THE FUTURE OF CANADA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2020, 4 March 1907, Page 1

THE FUTURE OF CANADA.

Will Canada permanently continue to form an integral portion of the British Empire? is a question discussed in the Monthly Review by a Canadian writer, who confesses Ills inability to supply a definite answer to the question, because of its complexity and delicacy and the changing conditions of tno country. “Today,” he says, “the very large majority of Canadians prefer the .British connection to the American, mostly from inherited prejudices and fi little because, until lately, the. altitude of the latter towards the Dominion has been a trifle too condescending,” As to the French-speak-ing Canadians, who predominate 111 the province of Montreal, they may bo always depended upon, it appears, to be loyal to the Union Jack as against the Stars and Stripes, “because the priests well know that the hold they have over their parishioners would be inimcppejy weakened, if not altogether loosened, by annexation to the United States.” On the other hand, the last named contingency is regarded as probable of occurrence by a good many American journals, on the ground that the an■filial influx of immigrants from the United States into Canada has increased -from 71 SI in 1&9/ to 08,516 in the fiscal year 1905-1906. But tho reply to this is that most of the new arrivals are returned Canadians, and that the rest of them are perfectly satisfied to live under the English flag. As to the independent autonomy of the Dominion, the writer considers that if it ever does happen it will be in a far distant future. The question of the ultimate political union of Canada and the United States he considers, will be determined by fiscal factors; for, if an intermediate tariff, involving a yet closer relationship e , ;i . 1 country, is going nntS>ally to increase the income of the individual Canadian, he naturally begins to think about his duty to his wife and children, and to weigh the prospective advantages of complete political union. It is suggested, however, that the final solution of the question may lie in the hands ol the 13 000 Chinese students who are now in Tokio learning how the Japanese beat the Russians, anil that Canada, in a few generations, may be neither under tho Union Jack nor under the Star and Stripes, hut under a new heraldic combination or the two, charged with the maple loaf and tho Southern Cross, and other strange devices, possibly nonexistent to-day.”