1929-02-08

NATURAL RESOURCES-WESTERN PROVINCES CORRESPONDENCE TABLED

Right Hon. W. L. MACKENZIE KING (Prime Minister):: My hon. friend the leader of the opposition (Mr. Bennett) asked yesterday for correspondence in relation to the transfer of their natural resources to the western provinces. I 'beg to lay on the table the papers referring to the transfer of the natural resources of the province of Manitoba; also a copy of the correspondence relating to the transfer of the natural resources of the province of Saskatchewan, and a copy of the correspondence with respect to the transfer of the natural resources of the province of Alberta. I would like to say to my hon. friend, with respect to the correspondence between our government and the Alberta government, that there are two or three telegrams which were personal and confidential. I will send them to my hon. friend, and if, after reading them, he thinks that it would serve any useful purpose to have them made public at this time, the government will have no objection; but I think he may feel that they should be kept private for the present.


Hon. R. B. BENNETT (Leader of the Opposition):: I think the Prime Minister
might keep the telegrams. I prefer not to see them at the moment. I accept his view that it might not be in the public interest to have them made public at the present time.


William Lyon Mackenzie King: I did not
understand my hon. friend's request yesterday to cover papers respecting the railway lands and the lands in the Peace river block in British Columbia, but no doubt he must wish to see the correspondence respecting these lands as well.


Richard Bedford Bennett: I should be greatly
obliged.


William Lyon Mackenzie King: I now lay the correspondence on the table.



INTERNATIONAL PEACE


William Lyon Mackenzie King: I foeg to lay on the table a copy of the general treaty for the renunciation of war, signed at Paris, on the 27th of August, 1928.
I beg to move:
That 1,000 copies in English and 500 copies in French of the general treaty for the renunciation of war, signed at Paris on the 27th of August, 1928, and tabled to-day, be printed forthwith, and that standing order 64 be suspended in relation thereto.


Mr. SPEAKER:: By unanimous consent.


[Stage Direction]
Motion agreed to.


William Lyon Mackenzie King: I beg to lay on the table
copy of the convention and protocol between Canada and the United States for the preservation of Niagara Falls :by the construction of remedial works and for the experimental withdrawal of additional water, signed at Ottawa, on the 2nd day of January, 1929.
I beg to move:
That 1,000 copies in English and 500 copies in French of -the convention and protocol for the preservation of Niagara Falls, signed at Ottawa on January 2, 1929, and tabled this day, be printed forthwith, and that standing order 64 be suspended in relation thereto.


Hewitt Bostock: By unanimous consent.


[Stage Direction]
Motion agreed to.

The late Hon. R. F. Preston

William Lyon Mackenzie King: I beg to lay on the table a copy of the minute of council approving and confirming an agreement entered into in London between the government of the Dominion of Canada and the government of the Kingdom of Bulgaria, pursuant to the terms of the treaty between the allied and associated ' powers and Bulgaria signed at Neuilly-sur-Seine on November 27, 1919.



THE LATE HON. R. F. PRESTON

William Lyon Mackenzie King: Mr. Speaker, only yesterday this House of Commons gave expression to its sense of loss at the death of an hon member who had been taken from us since the last session of parliament. To-day we have again to express like feelings with respect to another vacancy which has been created by the hand of death.
Yesterday our words had reference to one who sat on this side of the house and who was a lifelong member of the Liberal party; to-day in the passing of Dr. R. F. Preston, the member for Lanark, we mourn in common with hon. gentlemen opposite the loss of one who sat on the opposite side and who was b lifelong member of the Conservative party.
Dr. Preston was in his sixty-ninth year. Few men have, in the course of their lives, devoted themselves more completely to public service. He entered the House of Commons at a by-election in the constituency of Lanark in 1922. He was returned at the general elections of 1925 and of 1926. Prior to his entry into federal politics he had taken an active part in the politics of the province of Ontario, having entered many contests in both the federal and provincial arenas. He was returned to the provincial legislature on no less than five different occasions. While a member of the provincial legislature, his ability and services were recognized through his selection as the whip of his party, and by his appointment as minister without portfolio in the administrations of Sir James Whitney and Sir William Hearst. At an earlier age Dr. Preston had been scarcely less active in municipal politics, having filled respectively the positions of reeve and warden of the county. He was the first mayor of Carleton Place after its incorporation and was elected to that office on three occasions.
Dr. Preston was an able physician and an honoured member of his profession. Yesterday reference was made in this house to the great services rendered to sufferers by the members of the medical profession. Today
we are reminded of the attendant risks which often wait upon their service. I believe it is true that it was in the faithful discharge of his professional duties that Dr. Preston contracted the cold which later developed into an illness which proved to be fatal.
On behalf of the members of the government and all who sit on this side of the house, may I extend to my hon. friend the leader of the opposition, and to those who sit around him, our sincere sympathy in the loss they have sustained of one who was foremost in the councils of the Conservative party and one of its recognized leaders in the province of Ontario. And may I also express, on behalf of the House of Commons as a whole, its sense of loss in the passing of one who was held in high regard and esteem by members of all parties.


