[...] might elapse between
the issuing of the proclamation and the convening of Parliament.
Mr. Blake asked if
this was the only Bill
which was to be introduced on the subject.
Did the Government think there would be
sufficient
time to consider a measure of such
magnitude? The President of the Council, who
was so much opposed to this measure at one
period, was now among those who were pressing it on, when members were almost leaving
for home.
Hon. Mr. Howe said
that the business could
be got through well enough if hon. gentlemen
on the other side would not waste so much
time in wrangling.
Mr. Mackenzie thought
the President of the
Council ought to be the last man to complain
of taking up the time of the Dominion; for if
any person took up the time of the House, not
perhaps talking nonsense, but something
which had no bearing on the subject, it was
that hon. gentleman. (Hear and cheers.) The
President of the Council was not to be the
judge of what was important and what was
unimportant. (Hear). The House was told the
other night that the measure just introduced
was a great one on which to expend our
thoughts. For his part, he thought the discussion of such a measure only a waste of
time
and would not enter on it.
The second reading of
the Bill was ordered
for Tuesday.
NEWFOUNDLAND AND
PRINCE EDWARD
ISLAND
A message was brought
down from His Excellency enclosing copies of minutes of the
Privy Council of Canada and delegates from
Newfoundland, on the subject of the union of
that colony with the Dominion, and copies of
the resolutions adopted as the basis of such
union.
Another message was
sent from His Excellency transmitting copies of minutes of a meeting of the Privy
Council of Canada on the
subject of the admission of Prince Edward Island into the Dominion of Canada, which
His
Excellency recommended to the consideration
of the House.
Hon. Mr. Rose moved
for a committee on
Tuesday next, to consider the resolutions on
Newfoundland. He explained the resolutions
seriatim. It was proposed that Newfoundland
should receive five per cent interest on the
difference between its actual debt and the
614 COMMONS DEBATES June 4, 1869
amount with which it
would be entitled to
come into the Union according to population
as compared with Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick. It was also proposed to allow
the colony an annual subsidy of $35,000, and
an allowance of eighty cents per head until
the population should increase to 400,000; the
same arrangement as that made with the other
Maritime Provinces. In consideration of the
surrender of its mineral and wild lands to the
General Goverment, there was a further payment to be made of $150,000 per annum. The
8th resolution referred to a local matter—a
water company in St. John's—for $400,000 of
the bonds of which the Government of the
Province was responsible, and it was provided
that the Local Government should retain the
power of imposing a water rate on the inhabitants, and tonnage and coal dues in the
harbour of St. John's on vessels supplied by
this Company with water. It was provided in
the resolutions that the Government of Canada should assume all the charges in the
Province of Newfoundland which are borne by
it in the other Provinces. The union of Newfoundland with Canada would take place
on
a day named by proclamation, which proclamation should also contain the names of the
four Senators to represent the Province in
the Senate of Canada. The Militia Law of the
Dominion was to be modified on its operation
in Newfoundland to meet the peculiar circumstances of the population, and the Dominion
Government would be pledged to use its influence with the Imperial Government to
maintain a garrison at St. John's.
Hon. Mr. Holton said
that in the new
Constitution,
under which we hoped to live,
a Railway formed a very conspicuous feature,
rather a novel one to him; but the hon. the
Minister of Justice is fertile in expedients,
and we have in that Act, as the foundation
of his policy, a railway. In the revised edition
of the Constitution, now proposed, a steamboat
line forms a prominent feature (Hear, hear,
and laughter.) His hon. friend had earned an
additional claim to immortality by this feat.
(Laughter)
Sir John A.
Macdonald—Perhaps the hon.
gentleman is not aware that the motto of the
Macdonalds' is—"By Sea and
Land." (Laughter.)
The motion carried.
Hon. Mr. Rose moved
that on Tuesday next
thel House resolve itself into Committee of
Â
the Whole on the
resolutions respecting Prince
Edward Island. Those resolutions, of course,
did not embody any conclusive arrangement,
but were rather an authority for opening
negotiation with Prince Edward Island on
terms which the Government were not without hope would result in completing the Union
of the British North American Provinces on
the seaboard at least. The Island was owned
by some 62 individuals, to whom it was originally granted by the Crown at a merely
nominal rent, and as their titles obstructed the
Union it was thought they ought to be extinguished.
Mr. Mackenzie thought
the hon. Finance
Minister ought to have informed the House
what correspondence there had been with the
Prince Edward Island Government or any one
else respecting so extraordinary a proposition.
By whom was the correspondence originated?
It was very desirable indeed that Prince Edward Island should join the Confederation,
and any reasonable proposition leading to
that end would receive his cordial assent; but
it was quite possible that the annexation of
this Island might be purchased too dearly. In
its present shape the proposition was just
another Seignorial Tenure business, and One
he would have nothing to do with.
Sir John A. Macdonald
said there had been
no correspondence with the Government, or
any one in Prince Edward Island, on the matter. The subject of the admission of Prince
Edward Island into the Union had been frequently debated. The terms proposed on both
sides were pretty well canvassed, and will be
canvassed again when we go down. It was
clearly worth while for the Government of
the Dominion to make an effort to induce
Prince Edward Island, the last fraction of
British North America, to enter the Union.
(Hear). He hoped the Government would be
accorded a hearty support by honourable gentlemen.
Mr. D. A. Macdonald
wondered where the
present movements for the acquisition of territory and their organization were going
to
end. Were the Government to go on purchasing up Colonies in this way? It was absurd,
had been opposed by him from first to last,
and would continue to get his opposition.
Hon. Mr. Galt did not
agree with the honourable gentlemen who had just spoken. He
(Mr. Galt) believed it would be a great misfortune if Prince Edward Island did not
join in
616 COMMONS DEBATES June 4, 1869
Confederation. He
objected, also, to the honourable member for Glengarry speaking of
the people of the Maritime Provinces as having been purchased. By the next session
of
Parliament, he hoped to see all the Provinces
spoken of in the Union. (Cheers).
Mr. Young questioned
the advisability of
the Dominion Government taking the initiative, and making the first advance in securing
the admission into the Union of Prince
Edward Island. The Government delegation
to that Island would do much more harm
than good.
Mr. Blake asked if it
was understood that
public faith would be in no way pledged to
these resolutions before Parliament meets?
Hon. Mr. Holton
instanced these resolutions
as another proof of the extreme fertility of
resources possessed by the Minister of Justice.
His (Mr. Holton's) admiration for that hon.
gentleman was unbounded. First, their Constitution was burdened with a railway, then
it was amended by two or three steamboat
lines, now it was to be amended by a provision
binding us to re-purchase the rights of certain
land-holders in Prince Edward's Island.
(Laughter) He had never heard of such a
Constitution.
Sir John A. Macdonald
could not compliment the hon. gentleman on his study of
Constitutional history. Agreements similar to
those alluded to by the hon. member formed
a portion of the Constitution of Great Britain
and Ireland.
Hon. John
Sandfield Macdonald could only
account for the Government delegation going
to Prince Edward Island by remembering that
Gen. Butler had lately been there, and was
pretty well known, (laughter), and that the
Premier was determined to head off
that official. He approved the resolutions but derided
what the Prince Edward Islanders would call
reasonable terms.
The motion was
carried.
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