Canada by Sir John George Bourinot (e ink ebook reader TXT) 📖

Canadian business men at this time advocated a moratorium, but the Government steadfastly resisted such a suggestion until ultimately it was found unnecessary.

Financially, the Canadian people from 1915 to 1919 were not unmindful of their national obligations. Six domestic loans were issued during the war period amounting to 2,203 million dollars, while War Savings Certificates accounted for another 12 1/2 millions.

On the announcement of the Armistice in November, 1918, the Government with the same energy and foresight which characterised their entrance into the conflict, began to demobilise the army which they had sent overseas. Within six months the bulk of the men were back in their homes. The opportunity was then taken of offering to the returned men land grants and loans for the purchase of farming implements. Up to the end of 1920, over 3 1/2 million acres had been disposed of in this way. In the Western Provinces alone about one million acres of it are under cultivation {470} by returned men. As a result of this action, new careers have been provided for men whose love of outdoor life was stimulated by their military experience. It has at the same time opened up from virgin soil fresh tracts of rich, arable land. As for pensions, up to February, 1921, the Dominion has paid out 82 million dollars and her annual pension bill now represents over 33 million dollars. Truly Canada is a country "fit for heroes to live in."

All this, however, has been accomplished not without some internal difficulty. At Winnipeg in May, 1919, some thousands of workmen came out on strike for more pay, shorter hours, and the principle of collective bargaining. Rioting took place among some of the more disorderly elements. But after negotiation by the Hon. Arthur Meighen and a fellow minister, aided by strong measures on the part of the Mayor and ex-Service men, the rioters returned to work.

But the great work of construction and restoration has progressed. In September, 1917, the Quebec Cantilever Bridge, one of the engineering triumphs of the world, even larger than the famous Forth Bridge, was completed at a cost of 15 million dollars. The special importance of this structure is, that by connecting the Government railway lines on the south of the River St. Lawrence with those on the north, it shortens the distance between Halifax and Winnipeg by two hundred miles. The necessity for good roads has not been overlooked. Parliament authorised under the Canada Highways Act of 1919, a grant of 20 million dollars, {472} for the purpose of road construction and improvement. This sum allotted to the various provinces is granted on condition that the amount should be supplemented by the provinces themselves. The 250,000 miles of public highways will therefore be extended gradually but effectively in the future.

In the same year, there occurred the death at Ottawa of one whom Canada could ill afford to lose; a statesman whose prestige at home and abroad stood out on the pages of the Dominion's history. Nominally the leader of the Liberal Party, Sir Wilfrid Laurier was more than that. He was a great national figure. As a statesman of broad imperialistic views, as an orator of brilliant gifts, as a zealous guardian of all that he considered to be for Canada's best interest, he will rank high among the makers of the Empire.

Fortunately the visit of the Prince of Wales came at a time when the Dominion badly needed royal encouragement. Arriving in the late summer of 1919, he was enthusiastically received. As the Quebec Bridge had just been completed he formally opened it for traffic, and later on, as a good Mason, laid the foundation stone of the tower of the new Parliament Buildings at Ottawa. Becoming enamoured with the possibilities of the two new provinces in the Northwest, he purchased a ranch of 1,600 acres in Alberta, under the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, proceeded to stock it with horses and cattle of the best English pedigree, and engaged a number of ex-Service men to manage the property. If there had been any doubt in the minds of the western settlers about His Royal {473} Highness, this removed it. To-day east and west vie in acclaiming the present Heir-Apparent to the British throne with an affection as genuine as it is evident.

When the Dominion Government, owing to the exigencies of war, began to impose restriction on the manufacture, importation and sale of intoxicating liquors in Canada, the old question of Prohibition came to the fore again. It was remembered that a plebiscite in favour of it had been carried on September 29, 1898, but never taken advantage of by the Federal authorities; Temperance organizations throughout the country took it up, and in order to meet the popular clamour the various provincial Assemblies passed some form of legislation which resulted in the country going "dry." Quebec, however, has only agreed to an amendment of the Canada Temperance Act by which the Dominion Government can prohibit the importation of intoxicants, but cannot prevent the province from making and selling under Government control such wine, spirits or beer as the people may desire. British Columbia afterwards voted for Government control in October, 1920.

In July, 1920, after nine years of power laden with some of the heaviest responsibilities ever imposed upon a Canadian statesman, Sir Robert Borden was compelled to resign the premiership through ill health. His efforts for the autonomy of the Dominion, consistent with Empire unity, culminating in her inclusion as a separate and equal nation at the Peace Conference in Paris, 1919, and the right to appoint her own Minister at Washington {474} will make for him a prominent place in the history of Canada.