Richard Bedford Bennett: Mr. Speaker, we who sit to
your left are deeply grateful to the right hon. Prime Minister for the very moving terms in which he has referred to the death of one of our number.
Dr. Preston had a very varied career; it has been fittingly referred to by the right hon. Prime Minister. He was not only interested in public affairs in his county, in the legislature and in parliament, but he continued to practise his profession and to meet the onerous demands made upon him by the community in which he lived. It is now over half a century since Dr. Preston graduated from Queen's university. For a short time he carried on his profession with his brother, then moved to the Ottawa valley, and it is now nearly fifty years since he began to practise in Carleton Place. I recollect a conversation which I had with Dr. Preston not more than a few months ago extending over several hours, in the course of which he discussed the great advances in medical science during the last twenty-five or thirty years. I could not but think that he was almost the last of that great number of useful servants whom we call family physicians, of whom Ian Maclaren wrote so beautifully in Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, and, as I walked to the chamber this morning I thought of a few observations made by the author in respect to the heroic Dr. MacLure. I turned up one sentence in particular that I think well expresses the life of Dr. Preston in his county:
There were no specialists in Drumtochty, so this man had to do everything as best he could and as quickly. He was chest doctor and doctor for every other organ as well; he was accoucheur and surgeon; he was oculist and aurist; he was dentist and chloroformist besides being chemist and druggist.
The late Hon. R. F. Preston

As I listened to the tale of the early days of the medical practitioner in Lanark county, I felt how similar it was to the career of Dr. MacLure. The life of the medical practitioner has been greatly changed in these modern times, but there are those at whose birth Dr. Preston had been present who still looked upon him as the physician whom they must call to attend them, and so he journeyed to remote sections of the county, although in these days it was far more easily done than in the early days of his manhood. It is quite clear, as the Prime Minister has said, while undertaking one of those journeys in the early part of this year he contracted a cold which terminated fatally. Such was his devotion to duty. But physicians perhaps more than any other people in the world are given to devotion to duty. In the pioneer days of this country they performed a service of which we have no record, but its value is incalculable.
Dr. Preston will be greatly missed in the county where he lived so long. There were at least two generations who knew him well. In his death they have lost a great and personal friend, a man whose kindly word and warm sympathy did almost as much to assist nature in her curative processes as did the medicines that were prescribed. We on this side have lost a wise, sagacious counsellor, one who knew much of the province of Ontario, who was trusted by Sir James Whitney as few men are trusted-he discussed with him the most intimate matters connected with his leadership-and one who had a fund of knowledge upon which we on this side could draw in matters affecting his native province.
His place will not easily be filled, but he has left behind him a memory of which any man might well be proud. I have talked with the younger men and women and with those of middle age in the county of Lanark, and the warm affection they expressed for Dr. Preston made me think that after all there is something in the struggle of life that is worth while, when such enduring friendships are made. We on this side are under a singular debt of gratitude to him, because he happened at an opportune moment to be present when an accident befell another of our members, and but for his timely intervention I doubt whether anything would have prevented that accident from having had fatal results.
As I was thinking of him to-day, I could not conceive of any happier terms in which I might express the thought which is in the minds of the older men and women of Lanark, as well as of some of the younger men and

