Mr. Mackenzie said that the first thing required of a man
when he changed from the Liberal side of the Government side was, to
abuse the Globe newspaper, (laughter). It was satisfactory to find so old a
member, so willing to come into the traces of the first Minister of the
Crown, and abuse the
Globe. It was a well
known fact that thirty-two or thirty-three Liberal members had been
brought to the House, and, in defiance of this gross accusation, he could
say that they had not given factious opposition, but had at all times preferred
to meet the Government in an open, manly way. He would now ask the reason
why the Union cause had not in the slightest degree advanced. It was
simply because this combination, this coalition was formed, not to advance the
Union cause, but to advance a political party to a position which they
might occupy, we were told, for years to come by the influence of the
expenditure for the construction of the Inter- colonial Railway. He
would venture to say that if the Liberal party had been in power from
that time to the present, there would have been at this moment a completed
Confederation of all the Provinces of British North America. But after
this Parliament had provided the most liberal terms for Newfoundland and Prince
Edward Island they had been rejected, and other Provinces would not join
the Confederation; and he held that it was because the Government of Canada was distrusted,
that the people of the East
and West, and North and South declined to have any political association with them
(hear, hear). He would now proceed to discuss the
measures which the Government saw fit to take, in order, apparently, to secure the
results they promised long ago. He recollected that during
the elections he had been told that if the Government secured a majority
in Parliament there could not be a doubt the union of the Provinces—union with
the Maritime Provinces, would be a certainty, and union with Newfoundland
and Prince Edward Island would be a matter not of years or months, but of
weeks. He had moved for correspondence that he expected would show the
state of advancement of this union, but to his extreme surprise he was told
that no correspondence had taken place (hear, hear). Referring to the negotiations
for admitting Newfoundland,
he (Mr. Mackenzie) contended that the Government had taken entirely wrong
ground in offering to assume control of the public lands of that island. These
public lands were claimed by the Anti-Confederates at the late election
to be of immense value, and the mineral lands to be perhaps the most valuable
upon this Continent, and that the Canadian Government would get the
entire benefit of these riches. He maintained that the Federal Government
should have nothing to do with
62
COMMONS DEBATES
February 18, 1870 these lands, and this was the view of
the people of Newfoundland. With regard to the accession of the North
West, he did not intend to enter upon a discussion of a personal nature, but he
had heard reports respecting language said to have been used by the Hon.
Secretary of State, which he must characterize as unwise in the extreme,
and unworthy of his position as the delegate of Canada to that country. These
reported expressions were only in entire accordance with his (Mr. Howe's)
utterances in this House, where he had said that the single State of
Minnesota could turn out more men in a week than the whole Dominion of Canada,
to take and keep possession of this Country. The indulgence of such
expressions and sentiments was not part of wisdom or statesmanship, or
prudence, especially on the part of a minister of the Crown. The hon. gentleman
must have known something of the condition of the country, and
of the feelings of the people, but he had taken no opportunity of giving any
information to Mr. McDougall. He had not endeavoured to
intercept Mr. McDougall, to give him information, but had allowed him to
go on to Pembina, where he played such a wretched and humiliating part. He had
seen recently the instructions which had been given to Mr. McDougall, but
they were without date, and he would like to know when they were
delivered to him.
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