on a career of financial prosperity hitherto unknown to
Canada. If this had been the result in the past, what might we not
expect in the future? Two years ago the hon. member for
Sherbrooke, in his criticism on the budget speech, had complained
of what was not in it, rather than of what it did contain, and had said
that some provision should have been made for opening up the
North West. He (Hon. Mr. Tupper) thought the Government
deserved credit rather than censure for having adopted the
suggestion.
In reply to the objections of the hon. member for Lambton about
the cost of the proposed railway, he referred to the fact that its
construction would be undertaken by a private company. No one
had disputed the necessity of providing means of communication
with the North West in order to settle it, yet hon. gentlemen
opposite complained that large grants of land should be made to any
company undertaking the construction of a railway. Yet it was only
by means of a railway that the country could ever be settled, and the
Dominion could give infinitely better land for the purpose than the
United States had offered or could now offer to American
companies. The reservation of large blocks of lands, which would
be greatly enhanced in value through the construction of this
railway, would enable the Government to cover largely any outlay
they should be called on to make. Confederation had changed the
whole story of financial deficit, and had enabled the Government
the other day, partly without their consent, to reduce the taxation of
the country by $1,000,000—thus, too, at a time when they were
constructing the lntercolonial and other kindred works and
preparing to improve the canal system of the country—without
embarrassing the Government. He believed, also, that if this railway
were built, the Northern Pacific road would either be abandoned or
become a branch of the Canadian Pacific. It could never compete
with our line, running as it did through a much less fertile country
than our North West, and lying between our line and the Central
Pacific route.
This union was a question of such magnitude, when regarded in
the light of the status it was going to give to this Dominion that it
naturally tempted him to descant upon it. He believed God and
nature had placed it in the power of this Parliament to take up this
question and give us advantages in connection with becoming the
great highway of communication, not only across this continent, but
between Europe and Asia. The Government would be recreant to
their trust if they failed to meet the wishes of this country as
expressed by the majority in this Parliament and carry it forward to
a successful issue.
Mr. SCATCHERD was surprised to find that in the debate on
the present question there was less enthusiasm than was shown on
the first scheme of Confederation. He complained that only one
party to this compact, the people of British Columbia had had an
opportunity of pronouncing on this subject, while the greater party
of the people of Canada had received no such opportunity. Already
we had the lntercolonial Railway on our hands, for which we had
had to submit to increased expenditure and taxation. Yet we were
told that a larger and more difficult work would not add to our
burdens. A more monstrous and unreasonable proposition was
never urged than this vast road could be built without increasing the
burdens of the people. He held that Confederation so far had not
proved the success predicted. In various sections there were
jealousy, ill-feeling and discontent in relation to this Union and
three sections, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Manitoba might be cited in
support of his theory that Confederation had not been very
satisfactory. He saw no difference between the position of the
minority in 1865, and that of the minority now. The conduct of the
Government was as unreasonable and arbitrary now as then. He
believed this scheme would but add to difficulties and taxation on
the country, and that its ill effects would be felt for 50 years.
Holding these opinions he would vote for the amendment.
Hon. Mr. HUNTINGTON said he was prepared and desirous to
see this scheme of Confederation carried to a magnificent success,
and that he was prepared to go quite as far as the hon. member for
Cumberland, or indeed any one, in the great scheme of
Confederation, but while he claimed credit for earnestly and
sincerely entertaining the desire to consummate successfully that
great scheme, he could not shut his eyes to the fact that,
Confederation was not a machine that would run without winding,
but that it contained many details which from time to time required
serious consideration. When the Dominion Parliament had first
April 1, 1871 COMMONS DEBATES
317
assembled, the obligations of the country had been largely
increased, and now all at once the whole debt of the country was to
be doubled. Surely this was a serious matter, and even the Hon.
Minister of Militia had termed it a "big job" though he had
afterwards tried to make it a very little job. It was useless to say that
the country would not be expected to accomplish impossibilities,
and that no burden would be added to the people, for when they had
entered into a compact, they must carry out their promise, and when
they went to England to raise money they would find this obligation
considered a charge on the credit of the country. Notwithstanding
the glowing terms in which the grandeur of Confederation had been
depicted, the fact still remained that the debt had first been
increased fifty per cent and now it was sought to be doubled.
He maintained, however, that the measure of Confederation had
been carried, not by the Government but in consequence of the
loyal respect of the people for the policy of the Imperial
Government which was known to favor the scheme, and now the
Government was breaking away if not from Imperial policy at least
from Imperial aid, in proposing to carry out the work of
communication alone and unassisted. If it had been the duty and the
policy of the Imperial Government to aid the construction of the
Intercolonial Railway it was a hundred fold their duty and policy to
aid the construction of the Pacific, and he would ask the
Government for what reasons they had absolved the Imperial
Government from all duties in the work of consolidating British
power on this continent. He referred to rumours which he said had
been greatly influenced by the presence of Capitalists and
Contractors who were opposed to the Northern Pacific Railway, and
who thought that if the Canadian Government would decide
definitely to construct the Canadian line, it would operate strongly
against the Northern Pacific, and said he could not but think that
those rumours had gained weight by the utterance of the President
of the Council that if the Canadian line was constructed the
Northern Pacific would never get beyond Red River. That hon.
gentleman had also urged as a reason for hurry in this matter, that if
they did not hasten to accept the terms proposed, British Columbia
might exact conditions still more difficult, but such an argument
was absurd.
