Canadian Politics Shaken By Scandal

Press, Volume C, Issue 29707, 28 December 1961, Page 9

Canadian Politics Shaken By Scandal

(From MELVIN SUFRIN. N-Z P.A Special Correspondent] TORONTO, December 27. Canadian politics have been shaken by a scandal that resulted in the first resignation in the history of the Senate. Senator Henri Courtemanche resigned last week after a Royal commission in Quebec Province denounced him for actions “unworthy of an honest citizen.”

He was found to have received 60,000 dollars in socallid legal fees from the Montreal Jean Talon Hospital from 1953 to 1957 The inquiry showed the payments were in fact “kickbacks" from Government grants. Senator Courtemanche had helped to obtain for the hospital The ffair is embarrassing tor Mr Diefenbaker's Con-serv-tive Government, since Senator Courtemanche was a member of the Federal Cabinet before he resigned early in 1961 and was appointed to Senate At that time ill-health was given as the reason for his resignation. Senator Courtemanche is 45 and was the voungest member of Senat In announcing that Senator Courtemanche had surrendered his Senate seat, Mr Diefenbaker was careful to emphasise that the period under investigation was be-

fore Senator Courtemanche's term in the Cabinet. Senator Courtemanche was first elected to the House of Commons in June, 1957, and was appointed Secretary of State a year later. The Prime Minister asked for Senator Courtemanche's resignation several months ago when evidence in improper actions began to emerge from the Royal Commission hearings. He refused saying he would not resign until the inquiry’s report was made public. As a former Cabinet Minister. Senator Courtemanche remains a member of the Privy Council and. in effect, is still one of the Queen’s Canadian advisers. Mr Diefenbaker said his Privy Council status has not yet been studied. Senate appointments are normally made for life and carry a 10,000 dollar annual salary. The Senate operates in

much the same way as the British House of Lords. It cannot originate money bills, but has power to delay the passage oi Commons legislation. The Federal Cabinet itself has no power to remove a Senator from office. However, Parliament could pass an act to dismiss a senator and this presumably would have been done if Senator Courtemanche had balked at resigning. Senator Courtemanche is a son-in-law of Dr. Alibiny Paquette, who was Health Minister in the farmer Quebec Union Nationale Government of the late Mr Maurice Duplessis. Since the Liberals ousted the Union Nationale in Quebec Province two years ago there have been sevetal inquiries that have implicated associate* and relatives of former Government officials in charges of corrupt practices. Testimony was that Senator Courtemanche at first demanded and received 10 per cent, of each grant the hospital got from the provincial and federal governments. Later this was reduced to five per cent. The hospital received 494.000 dollars during a fiveyear period and the commission said it believes Senator Courtemanche's political connexions, rather than his legal training, got him the job of getting grants. The commission found that the hospital also was guilty of improper practice. It said many unnecessary operations

were performed there and asked that a limit be placed immediately on the surgical privileges of two of its doctors. While the Prime Minister (Mr Diefenbaker) may be credited for moving quickly to. ask for Senator Courtemanche’s resignation from the Senate, it remains to be seen whether the scandal will have an effect on the general election likely in 1962 There have been scandals in the past involving persons in Federal and provincial politics but somehow Canadians seem slow to react in sufficient numbers to turn out a government on that account. In recent years there have been several resignations of Cabinet ministers in Ontario after it was found they had used their office to realise profits from dealings with the Government. But Ontario's Conservative Government was still returned with a comfortable majority. The problem for the Diefenbaker Government is that its popularity has been waning for various reasons during the last year while the Liberal Opposition's has been rising. A recent poll gave the Liberals a tidy margin. It is possible jhe Courtemanche incident will not make further inroads into the Government’s support but, on the other hand, it could prevent the Conservatives from regaining the badly-needed support they have tost.