CANADIAN ELECTIONS

Evening Star, Issue 20539, 18 July 1930, Page 8

CANADIAN ELECTIONS

THE MAJOR ISSUES UNEMPLOYMENT AND iNTEREMPIRE TRADE Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. OTTAWA, July 17. (Received July 18, at 11.30 a.in.) With the Canadian General Election rapidly approaching there is no political excitement of any _ consequence anywhere in the dominion. In Alberta, the Prime Minister (Mr Mackenzie King) met considerable opposition while addressing a Calgary meeting, which came in the form of continued interruptions by a large number of unemployed. The two major issues facing the electors are unemployment and interempire trade. The Conservatives have made unemployment a strong issue, while the Liberals point to the fact that_ though unemployment lias been serious in Canada it has not assumed the proportions of other countries, particularly the United States. They promise definitely that if any . province finds it cannot cope with the _ situation the Federal Government will be prepared to come to its assistance. _ Upon the question of inter-Empire trade the Conservatives allege that the Dunning Budget is an admission that Freetrade will be abandoned by the Liberals. Mr Mackenzie King, however, asserts that the countervailing duties, for which this Budget provided, will mean increasing trade within the Empire. . . . One think is certain —namely, it the Conservatives are returned to power there will bo a complete overhauling Of trade treaties, including the Australian one, and in some cases perhaps complete abrogation of pacts. The attacks on the Australian Treaty have not been received with any great fervour in the prairie provinces, while Mr Bennett (Conservative Leader) has been lamenting the fact that the dairy industry has been ruined by thei Australian and New Zealand agreements. Official estimates show that, although the farmers milked fewer cows last year, they actually received more for their products than they did before. While, according to the Bureau of Statistics, there were in Canada in 1928—the last year for which official figures are available —37,653 fewer cows than in 1925, and the value of dairy products for 1928 exceeded tne value of the production of 1925 by 12,761,702d01. Conservative headquarters claim that they will capture from ten to'fifteen seats in Quebec, and that Ontario will be almost solidly Tory, as will British Columbia. ” They expect, also, to make several gains in Saskatchewan, which now has a Conservative Government for the first time in years. Alberta, which has just re-elected a Farmer-Government, may hold the key to the situation when the rotes are counted. .

Despite the Conservative optimism, Liberals assert that there is no likelihood of the Government being defeated. and that rather they will go back with a clear majority over all other parties. , v As for the man in the street, the consensus of opinion is: “It is anybody's election.” If anything, however, he favours the Conservatives. It is the unemployment situation which, at rock-bottom, has been causing intense dissatisfaction, particularly in Western Canada, where it i§ most acute.