The motion was
carried.
OBSTRUCTION OF
NIAGARA RIVER
Mr. CHARLTON moved
for any correspondence which may
have taken place between the Government and the Common
Council of the city of Buffalo, relating to the obstruction of the
navigation of Niagara River by the erection of a crib in the mid-
channel of the said stream for the Buffalo city waterworks.
He observed that his
object in making the motion was to bring
the attention of the Government to the fact that the navigation of
Niagara River was likely to be seriously obstructed by the erection
of this crib. The river at this point was narrow, and a short distance
below it the lntemational bridge was being erected, and it and the
crib would form a very serious obstacle to navigation, especially as
far as lumber rafis were concerned. The timber trade passing
down
the river was of great and growing importance. A large amount of
square timber was now being shipped in rafis from Michigan,
and
the trade was likely to extend to the Canadian shores of the
Georgian Bay.
If this crib were
allowed to be constructed it would entail great
expense upon owners of rafts, compelling them to take the rafts
apart and float the lumber down in small tugs. It would be a
serious
obstruction to navigation, and ought not to be allowed to be placed
there without a protest.
The motion was
carried.
***
PRINCE
EDWARD'S ISLAND
The orders of the day being called,
Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE
asked the leader of the Government if
it was his intention to lay before the House any information
concerning the recent negotiations with Prince Edward's
Island. He
was astonished to find in newspapers of that Province as well
as in
other eastern newspapers a statement showing that negotiations had
taken place between the two Governments. These statements also
represented that certain offers had been made to the Government of
Prince
Edward's Island, on condition of their entering Confederation.
It did seem to him
very extraordinary that while the Parliament
was sitting such important documents should be withheld from the
House and communicated to the public newspapers. He desired to
ask if the published statements were authentic and why the
information had not been communicated to this House.
Hon. Sir JOHN A.
MACDONALD said the inquiry was a very
natural one. The Government of the Island of Prince Edward has
sent two of their members to Ottawa, and they have had
negotiations with the Government here on the Union of Prince
Edward's Island with the Dominion.
Certain conditional
arrangements were entered into and these
gentlemen went home for the purpose of submitting them to their
colleagues, and they in turn had made up their minds to submit
them to the people before they would be laid before the Legislature.
These terms would therefore be laid before that body afier
the
elections, and it was obviously a matter of importance to that
Government that they should choose their own time and their own
mode of submitting the propositions of the Dominion Government
to their people; therefore he did not deem it advisable to place these
provisional returns before the Parliament here until the Government
had ascertained that they had been presented to the public of Prince
Edward's Island.
Of course the
Government of Prince Edward's Island had the
great task of submitting the question to the people and going to the
country upon it, and he thought it might be thwarting greatly the
object they all had in view if there were a premature publication. It
was a matter of little consequence whether one or the other party
published these terms first. He expected information from the
Government of Prince Edward's Island in a short time, and
afier his
Government had received that, they would be in a position, without
injury to the great cause of union, to submit the papers to this
House.
Mr. MILLS said it
would be contrary to law for the Government
to initiate such a measure. That motion belongs to Parliament and
not to the Government.
Hon. Mr. ANGLIN said
the people of Prince Edward's Island
might receive a very improper impression from the report of the
speech of the leader of the Government. The newspapers of Prince
Edward's Island published the proposed terms, and the
Government
had gone to the country upon these terms. If the people of Prince
Edward's Island heard that the Minister of Justice thought it
might
possibly damage the cause of Confederation in that Province by
announcing to the House whether their public statement were
correct or incorrect, they might suppose there was some doubt as to
their correctness.
Hon. Sir JOHN A.
MACDONALD said he had not even seen
the statements in the newspapers. All he knew was that provisional
arrangement had been entered into by the gentlemen from Prince
March 20, 1873 COMMONS DEBATES 89
Edward's Island, who had left here for the purpose of submitting it
to their colleagues and afierwards, if they thought proper, to the
people. Of course it would be open to Parliament afterwards to
decide whether or not these terms should be accepted.
Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE
said the hon. gentleman could see
statements in the newspapers, and he could compare them with the
actual facts, and if they were correct, or nearly correct, it would be
quite evident they had been communicated and published in Prince
Edward's Island by Government.
The moment it was
made manifest that there was any official
communication, the papers should be laid before the House,
accompanied with any documents necessary to enable the House to
understand the position taken by the Government. Of course it was
quite true, as the member for Bothwell (Mr. Mills) had said, the
Government had no right to make any arrangements, but he did not
object to the Government endeavouring to enter upon such
negotiations as might result in the Union of the remaining provinces
still outside the Dominion; and anything that might promote that
object would receive the assistance on his side of the House; but he
did think it was not treating Parliament with respect due to it, to
have such documents as that reach them from such address during
the session, and then, when the attention of the Government had
been called to it to tell them that as soon as official
communications
were made with Prince Edward's Island, the Government would
place the information before the House. He did not think it was the
way to carry on business in relation to such matters.
The terms, of course,
would have to receive the consent of the
House, and in order that that might be done, the papers should be
laid before them on the earliest possible occasion, so that they
might judge as to the propriety or impropriety of the course of
action proposed.
Hon. Sir JOHN A.
MACDONALD said he differed from the
hon. gentleman. In his view they ought to act upon the newspaper.
The statements appeared in the newspapers where members could
see them.
Mr. MILLS: These
statements may be incorrect.
Hon. Sir JOHN A.
MACDONALD differed from the hon.
gentleman's idea that they should act upon newspaper items.
The
statement might not be correct, and, if incorrect, it would be very
improper of the Government to lay the papers before the House
until they had received official communication from Prince
Edward
Island. No unauthenticated documents should be acted upon. The
Government of the Island desired that they should have an
opportunity of submitting their provisional case in their own way to
their own people, before it was brought up in the Dominion
Parliament. The House would have every opportunity of
considering the resolutions, should there be a necessity to concur in
or reject them.
Mr. MILLS said the
Government had no right by law to take the
initiative in this matter. They did not stand in the same position
with regard to the question of the union of the outlying Provinces as
they did with regard to a matter of administrative policy.
There was nothing in
the Act to justify the Government in taking
the initiative any more than any other member of the House, and
there was this very strong objection to the course pursued by the
Government, and it was the objection made against their course
with regard to British Columbia, namely: that while the people and
Legislature of Prince Edward's Island were free to discuss
the
matter and make amendments to the terms, the members of this
House would be obliged by the policy of the Government to either
accept or reject the terms as a whole. As this House was one of the
primary parties to any negotiations relating to Union, it was only
proper that they should decide upon the terms before proposing to
Prince Edward's Island.
There were only two
parties in the matter, namely, the
Legislature of Prince Edward Island and the Parliament of the
Dominion. There was no third party. The Executive have not any
authority in the Confederation Act for bringing about the union of
outlying Provinces. Any proposition from the Government could
only be from them as the agents and servants of Parliament, and
should have received the sanction of Parliament before the
Government took any action in the matter at all.
He cited the 116th
section of the Confederation Act in support of
this view. He held that under this section the Government should
have consulted Parliament, and obtained its approval to the proposal
they wished, as agents of Parliament, to submit to the Legislature of
Prince Edward's Island.
Hon. Sir JOHN A.
MACDONALD said that the hon. gentleman
must not have understood the British constitution properly, else he
would have seen that the responsibility of initiating negotiations
rested upon the Government of the day.
The matter then
dropped.
***
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