women, than the thought to which Ian Mac-laren gave expression after MacLure had fought the great battle of death for Saunders. The London practitioner was of opinion that in the fight with death Doctor MacLure would be unsuccessful, but he fought the fight and won. But he himself contracted-not just then but a little later-that illness that brought his own life to a close. As he lay dying he turned to his friend and asked him to say a word of prayer. So Drumsheugh knelt and prayed with many pauses:
"ATmichty God. . . dinna be hard on Weelum MacLure, for he's no been hard wi' onybody in Drumbocihty. . . Be kind tae ham as he's been tae us a' for forty year. . . We're a' sinners afore Thee. . . Forgive him What he's dune wrung, an' dinna cuist it up tae him. . . Mind the fouk he's helpit. . . the weemen an' bairnies. . . an' gie him a welcome faame, for he's sair needin't after a' his w-ark. . . Amen."


Mr. JOHN EVANS (Rosetown):: We in
this comer associate ourselves with the sentiments expressed by the Prime Minister (Mr. Mackenzie King) and the leader of the Opposition (Mr. Bennett) regarding our departed brother. The re-assembling of parliament each year serves to solemnity the public side of life; it reminds us that what we have to do we had better do while we have the opportunity. Dr. Preston was one of the kindliest of men, and while our views were often extremely divergent regarding political affairs, we learned to look upon him as a friend. With the rest of the house we shall, I am sure, miss his kindly face.
IMMIGRANTS AT TORONTO On the orders of the day:


Mr. H. B. ADSHEAD (East Calgary):: I
wish to ask the Minister of Labour (Mr. Heenan) a question. Is he aware that recently there have been imported from Germany a large number of immigrants who have taken the iplace of Canadian workmen in the city of Toronto? If so, what action has been taken in the matter by the Department of Labour?


Hon. PETER HEENAN (Minister of Labour):: I have had conferences with committees representing, respectively, the management and the men, and only this -morning they arrived at a basis of settlement of the dispute. For the present I would suggest, in the interests of a settlement, that we ought not to discuss the matter further.
ST. LAWRENCE WATERWAY On the orders of the day:


Mr. A. A. HEAPS (North Winnipeg):: Is
the Prime Minister (Mr. Mackenzie King)

The Address-Mr. Cayley
prepared to give us an assurance that before any permit is issued: for the development of canalization of the St. Lawrence river the house will have an opportunity of discussing the subject?


Hewitt Bostock: Questions of this nature
should be preceded by notice.


Abraham Albert Heaps: I trust the Prime Minister
will accept this as notice.



