CANADA'S GOVERNMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21118, 27 February 1932, Page 13

CANADA'S GOVERNMENTS

THREE PRAIRIE PROVINCES.

PROPOSED AMALGAMATION.

PREMIER'S ECONOMY PLAN. [from our own correspondent.] VANCOUVER, Feb. 3. A proposal by the Premier of Manitoba, Mr. John Bracken, that the three Prairie provinces, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, bo merged under a single Legislature, is being actively and favourably discussed throughout Canada. Mr. Bracken's own picture of the advantages to be gained by the creation of one province where three now exist is in these words: "With nearly 100 less members in the Prairie Legislatures, with one session instead of three each year, with avoidance of triplication in administration and of officials, commissions and boards, with elimination of triplication of several university and other departments —and in a score of other ways—l am of the opinion that while the immediate economy would be considerable, the ultimate saving as the years go by would reach to millions of dollars. If, in addition, the Prairie provinces can be put into the position of being able to speak with a united voice in the councils of the Dominion it would seem to me to be of a very great advantage." Much-governed Population. There are three Legislatures on the Prairie, containing 181 members—one member for every 13,000 persons, compared with one per 31,000 in Ontario and Quebec. There is a unity of interest on the Prairie, although in national affairs the effect is apt to be dissipated by three voices, speaking in different tones. Saskatchewan has a Conservative Government, in sympathy with the Bennett Government in Ottawa; Manitoba's majority is Progressive, leaning to Liberalism; Alberta is controlled by the United Farmers' Party. The two lastnamed are the sole survivors of the third party movement which held the balance of power in Ottawa during the Mackenzie King regime.

The Bracken plan is an outcome of the old complaint that Canada is over-gov-erned, having nine Provincial Governments, in addition to the Federal authority, for a few more than 10,000,000 people—much the same proportion as prevails in Australia. The three maritime provinces, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, together have only 1,000,000 people. The three Prairie provinces have 2,400,000; the proposed merger would create a province of 758,000 square miles, the largest in Canada, but with a population a million less than Ontario and half a million less than Quebec. Criticism o! Proposal. Critics of Mr. Bracken's proposal, who are numerous, particularly in Manitoba, declare that the union of the Prairies would make an area incapable of efficient administration from one centre, although a vast portion of the territory is uninhabited or so thinly settled that its government is a simple matter. Practical difficulties include the prospective capital and the disposition of legislative buildings and universities. The logical administrative centre would be Regina, the present capital of Saskatchewan, but nobody believes that Winnipeg, _ the largest city on the Prairie, would acquiesce without great objection. In good times, with a big flow of immigration and stable prices of wheat, the project would be regarded as a pleasant pipe dream; nowadays, when revenues are down and provincial treasurers are economising, it is felt to be quite practical. But one thinks the main body of public opinion would hesitate to scrap two of three pretentious groups of autonomous government, as Mr. Bracken contemplates.