British Columbia was a Crown colony, and if it were really, the
policy of the Imperial Government, to consolidate British power on
this continent, though every man in that colony might be in favor of
annexation, their power to bring about such a result would be as
light as a feather, it would be as nothing. If ever the British
possessions on this Continent should become part of the United
States, it could only be at the cannon's mouth, and as the
consequence of the total ruin and prostration of British power on
this continent. The same reason for hurry had been urged in the
discussion on Confederation, and he very much deprecated it as
tending very much to unsettle the minds of the people.
These great questions should be discussed solely on their merits
without the fulmination of insincerities in regard to alternatives that
might ensue in case of the scheme being rejected. He had no doubt
that many, hon. gentleman, had been writing to their constituents
speaking of the wonderful benefits of Confederation as evinced in
their being no longer a deficiency in the revenue, but a surplus of
two millions, and he could not but cornmiserate them in having now
to write that that surplus of two millions had disappeared to be
replaced by a debt of one hundred millions.
Mr. RYMAL had hoped that the Government would have been
forced to explain in what way the money for the railway was to be
raised. He ventured to say that the Minister of Finance was not
properly performing the functions of his office, in failing to explain
fully the financial aspect of the matter. He feared nothing he could
say would change one single vote, but he was convinced that if the
question had been one of policy and not of party, the resolutions
would never have been carried. Richelieu had said that many
persons who, as private members might be saved, were in great
danger of being damned for having wandered into public life, and if
Richelieu had lived in these days and uttered those words, he (Mr.
Rymal) would have been quite sure that his eyes were fixed on the
gentlemen of the Canadian Government.
Mr. THOMPSON (Ontario North) desired to explain why he
should support the amendment, which was because no explanation
had even been attempted as to how so large a debt as that proposed
could be incurred without crippling most seriously the resources of
the country.
Mr. MACKENZIE'S amendment was then put with the
following result: Yeas, 68; Nays, 86.
On the amendment being declared lost,
Hon. Sir A.T. GALT rose and said, it might be considered that
the address was practically carried, but he desired before the final
passage, to place on record an explanation of the terms under which
the address was understood to be adopted. The Government had
stated as a reason why these terms should be accepted, that it was
not their intention to undertake the whole cost of the railway out of
the money reserves of the Dominion, but that they proposed to do it
through the intervention of companies to whom they would be
prepared to give subsidies of land and money, and further that this
was the understanding between themselves and the delegates from
British Columbia. He therefore moved: That the word "now" be
left out, and the words "on Monday next, and that meantime it be
Resolved, That in accepting the terms of Union with
British
Columbia, this House understands that the engagement for the
construction of the
Pacific Railroad within ten years is subject to
the understanding had between the Government of the Dominion
and the Commissioners from
British Columbia that the said
Railroad should be constructed through the medium of private
Companies, receiving subsidies in money and land, and that it was
not intended to pledge the Dominion beyond the application of its
money and resources to the loyal and earnest prosecution of the
work, without entailling undue and excessive burdens upon the
people."
318 COMMONS DEBATES
April 1, 1871
Hon. Sir GEORGE-É. CARTIER said this amendment was
equally objectionable with the others that had been moved to
prevent to passing of the address, and he would announce to the
House, and to the hon. member for Sherbrooke, that the
Government intended and determined that this great railway should
be carried out by companies and not by the Government, and
through the means principally of land grant and small money
subsidies, and further that early in the ensuing week, the
Government would place before the House a resolution by which to
take the sense of the House with regard to the manner in which that
Railway should be built, and he might announce beforehand that the
determination of the Government was that, when the sense of the
House had been so taken, they would carry it out more prudently
with regard to the Exchequer of the country than was proposed in
the amendment of the hon. member for Sherbrooke.
Mr. MACKENZIE said that the terms of the amendment were
so general that he was not prepared to vote for it.
Mr. BLAKE said he must oppose the amendment not only for
the reason named by the hon. member for Lambton, but because he
considered that no action could put an interpretation on the terms
other than that they literally contained.
Mr. BOWELL said his great objection to the amendment was
that it did not go far enough for it would not prevent the
Government from carrying on the Railway after its construction.
The amendment was lost, the vote being—Yeas, 7; Nays, 126.
The main motion was then carried and the address read a second
time, and on the motion of
Hon. Sir GEORGE-É. CARTIER the
address was ordered to be engrossed, and a motion for an address to
His Excellency, praying His Excellency to transmit the address to
Her Majesty the Queen was carried; the address to His Excellency
was ordered to be engrossed, and to be presented by such members
of the House as belonged to the Privy Council.
It being six o'clock the House rose.
Cet individu a participé aux :