GOVERNOR GENERAL'S SPEECH


[Stage Direction]
The house proceeded to the consideration of the speech delivered by His Excellency the Governor General at the opening of the session.
Mr. T. M. CAYLEY (South Oxford):: Mr. Speaker, on rising to move the address in reply to the speech from the throne, permit me first to make reference to the one matter that has been uppermost in the hearts and minds of all British subjects-I refer to the recent illness of His Majesty, our beloved sovereign, King George V. Not alone throughout the length and breadth of the great empire wa3 concern manifest and interest shown, but wherever altar fires are kindled, irrespective of race, creed or language, prayers were made that he might be spared to his people -to be their sovereign for many years to come. The recent trying experience of His Majesty, and the anxiety it caused in the hearts of his subjects, has served to emphasize the important place he now occupies as head . of a great commonwealth of nations, and as an important factor in strengthening those bonds of a common allegiance to the crown. The empire is justly proud and rejoices in the splendid response made by the Prince of Wales, on this occasion of his father's illness, to the new duties and responsibilities that have been suddenly placed upon him.
The county of Oxford was honoured in the late fall of last year by a visit from His Excellency, Viscount Willingdon, the Governor General of Canada. His presence in Oxford, his kind and gracious manner, his keen interest in all that pertains to the welfare of that splendid county won for him the hearts of its people. Their hope is that he will find time in the near future to pay their county another visit and that on that occasion they will have the pleasure of welcoming, with him, Her Excellency, Viscountess Willingdon.
My constituency of South Oxford has been highly honoured in the selection of its representative to undertake this important and
time-honoured duty at the opening of parliament. I wish to convey to the Prime Minister and his government its appreciation of the courtesy thus shown.
Since the last session of parliament the Prime Minister has paid a visit to the motherland and to the continent. On his return "from wandering on a foreign strand" he expressed his love for and pride in Canada in these words, "Canada is the happiest of all lands." The Prime Minister in these words expressed his love and devotion to the country of his birth, and likewise faith and confidence in her future, the same love, confidence and faith that prompted to united action the Canadians of " sixty-seven."
The Prime Minister did honour to his native land during his sojourn in Europe, both at Paris and at Geneva. At the former capital he gave expression to the nation's desire that war should give way to peace, that international differences should be settled by sane and wise means, and that the great curse of the ages should be abolished. It was an historical event and marks a long forward step in the settlement of international problems. It is also manifest from the signing of the Kellogg pact that the British commonwealth, each unit for itself and for all the empire, is heart and soul for the cause of peace.
At Geneva, the Prime Minister and his colleagues made no small contribution to the deliberations and influence of the League of Nations. He was honoured with a vicepresidency of the assembly of the league. This is a well deserved honour to Canada, as likewise it is to the Prime Minister as a recognition, well deserved, of that prominent Canadian's efforts in behalf of world peace and understanding.
It is but fair to admit- that the Prime Minister, both at the Imperial conference of 1926 and at Paris and Geneva in 1928, demonstrated thoroughgoing Canadianism and did much to increase the standing of his country and place her in a position that commands the respect and attention of the world.
The late Sir Wilfrid Laurier, with that confidence that characterized Canadian statesmen from the beginning was a true prophet when he stated that the twentieth century belonged to Canada. The voices of the criers of ruin have died out, enthusiasm and a new spirit pervades our people, a spirit of pride and achievement of great things. The Prince of Wales said some months ago:
Canada is on the threshold of one of the most astonishing eras of expansion and development that the world has ever known.
The Address-Mr. Cayley

That is a fairly strong expression, but as yet not an over-stated one.
Let me also quote from that Great British statesman, Sir Austen Chamberlain, British Secretary of State, who while speaking to the Canadian Club at Ottawa in November used words which should cause every Canadian to glow with pride:
I have seen a great nation to the formation of which two great nations gave their best. 1 have seen a nation rich already in historic tradition, the early chapters of whose story are as full of romance as any novel of Sir Walter Scott's. I have seen the immense development of recent years and can foresee the still greater development which awaits you. I have never been far from the international boundary line which needs no guards, for the good sense and the good feeling of the nations on either side of it are their mutual security. I have seen Canada side by side with this great and friendly kindred nation, yet the guardian of her own soul, true to her own traditions, making her own laws and forming her own society. There lies in front of you a future beyond any dreams one can form to-day. Continue to be your own selves and while you develop your own freedom, help us to guard the unity of the empire.
Since the last session of parliament Canada has been honoured by a visit from the members of the inter-parliamentary union which met last year in Ottawa. At this conference many matters were dealt with that were of interest to the empire, but the one question of paramount importance and interest was how the great commonwealth could be drawn together as an economic unit. Since that meeting some things have occurred which make it all the more important that this great Imperial hook-up should be instituted. Canada has always exhibited an active and practical interest in the development of interempire trade by granting British preferences and by her immigration policy, and the latest gesture was a Christmas box in the form of imperial penny postage. The Empire Marketing Board, towards the support of which the British government grants $5,000,000 annually, urges by advertising the purchase of empire goods. By this means the United Kingdom is increasing the patronage of empire countries. In 1924 it bought goods from the empire to the value of $1,930,000,000; in
1927	this had increased to $2,100,000,000, and
1928	will show a new high record. The experiment of the Empire Marketing Board has shown what can be done if energy is efficiently and intelligently applied. The British commonwealth is potentially a market and an economic unit beside which anything else is dwarfed. Canadians view with pride and satisfaction the steps taken by the government during the past few months to improve

