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Date: 1865-03-15
By: Montreal Witness
Citation: “Debate on Confederation”, Montreal Witness (15 March, 1865)
Other formats: TBA
DEBATE ON CONFEDERATION.
SPEECH OF THE HON. MR. MOORE.
Hon. Mr. Moore said. In the first place, it seemed to him that it did not originate as it ought to have done. It did not emanate from the people, but from the fact that certain political difficulties existed in Canada, and because political parties were so evenly balanced in the Legislature of the Province that it was found impracticable to carry on the Government of the country. Its origin was due to the Government, because of these political dead-locks, and not to any movement or agitation for change among the masses. It was very well known that at the last general election, which took place in 1863, this scheme of Federation was not one of the questions which the people were called upon to decide in returning members to represent them in the Legislature. By and through the instrumentality of the hon. members of the Canadian Government, in connection with their confreres from the Lower Provinces, the scheme was brought forward, and if it did not originate with them, it was at least put by them before the country in the shape in which it now presented itself—that of the resolutions on the table. With reference to the first Conference, that held at Charlottetown, all were aware that the Governments of the several Maritime Provinces, had, by virtue of resolutions of their Legislatures, sent delegates to that Convention to consider the desirability of uniting their several Governments in one, or, in other words, of consolidating them in what is termed a Legislative union. When the relative positions of those Provinces came to be considered, it was natural to expect that they should desire the consummation of such a project, their interests being so blended as to make it an object of much importance to them. At that Conference, the representatives of the Government of Canada appeared, and by their representations, induced the others to abandon the object for which they had met, and to take up the larger question; and he believed that if everything was fully known in regard to the inducements held to them to lay aside the first scheme, it would be found the first and foremost was the construction of the Intercolonial Railway. He had been forcibly struck, on the occasion of his visit to the Lower Provinces, by the fact that if there was one thing more than another that engrossed the minds of the people of those Provinces, it was the Intercolonial Railway. Now, with reference to this subject, the plan previously adopted was that Lower Canada should furnish five-twelfths, and the Lower Provinces seven-twelfths of the money necessary; but it appeared by the Resolutions before the House that if the Federation scheme were carried, the Railroad would have to be built;—and he admitted it would be a matter of necessity—Canada, instead of contributing five-twelfths, would have to contribute ten-twelfths of the cost of the work. [Hear, hear.] Another point on which he desired to touch was the increase of expenditure which the adoption of the scheme would necessarily entail; for it appeared to him that, in the event of its adoption, the expenditure would have to be considerably increased, and he could not see how the local Governments were to be sustained without resorting to direct taxation. He thought it impossible to have a Federal Government and so many local Governments, and properly maintain them all without resorting to that expedient. There was yet another point on which he felt perhaps more deeply than on any of the preceding. The scheme, it seemed to him, placed Lower Canada in a false position. The Anglo Saxons in Lower Canada, who were nearly one-fourth of the population, would be placed in the Local Government almost wholly under the control of the people of French origin; not that he believed the latter would deal unfairly with them, but still they would be exposed to the danger of having their rights trenched upon. And in the Federal Government the French would occupy a similar position to their Anglo Saxon brethren in the Local Government: they would be in a minority. The hon. gentleman, who had addressed the House so ably and eloquently last evening (Wednesday,) on the question,–he alluded to the hon. member for Peel–had said that he preferred taking the scheme as it was, than with any alteration, and members of the Government had stated that they could not accept of any amendments, suggestions of amendment, or alterations whatever. For his own part, he might say that he could not see the matter in that light. It appeared to him that there were five Provinces to take into consideration those Resolutions, and if they were able to suggest improvements, he thought the scheme would not thereby be very much endangered. These improvements might go in the shape of suggestions to the Imperial Parliament, and be of service in the work of basing upon the Resolutions an act of union for the Provinces ; and in making these suggestions, he thought they would in no way embarrass or endanger the scheme of Federation. Again, he thought the Local Governments would occupy an inferior position to the Federal Government, for while the former were depressed, the latter would be elevated, and have the control of the Local Governments by vetoing any measures of the latter within one year after their passing.
Hon. Sir E. P. TACHE remarked that that was the case now with the Parliament of Canada and the Imperial Parliament.
Hon. Mr. MOORE begged to differ with the hon. gentleman. The Imperial Government could disallow any act of our present Parliament within the two years next after its passing, and under the new arrangement the Imperial Parliament would continue to exercise that prerogative over the Federal as well as the Local Governments. He believed that the exercise of this veto power by the Federal Government, in an arbitrary manner over the Local Governments, would inevitably lead to dissension between them. In the United States the veto power was a qualified power. At the time of the forming of their Government in 1781, the Federal party, headed by Washington and Hamilton, insisted that the President of the United States should exercise the power uncontrolled–in fact that it should be absolute; while the Democratic party contended that it should be qualified, and that any Act having passed the two Houses of Congress, the President, if he disallowed it by the exercise of the vote, should do so within ten days next after the passing of the measure, assigning his reasons therefor; but it was competent for the two Houses of Congress to take up the bill de novo, and, if it passed those two branches by a two-thirds vote, it became law, independent of the veto pronounced on it by the President. Now, the veto power set forth in the Resolutions appeared to him to be too absolute and arbitrary, and that it ought to be modified much in the manner that the power was exercised according to the Constitution of the United States; otherwise, if adopted in its present shape, it would lead to a conflict between the Local and Federal Governments. Speaking of a new nationality, he could understand it if we were to be formed into an independent sovereignty; but, by the adoption of the present system, we should remain Colonies. He, for his own part, did not object to our remaining in our present position as Colonies, for he held that the time had not yet arrived when a separation from the mother country and an independent existence would be desirable. It had been contended for the scheme that by union of the Provinces, and the accession thereby of a population of about 800,000, we would gain an accession to our strength in a military point of view; but he took a very different view of the case. The extension of our territory would entail the defence of about 1,000 miles of frontier, and open seacoast, and in case of war, if forces should be required at any particular point, a jealousy would naturally spring up, if, when circumstances required all their available forces at home for their own defence, the Lower Provinces were called upon to contribute to the defence of Canada, or Canada called upon to contribute to their defence. He, therefore, came to the conclusion that the union of the Provinces would not materially increase our means to repel foreign aggression.