POLITICS IN CANADA.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1952, 8 January 1914, Page 3

POLITICS IN CANADA.

THE CANKER OF GRAFT;

ISSUEvS OF LAST ELECTION;

THE RECIPROCITY QUESTION

fßr Chas. E. Sugo.]

(Formerly,of the Toronto "Daily Star.")

Before tho last General Election in Canada there was much talk of "graft." This was nothing unusual except that tho talk was rather more insistent and grave than usual. The uncleanness of public life is a standing jest in Canada. It is a fester which infects no other British community to the same extent, and is clearly a gift from the States. It causes tho public to adopt a contemptuous attitude to politics and tho rank and file of politicians. Amongst the passengers on the steamer by which I travelled to Canada was a big Scotchman employed on railway construction work in tho West. Shortly after tho Customs officers came on board ho mentioned that his luggage had been passed, and when asked if ho had had any trouble, said: "They daren't open my box; it was us chaps in the West put tlio Borden Government in." I do not suppose the occupation of the man had anything to do with his escaping the trouble of opening his box—as a matter of fact, I was not required to open my luggage, and I could protend to use no" political influence. The reason was much simpler. The Customs officers had come on at Halifax, and were examining luggage between that port and St. John. A choppy sea came up, and the man who passed my trunk looked much too sea-sick to care whether I had tobacco or scent. The incident shows, however, how impressed the Canadian is with the rottenness of the country a public life. ' ' A Corrupt System. The responsible statesmen of Canada may at once be acquitted of dishonourable conduct. The hands of Borden and Laurier are absolutely clean, and the majority of past and present Ministers have records that would stand tho closest inspection. It is the system, which is corrupt. The system involves that when there is a change of Government hundreds of men in the outside Civil Service'resign—anticipating their dismissal. When tho Liberals were in power practically all the officers in charge of minor post offices were Liberal, to-day they are Conservative. The inside Civil Service at Ottawa is on a non-partisan basis, but hundrcds ; of men in the outside service are mere party hacks and quite incompetent. [ The appointments are prac* tically made ■ ty. the member for the district, who ai'io treats such an occasion as tho census, when a great deal of temporary work lias to be done, -a3 an opportunity for rewarding his adherents. . This system results irr the type of enumerator who "corrected" aii entry under the religious heading of a census paper from "Materialist" to "Spiritualist." When Mr. Borden was in Opposition one of his favourite criticisms was the partisan and pernicious nature of appointments, but his Administration has perpetuated the evil system by wholesalo dismissals of .opponents and the 'appointment of political friends to fill the vacancies. That the outside service is used as portion of the party machine is frankly admitted by all Canadian politicians. There was a discussion on the subject i:i Parliament last session, and Mr. Pelletier (Post-master-General) defended the dismissals from the Post Office: "Let us be frank about it." ho said. "Who can gainsay the fact that .dismissing postmasters began in 1890? The Liberals dismissed so many friends , of the present Government that it was impossible .to resist tho plea that they be reinstated. ... I followed in the footsteps of the late Government. It- is not tho ideal systw). 1 would prefer a permanent service, but it is the accepted thing, and I cannot revolutionise it in a day." Another feature of the Canadian political system which is undesirable is the practice of both parties receiving money lrorn corporations and vested interests for campaign purposes. In Canada money plays a much more important part in winning elections than in New Zealand, and the party with tho biggest chc3t has an immense advantage. This

makes both parties very chary of antagonising wealthy subscribers. Another form of corruption of which party agents are notoriously guilty is buying votes. The franchise, laws of Canada allow thousands of ignorant foreigners to vote before they can speak or understand English, and the price of their votes is often openly canvassed. A Blunted Public Conscience, These things have sadly blunted the public conscience, and charges which hi England or Australasia would lead to the minutest investigation are glossfti over or howled down by the parties charged, and the public take no notice. To tell the truth, if all the charges of corruption were fully investigated the Dominion and Provincial Parliaments would have little time for other work. The usual procedure is that if a Liberal charges a Conservative Government with corruption, the Minister concerned returns a tu quoque, or suggests grosser corruption on the part of a previous Liberal Administration, and i.iie incident closes. In the last session of tiie Ontario Legislature there was. an incident typical of Canadian methods. A Liberal niembar mado charges against a Minister, and a partisan committee was set up to investigate, but instead of exhaustive inquiry thero was but a continuous wrangle between the partisans, and the chairman (a Conservative) used his authority to harass tho Liberal members until they withdrew in a body and refused to call any more evidence. The curious feature was that the Conservative case so far broke doivJ! as to suggest that full investigation would have suited tho Liberals admirably, but the habit of Muffing and Kocrccy. seemed too strong to be.overcome. . . „ , , ~ . Public men m Canada, ira hold in esteem for their personal qualities, and none of the leaders of public opinion have been accused of using their positions for personal advantage or profit, but, until the system is.changed politics will remain unwholesome and politicians will never ho held in tho samo esteem and honour as in other British communities. , Reciprocity—and Tariff. Apart from tho charges of "graft," the" talk at last election was chiefly of tho reciprocity proposals which involved the defeat of the Laurier Government. Conservatives now admit that these pioposals wero defeated less on their merits aa ;» commercial proposition than because of tho fear that they i would lead to closer political relations between Canada and the United States, and this 'fear was increased by the articles ami speeches foreshadowing the annexation of- Canada which' appeared in American paper.?. But for this tho West would havo returned a substantial majority i?j favour of reciprocity, instead of a majority of one member only. In tariff matters, as in all othe-ra. Lake Superior is the dividing lino of Canada. East of Lake Superior tho interests are manufacturing, and West they are rural. Consequently tho oast favours high tariffs, the West low tariffs. Tho reciprocity proposals wero towards lower tariffs and freer markets; consequently the East might have bopn expected to oppose them, and ths West to approve. Tho East did what was