the arrangements for direct personal contact in the discussion of inter-imperial and foreign affairs. The Dominion's wonderful growth in world trade and commerce-a record unequalled by any nation of equal population -has made this step highly important. It is hoped that thus the unity of the empire may be strengthened and Canadian interests abroad and within the empire better served. Since the last session there has arrived in Ottawa the High Commissioner for His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; the Japanese legation was established in July; the French legation in November; a Canadian legation was recently established in Paris, and at an early day a Canadian legation will be opened in the capital of Japan. Canada gives these representatives of other nations a cordial welcome to her capital.
Many comments are heard these days on Canada's prosperity. Among the most striking comments is the following statement:
Our forests are producing to-day wealth beyond anything we dreamed of; our mines are the richest in the world; power is our second greatest industry; our trade, railway traffic, bank deposits, revenues, insurance policies, everything that denotes expansion and prosperity, both of the state and the individual, have grown with bewildering speed.
And further it has this to say:
The employment situation in Canada is officially reported to be decidedly more favourable than for eight years.
Every year sees new markets opened to Canadian products, the very limited number at the time of confederation having now increased to well over a hundred. The report of the trade of Canada for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1928, contains some very interesting information. Canada now occupies fifth place among the nations of the world in imports, in exports and in aggregate trade, being surpassed only by the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The great seaports of Canada- Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax, St. John, Quebec-the busy highways, the great transportation systems, the lake and canal trade, all reflect this important advance.
The report of Canada's trade for the year ending March 31, 1928, again reveals the astonishing prosperity and absorbing power of the country. For 1928 the Dominion's trade reached the new high peak of $2,596,448,000, as compared with $2,325,782,000 in 1927, $2,291,939,000 in 1926, and $2,173,098,000, in 1925. This means a gain of nearly half a billion dollars in four years. The policy of the government in developing trade throughout the

The Address-Mr. Cayley
world, the energetic Canadian people and the wonderful resources of the Dominion are all instrumental in creating the enviable position now enjoyed by Canada. Of the total trade the exports amounted to $1,384,130,197, and the imports to $1,222,317,916, the exports exceeding the imports by $151,852,281. Canadians will view with satisfaction the intention of the government to construct national research laboratories to provide scientific and technical knowledge to the various branches of production, the extension of trade facilities and information and the appointment of additional trade commissioners, all of which are highly necessary and important if our prosperity and expansion are to continue as in the past.
There is great satisfaction in the assurance of the Minister of Trade and Commerce (Mr. Malcolm) that out of the aggregate investment of $16,000,000,000 in the Dominion only one-third is foreign owned. It has been stated many times in this country and in Great Britain that the United States is gaining economic control of Canada. But the Minister of Trade and Commerce takes a thoroughly optimistic view of the situation. He points out that capital is usually followed by its owners into the country of investment and that eventually the capital is nationalized ' along with the nationalization of its owner.
Two factors have contributed largely to the readiness with which United States money is placed in the Dominion; the fertile fields of natural resources and the advantages of the British preference. The former are building up wealth for the investors, much of which may find further investment here, and the British preference is a magnet which has led to the establishment of numerous branch factories. For this Canada has reason to be grateful to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who inaugurated the preference plan, and to the party which has continued this policy. The result is that industrial development is rapidly making the country economically selfsustaining. The fact that two-thirds of all the investments in Canada are owned by Canadians and other British people is something to consider with real satisfaction.
The present levels of Canadian securities and the dividends paid show how investments made in past years have brought substantial returns. In the last quarter of a century the productive capacity of industries has increased from $400,000,000 to $3,500,000,000. The Minister of the Interior (Mr. Stewart) recently issued a statement showing the relation between the mineral industries and water-power, in which two significant general points are
brought out. One is that in addition to the ore reserves that have already been blocked out and the discoveries that have been made but not fully proved by mining operations, there is an area of more than 3,000,000 square miles, being 80 per cent of the total area of the Dominion, forming a prospective mineral field. The other is the extent of the waterpower resources of the Dominion. Those at present recorded will permit of a turbine installation of about 43 000,000 horse-power, the present turbine installation representing only a little more than 11 per cent of the recorded water-power resources.
The Dominion has already established itself among the foremost mining countries of the world. Its mineral production in 1900 was valued at $64,000,000; in 1927 at $245,000,000; in 1928 at $260,000,000. Ninety per cent of the world's nickel, 76 per cent of its asbestos and 55 per cent of its cobalt oomes from Canada, which also ranks third in production of gold and silver. Yet 80 per cent of the total area of the country is a prospective mineral field not exploited. Mulch of the available water-power is so situated as to facilitate mine development. To what extent it is helping in northern Ontario where coal is lacking is well known.
Canada's industrial future is assured with her great resources of unfailing and cheap power, with unlimited resources of valuable mineral in this metal age. She must go steadily forward. Sir William Clark in his address to the Montreal chamber of commerce made this interesting statement:
In 1914 raw materials represented 63 per cent o-f Canada's total exports; in 1927 they represented only 46 per cent.
Continuing, he said:
Capacity for cheap production is an essential pre-condition for successful competition in world trade. Of all factors in production, cheap power is perhaps the most essential-indeed where chehp power is available it pays to set up factories even if the raw material for manufacturing has to be imported from abroad.
Further on he states:	[DOT]
Canada will remain a great agricultural country, but she is going to be a great manufacturing country too.
Looking over the whole ground, summing up what has been done so far, considering the prophecies of experts, everything indicates Canada's progressing with increasing acceleration and that the present year will hear the sound of the hammer as never before; for there must be supplied more public works, more elevators, more stores, more apartment houses, more railroads, and so forth. In 1929 we will see more grain grown, more fish caught, more water-power harnessed, more
The Address-Mr. Cayley

