CANADIAN CRISIS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22922, 28 December 1937, Page 9

CANADIAN CRISIS

POLITICAL DISRUPTION

ONTARIO AND QUEBEC DEFIANCE OF GOVERNMENT MONTREAL, Dec. 23 Open defiance of the Federal Government of Canada on the part of Ontario and Quebec provinces was dramatically expressed by the Premier of Quebec, Mr. Duplessis, at a banquet at Montreal to-night. Interrupting the speaker representing the Dominion Government, Mr. Duplessis shouted:—"We have decided to contribute no further taxes toward the rebuilding of western Canada. A\ hat is more, we have concluded an alliance with Ontario and neither of us hereafter will be run by the Federal Government." For years some firebrand French language newspapers have been crying for I" ascist policies, but to-day's outbreak is the first in "Which important- political leaders have openly snapped their finger* at Federal authority. \A hat lias strained relations to breaking point is the continued spending of huge sums ol Federal relief for droughtstricken Saskatchewan, where more than 50 per cent of the population is drawing the dole. Authority Repudiated The banquet to-dav followed a weekafter a private conference lasting three days between .Mr. Duplessis and Mr. Hepburn, the fiery Premier of Ontario. Mr. Hepburn recently repudiated the authority of the Prime Minister. Mr. M acken/.ie King. Although both are Liberals, thev make no secret of their intention of unseating Mr. King and installing a far more radical administration nt Ottawa, in spite'" of the fact that Mr. King's Parliamentary following ensih overwhelms the total Conservative and other opposition taken together. Mr. King has hastened home from his winter holiday in the southern I nited States, and the crisis to-day is regarded as extremely serious. Many people believe that the negotiation of trade treaties between Britain, the United States and Canada may have to wait as far as Canada is concerned on the decision on the question whethp** threats of political disruption in Canada may not hare to be immediately faced Sale of Electric Power

Somewhat mixed up with treaty questions jis between thp United States and Canada is the desire of the United States industries in New York and States adjacent to Canada to bnv Canadian electric power. They need 2.000,000 horsepower immediately and Messrs. Hepburn and Duplessis wish to sell to -them The Federal Government of Canada is violently opposed. Before the Great War Canada sold some electric power into tho United States, and during the war power became short in Canada for domestic purposes. The Dominion wished to discontinue the export but the American Government quickly replied that this would be considered an unfriendly act. Demands of Provinces Mr. Duplessis demands a change of Canada's constitution in the British North America Act so that the provinces would "have supreme control of their natural resources. Mr. Duplessis, at the banquet, drew attention to the demands of British Columbia arid the prairie provinces for a larger share of .Dominion revenues, and said Ontario and Quebec were tired of carrying the burdens of the west.

The Dominion refusal to assume entire responsibility for unemployment relief is the underlying basis of the friction.

Mr. Hepburn's challenge to the Government refusal to permit the export ol Ontario electric power to the United States presages an appeal to the Priv\ Council.