The Dominion TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1944. THE NEW PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 125, 22 February 1944, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1944. THE NEW PARLIAMENT

The first session of the new Parliament, which will open today, should command national attention. The personnel of the elected Chamber has been greatly changed by the electors, the percentage of new members being above the average, and the appearance of new figures in the political arena is of importance for they may include the party leaders of the future. But what interest there is probably has been largely created by the realization that the time is ripe for a thorough overhaul of policy and practice. And that is the duty of the elected members. Commenting on the approaching session of the House of Commons recently, the “Economist” said: “In the next few weeks the policy and intentions of the Government will be passed.under general and searching review. That is a characteristic and essential part of the Parliamentary process, and in these debates the ‘talking shop’ is seen at its most valuable.” It cannot honestly be said that the same satisfying anticipation has been possible here. Parliament of late years has ceased to be in any way a dynamic force which radiates through every phase of national life, and probably the explanation lies in the fact that people have come to realize that tjie real decisions are not made there, but in a party conclave, sitting behind closed doors and by no means limited to the elected representatives of the people. It would be a great step toward the re-establishment of complete self-government if the new House could stay that development and re-establish the initiative and power of Parliament itself. People will look to the Address-in-Reply for signs of a restored virility and authority. “The debate on the Address-in-Reply,” stated Mr. Churchill in the House of Commons, “furnishes the signal outstanding Parliamentary opportunity of the year. It is the grand inquest of the nation.” If that is not the exact position here then the opportunity will be afforded in the next few days to make it so. There certainly will be no lack of scope for inquiry and criticism, not made for themselves alone but as the British leader said, to prove that “Parliament can stimulate and accelerate our further advance.” Four years of war have resulted in the growth of a maze of rules and regulations through which it is difficult, if indeed possible, for those who maintain the country’s industrial activities to find their way. Many of them were framed and made the law of the land ata time when the menace of direct enemy action was closer than, fortunately, it is today, and the time has come for their revision for there can be no useful purpose served by retaining, in the hands of a few men,, powers of control that are no longer really necessary. A typical British view of these matters was stated by a leading London journal in this way: Control as such—that is the negative imposition by one set of persons of prohibitions on the activities of others —should everywhere be reduced to a minimum. A community needs to take its brakes off not to put new ones on. There is a growing realization that many of the controls deemed necessary in the earlier stages of the war are now unwarranted, and are acting as brakes on development. The outstanding item of policy which this Parliament will have to decide concerns the form of its contribution to the cause of the United Nations which is, ultimately, a question of manpower. The Minister of Finance is said to be seeking the opinions of the British political leaders on this matter, but whatever may be the overseas opinions there will have to be a full investigation of the position that now obtains. The position in which the country has been placed involves a distinct risk of a rapid decline in our productive capacity, and that must have inescapable, cumulative and dangerous results. It would impose a heavy handicap when once again the normal channels of trade are open and threaten the economic stability of the Dominion. It is to.be hoped that the new Parliament will not reflect the marked indecision of the Government on this important matter. There is need for passing the policy and intentions of the Government “under general and searching review,” and the duty devolves fittingly on a newly elected Parliament. Its frank and fearless discharge would do much to restore the prestige of Parliament. It has not been the experience here as it has been in Britain that the national leaders have felt impelled “to keep Parliamentary institutions in full activity as a powerful moral contribution to the conduct of the war.” But that should be the case and the new Parliament may demonstrate its desirability. '