The leadership of the Coalition Government which was elected in 1917 passed to the Hon. Arthur Meighen, who was Minister of the Interior in the Borden administration.

A year afterwards, having completed the full tenure of office, His Excellency the Governor-General, the Duke of Devonshire, returned to England, and was succeeded by General Lord Byng of Vimy, the hero of the Canadian soldiers in the war.

When the Annual Imperial Conference was called in July, 1921, the acting Premier, the Hon. Mr. Meighen, repaired to London to gain some insight into the many intricate problems which came before the Council. On his return home he decided that the political situation demanded a general election. In this, no doubt, he was influenced by the rise of a Progressive Party, or as it is better known, the United Farmers' Organisation.

Starting as a purely agrarian movement the U.F.O. became a co-operative society, finally growing into a strong political party in provincial and federal politics. Ontario and Alberta soon fell to their prowess, and it was thought that the same result would happen in the Dominion arena. The ideas advocated by the new third party were a more modified protection to home industries as opposed to the decidedly protectionist policy of the Coalition Government; opposition to the return of the Government controlled railways to {475} private ownership; stimulation of immigration along definite lines; and the creation of means whereby capital for production could be supplied to settlers on safe and sound lines.

Whether the Progressive party will continue to be a factor in Canadian politics is for the future to decide. The net result of the general election of 1921 was the almost complete disappearance of the Coalition party and the meagre election of the out and out Liberals under the Hon. William Lyon Mackenzie King, who had been a minister in Sir Wilfrid's cabinet some ten years previously. The number of Progressives elected did not come up to the general expectation, but they represent a considerable number, in fact being second in strength to the party called upon to form the Government. Their leader, the Hon. T. A. Crerar, who had resigned from the Coalition Cabinet of Sir Robert Borden two years previously, is a leader of some force and ability. But Mr. King has surrounded himself with a cabinet of considerable Parliamentary experience, so there is every reason to expect that the Liberal Party will be in power for the usual life of a Parliamentary term.

Perhaps the most outstanding event of the year in which Canada was interested, was the Disarmament Conference at Washington, where she was represented by Sir Robert Borden. If it did anything, it certainly paved the way for saving billions of dollars by restricting the construction of capital ships, and in this Canada was no mean factor.

But before all, it is domestic problems which concern the Dominion particularly. No country {476} realises better than she does that it is coal and comfort which will attract settlers from the Motherland to till her fields, build up her factories and engage in the trade which makes a nation truly great. As Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba have no coal mines, "white coal" is a vital necessity. Not long ago the Dominion Water Power Branch took a census, and found that Canada has available nineteen million horse-power. Of this practically 90 per cent. of the Central Station power is derived from water power, 95 per cent. being in the above-named provinces, which have to import their coal supplies from other provinces and the United States. As far back as 1911 the Province of Ontario realised this, and began to arrange for the building of the Chippawa-Queenston Power Canal and plant, which represents an investment of almost a hundred million dollars. The plant will have a capacity of 650,000 horse-power, which will be distributed throughout Canada and possibly the neighbouring States, and will be an important addition to the Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Transmission System which was inaugurated at Kitchener, Ontario, in October, 1911.

Elsewhere in the Dominion the fuel problem is being met by fresh discoveries. In the Mackenzie River district gushers of oil have been struck, in one case producing a flow at the rate of 1,000 barrels a day. Already several large companies are operating in that district.

As for comfort, not only Canada but also the world realises that the day of hand power is past. Without agricultural implement machinery driven {477} by motor force, it would be impossible for the great Northwest to yield the harvests which she does without a labour to which new settlers would be unaccustomed. By means of the hydro-electric commission homes are warmed in winter, lighted all the year round, as indeed are the cities, towns and villages, and cooking for the family accomplished with a modicum of trouble. Electric railways connect communities and settlements. The telephone is in almost everyone's home. So that with the pianola, the gramophone, and other means of diversion, the winter nights are not what they were to the people in the years of the nineteenth century.

In railroad facilities Canada, if anything, is fifty years ahead of her time, so well are they developed. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, from Monckton, New Brunswick to Winnipeg and thence to Prince Rupert, B.C., which was commenced in 1905, and finished in 1915, was leased on its completion to the Grand Trunk Railway Company for fifty years. Owing to the war, and the financial difficulties in which the constructing company found itself, the system of 22,000 miles of line was taken over by the Government in 1921, after an arbitration which excited much comment on both sides of the Atlantic. The decision regarding it was given by the Canadian Grand Trunk Arbitration Board at Montreal, headed by Sir Walter