POLITICS IN CANADA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20302, 9 July 1929, Page 11

POLITICS IN CANADA.

REVERSE FOR THE LI BERALS.

SASKATCHEWAN ELECTIONS,

END OF A 24 YEARS' REGIME.,

[from our own courespondent.] VANCOUVER, Juno 12. Saskatchewan is likely to be a little better known outside Canada for the fact that in its general elections last week it turned Conservative for the first time during the 24 years of its history of Parliamentary Government. For the whole of that time the principal wheat province of Canada returned Liberal Governments. Tho Liberals held 53 of 63 seats in tho last Assembly. They aro reduced to lielow half that number, and tho Conservatives have the support of sufficient of tho Progressive and Independent groups to ensure carrying on the Government. Immigration has been the rock on which the Liberals have fallen. In that respect tho Conservative campaign has been directed at the Liberal regime at Ottawa, under which so much Central European stock hns been transplanted to the prairie that tho British origin in Saskatchewan is now slightly below 50 per cent. In this campaign a big hand was taken by | the Anglican Bishop of the province, Dr. Lloyd, who carried on a remarkable at- , tack on the Administration. This was the j means of securing the cancellation of the ! agreement between tho Federal Government and the two great railways under which Central Europeans were being secured for the prairie at a cost of 11 cents a head. Charge by Conservatives. The Provincial Government was attacked by tho Conservatives for aiding and abetting Ottawa in what it termed" the "Balkanisation" of the prairie. It claims that the province was becoming polyglot and that the law, making English the language of instruction in public schools, is not enforced, particularly in : districts where the foreign-born estabI lished colonies. Added strength was given to the issue by the fact that the Conservative leader, Dr. Anderson, was formerly Director of Education for tho foreignborn of the province. | The Liberals in Ottawa lay the blame for the defeat at the door of the Ku Klux Klan. Saskatchewan is the only province where klan was able to get a footing, mainly due to the fact that, like its American parent, it is nativist and Protestant. Most of the "Continentals" are Roman Catholic, and religious difference has latterly been a leading public issue in the province. The klan opposed unrestricted immigration and resented the "separate" school privileges allowed the religious minority. They supported the Conservatives, but the latter state that they consider themselves in no way associated with the klan. ! The wheat farmers had a grievance, too. Their crop for 1928 was a record, but it I was not sold to advantage. Most of it was graded low, and thousands of farmers received 2s 6d to 2s lid a bushel, with little or no profit. A Royal Commission is now taking evidence in .all the provinces where wheat is grown or handled or shipped. New American Tariff. The new United States tariff, which hits wheat, cattle and dairy products of Canada, was an issue, in a minor degree, in the Saskatchewan election. There is an enormous body of public opinion in Canada that believes Air. Mackenzie King's policies are initiated with the thought that they must not damage tho United States. The Prime Minister would indignantly deny this, but it is the gospel preached by tho Conservatives from the coast. Australia, for instance, they say, took more vigorous steps to protect its wool against the rise in tho American tariff than Canada did to protect her wheat and cattle. Tho Tariff Bill was passed just prior to the Saskatchewan elections, and tho House of Representaj lives in Washington made no reduction in it, despite the protest from a large group of Canadian interests affected. Saskatchewan's representation in the House of Commons at Ottawa'is mainly Liberal. Mr. Mackenzie King and his Ministers of Agriculture and of Railways come from that province. In the Primo Minister's electorate, the Liberal only won by a small majority. Mr. Mackenzie King has represented electorates in the Maritimes, Ontario and Prairie constituencies. Ilis critics say they expect that j at tho general election next year he will come further west, so that, in their view, he will then have spanned the Dominion in his Parliamentary career. | Saskatchewan is the second province to throw out Licral Governments within a | year. The Liberals, which held the reigns of office in British Columbia for 12 years, went down to heavy defeat last year. With the Federal general election looming in 1930, if not sooner, the Conservatives at Ottawa are confidently anticipating ani other spell in tho Treasury benches.