Document Information

Date: 1903-04-24
By: North-West Territories (Legislative Assembly), The Regina Leader
Citation: North-West Territories, Legislative Assembly,The Regina Leader (30 April 1903), 5th Legi, 1st Sess, 24 April 1903

Other formats: TBA

Autonomy and More Money Demanded

Just prior to adjournment The Premier presented the report of the special committee appointed to draft a memorial to the Governor General in Council on the questions of the constitutional and financial position of the territories, railway transportation, and the public domain. He stated that the committee had drafted two memorials, one dealing with the constitutional and financial question and the other with railway transportation. These he read, the first being as follows :—

To His Excellency the Right Honorable Sir Gilbert John Elliot, Earl of Minto and Viscount Melgund of Melgund, County of Forfar, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, Baron Minto of Minto, County of Roxburgh, in the Peerage of Great Britain, Baronet of Nova Scotia, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, etc., Governor General of Canada.

We, His Majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects, the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories of Canada, in session assembled, humbly approach Your Excellency for the purpose of representing—

That by an Address dated on the second day of May in the year one thousand nine hundred, a copy of which is attached hereto, the Legislative Assembly pointed out that repeated representations had been made, in various ways, to the Government of Canada with a view to obtaining just and equitable assistance towards providing for the proper and effective administration of affairs in these Territories and for the public necessities of their rapidly increasing population, and that such representations had been met by intermittent and insufficient additions to the annual grant, the provision so made by the Parliament of Canada never bearing any adequate proportion to the financial obligations imposed by the enlargement and development of the political institutions created by itself ;

That by the said Address, the Legislative Assembly humbly prayed that Your Excellency would be graciously pleased to cause an enquiry to be made into the position of the Territories, financial and otherwise, and to cause such action to be taken as would provide for their present and immediate welfare and good government, as well as the due fulfillment of the duties and obligations of Government and legislation assumed with respect to these Territories by the Parliament of Canada, and it was furthermore humbly prayed that Your Excellency would be also graciously pleased to order enquiries to be made and accounts taken with a view to the settlement of the terms and conditions upon which the Territories or any portion thereof should be established as a Province ;

That since the passing of the said Address further representations have been made in various ways to Your Excellency’s Government with regard to the financial and constitutional position of the Territories ;That during the past three years the immediate necessities of the Territories have been vastly increased by a remarkable immigration movement, which is still going on :That no adequate response has been made to the repeated requests for the financial assistance necessary for “the proper and effective administration of “the affairs of these Territories and “for the public necessities of their “rapidly increasing population.”That the Legislative Assembly, representing, as it does, the unanimous opinion of the people of the Territories, believes that nothing short of that system of government enjoyed by our fellow citizens in the Provinces will afford a solution of the legislative and financial difficulties which confront it ;Therefore we do humbly pray that Your Excellency in Council will cause such action to be taken as will provide for the present and immediate financial necessities of the Territories and will further provide for the establishment of provincial institutions upon fair and just terms analogous to those upon which the old Provinces have been dealt with ;

All which we humbly pray Your Excellency to take into Your Excellency’s gracious and favorable consideration.