THE NEW POSITION IN CANADA

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1240, 23 September 1911, Page 4

THE NEW POSITION IN CANADA

The news of the Laurier Government's defeat at the polls on Thursday was conveyed to New Zealand yesterday afternoon by one of those "special" cable messages which the Press Association employs only for the chronicling of unusually important and interesting events. The importance of Sik Wilfrid Laurier s downfall lies less in its bearing upon the Reciprocity issue and the Canadian policy in Imperial matters than in the fact that Canada has at last broken down the Liberals' tenure of power. Although the "Liberal" regime in New Zealand has lasted five years longer than the Liberal regime in Canada, the "Continuous Ministry" in Canada has been by far the better known, and it is therefore easy to understand that Sir Wilfrid LaukierJs defeat will attract* world-wide . interest., The struggle just ended was very largely a fight upon the proposed Keciprocity Treaty with America, which the Opposition had set itself to defeat as antagon' jtic to the economic interests of Canada and injurious also to the bonds uniting Canada to the Motherland. _ But there were many other issues in the minds of the | electorate. In Quebec, for example, Sir Wilfrid Laurier had to meet the opposition of tho French Nationalists, who are sharply opposed to anything like aggressive Imperialism. Then there were a great many smaller issues which, between them, made up an issuo that sooner or later crystallises when any political party in a democratic country has enjoyed a long unbroken term of office. The best party in the world deteriorates under the influence of unchecked power, as Mr. Fowlds had occasion recently to remind tho people of this country; and the Laurier Government has been no exception to the rule. "The predominant question," as tho New York Post,pointed out last month, "is whether or not tho Liberal party has run the length of its tether." "If the Canadian people are tired of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, reciprocity will hardly save him. If they have' no desire for a change on general grounds,'reciprocity will .hardly destroy, him." _ ■ ■ Tho Prime Minister, for all his enormous ability, has been for some time losing his grip of the people whom ho once was able to play upon as successfully as the late-Mb. Seedon, whom in some essentials lie resembled almost as much as both of them differ in those essentials from Sir Joseph Ward. Scandals have accumulated against the Administration, and although, as was inevitable, the Government has been able, owing to its long possession of the machinery of administration and its powtr of patronage and punishment, to evade the criticisms to which'it was subjected, yet Canadians have gradually been making up their minds that the national health required a change of Government, and a fresh start. No doubt the result of the election will be explained in many ways. We may havo tho disappointed and dismayed Liberals, of other countries besides Canada, declaring that the election is a blow to Imperialism; but Mr. Borden's Imperialism is high and sincere. Tho result will profoundly affect Canadian policy, of courgc. For our part wehavo always felt that reciprocity with America would in tho long run be advantageous to both countries, but if the Treaty is swept out of the region of early possibilities, -'there can be no doubt that Canada will not lose ver ( v much, since reciprocity of some kind has for forty years been in the policy of both the Canadian parties, and Canada holds tho stronger hand for tho purposes of negotiation. Much of tho opposition to_ reciprocity had its origin in a feeling against any extreme assertion of Canadian autonomy, and this feeling was sharpened by a resentment of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's 'suspected design of cutting the naval painter.

One of the features of the Liberal propaganda has for some time been the adoption of the tone and temper of the British Radicals. "Wo owe to Mr. Lloi'd-George," wrote the Toronto correspondent of the London Times, "a new political literature. Unquestionably his type of oratory and his evangelical temper have affected Canadian Liberalism, and we have all his tricks of speech and fervour of 'appeal and denunciation reproduced in Canada." But this has failed to prevent the Dominion from rising up against -the too-long domination of one party. There have latoly been somo curious resemblances between the situation in New Zealand and the situation in Canada. In both countries there has been growirig a strong resentment of the Government's method of appointing members of the Second Chamber. Thoro .has been in both countries an increasing uneasiness at the Government's relation to land transactions. There was even trouble in Canada last May, over the Coronation invitations, in_ connection with which the Laurier Government misled the House.' One or two of our "Liberal" contemporaries in New Zealand have noted the points of resemblance between the general position of the Laurier Government and the general position of the Government in this country, and on Thursday ono of them sought, rather unwisely, to turn to local account the serious charges of foul play in electioneering brought against the Laurier party. It pictured "the Canadian Conservatives" as in -a desperate case, "staking their political fortunes on a last frantic appeal to passion and prejudice," and suggested that they were fighting in vain. No doubt precisely the same language was used by the Liberal papers in Canada, but it failed to prevent the Dominion from throwing overboard a party that had been in office too long for its own or the nation's health. As we said in a recent article, a country in the, case of Canada or New Zealand must wake up at last, and re-shuffle the cards, and it is impossible not to believe that the change that has taken placo will be good for Canada.