pulp and paper produced and more goods exported and imported-but Canada ever growing into the happy position of improving home markets and multiplying foreign markets.
Not alone is Canada to be envied by the world at large for her rich farms, her fertile plains, her abundant resources of mine and forest, but every year in increasing numbers are visitors from other lands seeking our shores. They come to see the beauties of our mountains, our streams, and our lakes. In every province from coast to coast there is attraction and pleasure for the tourist. If the revenue derived from our tourist trade for 1923 is estimated at $300,000,000, it is plain that the future will see a steady growth along this line. With the passing years the lure of our great open spaces, our forest solitudes, and our rocky summits will draw more and more. We all remember the words of the present Premier of British Columbia-and we congratulate him on the high honour that his people, have shown him-when he told us that his native province out by the western sea was larger than twenty-five Switzerlands and contained scenic grandeur of gorge and mountain peak unsurpassed iby any other place in the world.
There are other aspects of the national life than material things that cannot be measured and weighed and estimated in currencies. Canada is building more churches to meet the growing population as it scatters farther afield. She is increasing and improving her educational facilities. Scientific research has resulted in notable discoveries and the improvement of social conditions. Invention, too, is daily adding to the comforts and happiness of every Canadian, and once more let me repeat the words of the Prime Minister, " Canada is the happiest of all lands ", It is therefore with pleasure and honour that I move that an address be forwarded to His Excellency the Governor General to thank him for his gracious message.
Mr. CHARLES E. FERLAND (Joliette) (Translation):	Mr. Speaker, in rising to
second the motion for an address in reply to the speech from the throne, quite naturally my first thought is for His Most Excellent Majesty the King, whose recent illness was the cause of many anxious days to more than four hundred and fifty millions of his faithful and loyal subjects who, throughout the empire, have addressed to Heaven fervent prayers, already granted, and who, at the present stage of the miraculous convalescence, rejoice in being able to proclaim with enthusiasm: The King lives! Long live the King!