expected of it, but tho, West, divided bctuoen an inclination for lower tiiills and fear of entanglements with tho States, split the vote, and reciprocity was easily defeated. The manufacturers of the East stood solidly behind Mr. liorden in his light against reciprocity, but the l'ears ol the. West were his most valuable any. Whether tho fears of tho West were justifiable is another question, and a debatable one. Tho attitude of Canada .on the reciprocity question was precisely that taken by Sir Wilfred Latirii-r himself in 1903, when he said: "1 _ I;avo found in tho short experience during which it has been my privilege an:l my fortune to bo placed nt the iu'iul of affairs by the will of the Canadian people, that tho best and most oll'ictivo way to maintain friendship 'vith our American neighbours is to be absolutely independent of them." Tho reciprocity issue- has passeJ, tint the tariff remains a bono of i/cutMtinn, ns it must be in every country where the agrarian and manufacturing interests are both strong and aggressive. There is much to be said for the. Western cry for a lower tariff. Canada is still primarily an agricultural country, but she has created a high tariff wnl!, n'hich certainly is a barrier to the importation of foreign manufactures, but is also a barrior to the free exportation of the foodstuffs Canada grows. Tho tariff and distance are tho two greatest handicaps the- Western farmer has. Tho latter increases the cost of almost everything he buys, and seriously decreases his net profit on wheat ho sends away, and the former is an artificial handicap he feels' severely whon ho buys implements. Tho farmer tells you that the tariff sacrifices him to the manufacturer, and he can point to tho fact that despite the money spent in advertising agricultural Canada, the tide of immigration, and the construction of a net of railways over the prairies, tho urban population is increasing much faster than tho rural. Between the years 1901 and 1911 the rural population increased 17.16 per cent, and tho urban population 65."S par cent. Even in wheat-growing Manitoba the urban increase was 129*892, against.a mral increase of 70,511. Hardly moro than half tho population of Canada is really rural, and one-fifth of the people live in cities or over 80,000 population. These figures give occasion for thought whether the manufacturer ft not putting too much on the back of the agriculturist. Without an agricultural Canada there can ba no manufacturing Canada, for tho factories could not compote against Britain, America, and Germany for world markets. Therefore, a tariff which: is so urban as to chock tho increase of rural population must prove a boomerang, which will bit the manufacturers who prepared it. . On the other hand, the manufacturer can cite the Canadian winter as evidence that Providence intended his country to have , many factories. In most parts agricultural operations are at a standstill for four or five months, and all outdoor operations are suspended for almost the samo period. A vast army of men are thus thrown out of work, and anyono who can offer indoor work i.s a national benefactor. Canada's ideal development would, therefore, bo one which encouraged her worker's to go to the fields in the summer and undertake indoor work in the winter. Obviously tho growth of-manufactures will-afford openings during tho winter months for a great number of men who are.temporarily out of work. It is too n.uch to expect the Canadian workman to bo at once a skilled farm labourer and a competent mechanic, but tho growth of manufactures cannot fail to make work in the cities for quite a number of men who would otherwise have a hard time in tho winter. The capital sunk in industry also demands recognition. It was 'in 1910, 1,2-17,583,009 dollars (£260,000,000), an.increase of 179.15 per cent, since 1900, whilst the wages paid amounted to 197.228,701 dollars (£-11,059,213), : an increase of 120.19 per cent. ." ■ -...■■ ■ . The tariff question is thus one on which East and West differ, but the essential interests are not geographical, and liitJi the extension of manufactures ill -the West there is springing up .si sentiment in favour of tho present measure of protection. Already \\inuipo- and Calgary are important centres of Industry, and all the smaller praino towns are' keen in their endeavours to have factories established. At the present rates of expansion it would seem as if the manufacturing interests were destined to outweigh the agricultural, and if Western farmers can seeuro a reduction of freight rates, they may bo inclined not to attempt the Herculean task of lowering the tariff against tho opposition of vested interests.