DISPUTE BETWEEN CANADA AND MANITOBA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2376, 1 October 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

DISPUTE BETWEEN CANADA AND MANITOBA.

«. It will be remembered that a recent cable message stated that in connection with the dispute which has arisen between the Canadian Parliament and the Legislature of Manitoba, Sir John Macdonald, the Premier of Canada, had threatened to apply for a force of British regular troops to prevent the completion of the railway connection between Manitoba and the United States ; also, that a strong British garrison will shortly te stationed at Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba. The difficulty thus referred to in the above cable message is explained in the following article from the Economist of July 2nd : “ The conflict that has arisen between the Canadian Parliament and the Manitoban Legislature is, to say the least, a decidedly unpleasant occurrence. The grounds of the conflict are very simple. The Legislature of the NorthWestern province of Manitoba have granted charters for the construction of railways from Winnipeg to the United States frontier, and these have been disallowed by the Federal Government which has the power of veto on all provincial legislation Tlie action of the Federal Government is due to a desire to prevent the expanding business of the north-west from being diverted to the United States, and to cause it instead to pass ever the Canadian provinces of Canada. Judging by the telegrams received this week, feeling at Winnipeg is greatly excited on the subject, The Premier of Manitoba is reported to have said “ The railway will be built, no matter what the consequences may be. The contractor has everything in readiness to begin operations in the coming week. We are not serfs, and will not be found in the background in the event of trouble, which I hope will be avoided, but not at the expense of the railway project.’ There can be no doubt that this language is largely justified. The province of Manitoba is closely connected commercially with tho United States, and the Government of the province very naturally wish to meet the demands of business for increased means of intercourse, and so help forward the legitimate and natural expansion of Manitoba. And the Federal Government is making a very grave blunder in peremptorily forbidding this, for by doing so it is imperilling the unity of the Dominion, which is still far from secure, despite all the efforts that have been made to that end. There can be no doubt that the business of Manitoba has a natural tendency to gravitate towards the eastern provinces of the Dominion, and this should be frankly recognised by the Federal Government, however much it may regret that such should be the case, after it has, by the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, done so much to bring about on opposite result. If Manitoba is given to understand that if she remains in the Union her commer cial interests must be sacrificed, the temptation to sever her connection with the rest of Canada will be very difficult indeed to resist."