Mr. Speaker, after your splendid series of lectures on the political evolution of Canada, delivered before a distinguished Sorbonne audience, in the Ville-Lumiere, where once again you upheld a reputation of pre-eminent culture:	a strange mixture of Canadian
traditions, French clearness and British aspirations, of antique reminiscences of Rome, Athens and classical perfection, I rejoice in being privileged for a moment in interpreting the general feeling in order to unite my voice with that of the European press, in this chorus of praise, congratulations and admiration to which your presence has given rise everywhere in France and England. Allow me further to tell you how happy I feel to meet again my professor of International Law at the University of Montreal, occupying always with tact, dignity and impartiality the Speaker's Chair of the House of Commons.
It is with a deep feeling of gratitude that I wish to express my everlasting appreciation to the right hon. the Prime Minister and his hon. colleagues for having doubly honoured the constituency of Joliette by calling to the highest office of Humanity-the bench- its ex-member, my law partner during twelve years, the hon. Justice Jean Denis, of the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec, and as a great privilege, by extending to me. the honour of delivering the traditional French reply to the speech from the throne.
Mr. Speaker, traditions, custom and practice which the Alma Mater of parliaments has bequeathed to us from times immemorial, authorizes me to say a few words with reference to the constituency of Joliette which I have the honour of representing in this house, and towards which I have contracted a debt of gratitude that I shall never be able to repay in full, even with the government's assistance. The centre of an important judiciary district, which comprises the counties of Joliette, Berthier, Montcalm and Assomption, where legal lights make up one of the most outstanding sections of the Quebec Bar, this electoral division has for its chief town Joliette, "Jolie comme une urne de fleurs remplie" according to the writer who has sung its praise; a town of 10,000 inhabitants, prosperous in all its industrial and trade activities, an agricultural centre surrounded with a luxuriant countryside and sturdy farmers, wholly absorbed in their calling, through their clinging to the soil and their cult of ancestral traditions.
There, however, hangs a shadow over the painting, Mr. Speaker, and if I were allowed

The Address-Mr. Ferland
to plead pro domo, I would request the reestablishment and maintenance in Joliette of the National Railway shops.
It is an axiom, sir, that nations beget governments which they deserve. I therefore, wish to congratulate the Canadian people on having at the head of the executive as Prime Minister, a champion of our constitutional liberties, a veteran of Canadian politics, a statesman who, owing to his prestige, the magnetism of his eloquence, the charm of his striking personality, engrossed by a clear knowledge of men and things, which he owes to his putting into practice those broad principles of political economy taught by himself in his remarkable treatises:	"Industry and
Humanity," has been able to direct with credit, in its progress towards a glorious prosperity, the greatest of the British dominions which under his leadership is now ranked as the fifth commercial power of the world. A man of ideals and action, ever trusting in the destinies of his country which he directs with wisdom and a firm hand, the right hon. Prime Minister has been able to inspire all with the same confidence-a precious gift in a leader- by surrounding himself in the cabinet with men of ability, of weight and of the widest influence and outstanding talents in this Dominion.
Mr. Speaker, the great doctrine of Canadian autonomy so brilliantly expounded by the right hon. Prime Minister (Mr. Mackenzie King) and the hon. Minister of Justice (Mr. Lapointe) at the Imperial Conference of 1926 which has given Canada a new status of liberty and autonomy, has already been realized, and we read with some national pride, in the speech from the throne, that the present government has established diplomatic relations with four great powers which dominate the Atlantic and Pacific: to the east, France; to the west, Japan; the United States, our wealthy neighbours to the south, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the north of Ireland, with whom we have common interests of the greatest import.
Has not the colony of yesterday become a nation in the concert of the great powers of the world and are not great nations represented by ambassadors?
The few acres of snow disdained by the ironical Voltaire of France under Louis XV, have become a beautiful country of freedom, progress and civilization, already well recognized by France of this day whose glory ever since the Marne and Verdun, those "highlights of history," illuminates the world; audit is a ray of this glory that brings us, together
with France's brotherly embrace, the eminent diplomat, His Excellency the French plenipotentiary minister, Jean Knight.
In welcoming to Canada, the Hon. Sir William Clark, High Commissioner of His Majesty's government in the United Kingdom, and the hon. diplomatic representatives of the United States and Japan, and in addressing my very best wishes of success and happiness to the Hon. Peter Larkin, High Commissioner for Canada, in London, and also to their excellencies the plenipotentiary ministers of Canada, the Hon. Philippe Roy to Paris, the Hon. Vincent Massey, to the United States, and the Hon. Herbert Marler, to Japan, I am pleased to acknowledge that the Canadian government, following the example of the governments of those countries, could not make a more judicious choice nor find better qualified and deserving men than those high dignitaries of this state.
It is, sir, this diplomatic intercourse between nations which has in these latter days, enabled the right hon. Prime Minister to journey to Paris in order to have Canada-a powerful contributor to the League of Nations-participate in the many-sided treaty Briand-Kellogg, which affords a guarantee of universal peace and a tie of friendship and mutual sympathy among nations. Let me express the ardent wish that this parliament will approve with enthusiasm and unanimously this treaty destined to outlaw war and which henceforth I shall designate as the King-Briand-Kellogg treaty.
The notable statements contained in the speech from the throne describing all the activities of the Canadian people in every sphere of life and bearing witness to a prosperity ever increasing, is of a nature to reassure the people's anxiety and restore their confidence. The year 1928 has seen the crowning of these sixty years of progress-at times temporarily paralyzed by crises without much consequences-that	the Canadian people
celebrated with so much pomp during the patriotic festivities of the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation.
For the first time, the wheat crop exceeds half a billion bushels, while other crops as a whole have been bountiful. I further note with pleasure in the speech from the throne that the government will submit to parliament, as a measure of relief to agriculture, its plan for the carrying out of the provisions contained in the rural credit act.
Helping the fundamental industry of agriculture while the work on the sub-soil, that is the mines, is rapidly developing, is not that
The Address-Mr. Ferland

favouring the whole nation at a time when trade and industry have reached figures yet unknown in the history of this country? However, the government's program, judging from the speech from the throne, embraces all activities. Extending their protection to the Canadian fisheries; establishing national laboratories of scientific and technical research for the advancement of industry and production; victoriously invading foreign markets by broadening our international relations; appointing new trade commissioners in the various countries where already twenty four Canadian trade commissioners have substantially contributed to spread in the markets of the world Canadian products that are everywhere to be seen over the counters of the western hemisphere and even in the remote bazaars of the east; allowing the people to benefit by great inventions of the century, by establishing an aerial service for the transport of mails; planning also to regulate the marvellous means of broadcasting by radio thus bringing together nations and individuals most remote and finally creating a pension fund to assist the families of those faithful servants of the nation, the employees of the national railways, these, sir, are so many measures reflecting credit upon the King government and which will further enhance the welfare of the Canadian people, happy and thrifty to the extent of carrying life insurances for the fabulous amount of $5,500,000,000.
Mr. Speaker, if we travel through Canada, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, not by this great national route, the Transcontinental, but by a rapid glance penetrating everywhere, we cannot tire of admiring its greatness, beauties and progress. From Quebec "the French sanctuary" as far as Victoria "this vista of old England"; from Vancouver, the "New York of the Pacific" to those happy towns of the maritime provinces whose grievances have already been settled; from Montreal, the greatest financial centre of Canada, the bilingual metropolis which, with its dual races, dual industries, dual news press, two universities, absorbs what is best in the civilizations of London and Paris, in order to reach the highest degree of moral perfection both social and economic, as far as Toronto, her rival, the "Queen City"; from Edmonton, the gate of the northwest; Calgary "the city of mirages",-no allusion being meant to the ideals of the distinguished leader of His Majesty's opposition; Regina, the heart of the Great Prairies, and Winnipeg, the "wheat city", as far as Ottawa, the capital of the most beautiful country in the world, everywhere the banks, barometers of

trade and industry, reflect the general prosperity, overflow with the deposits of the people's savings, and, as an indication of good times, increase with confidence the volume of commercial accounts; everywhere, in this vast empire of wheat and forests reigns the "entente cordiale", an atmosphere of harmony between the races, a union of friendship and concord between capital and labour, and hope more than ever shines with greater splendour in the belief that this is Canada's oentury.
It is imbued with these sentiments, Mr. Speaker, that I have the pleasure of seconding the motion of the hon. member for South Oxford (Mr. Cayley) in support of an address in reply to the speech from the throne.


Richard Bedford Bennett: As the house will not be in session this evening, in accordance with an arrangement with the Prime Minister, I move the adjournment of the debate.


[Stage Direction]
Motion agreed to.
On motion of Mr. Mackenzie King the house adjourned at 4.07 p.m.
Monday, February 11, 1929