CANADA AND THE WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23565, 27 January 1940, Page 10

CANADA AND THE WAR

Accepting the challenge of political malcontents in the Provinces, the Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Mackenzie King, has decided in favour of an immediate , dissolution of Parliament and an early election. In this respect he is only anticipating the normal course of events by a few months, as he announced on September 12 last year that Parliament would reassemble for its final regular session in January and that the Government did not contemplate asking for an extension of its statutory term. The recent trend of events, however, must have persuaded Mr. Mackenzie King to make an earlier appeal to the country. In the, first place, he received almost unanimous Parliamentary approval for his advocacy of Canadian participation in the war. Then came a challenge from Quebec, where the French - Canadian population had long been regarded as isolationist in sympathy. The issue was tested at the polls and the result was the crushing defeat of the Provincial Ministry led by Mr. M. Duplessis aiid the triumph of the Dominion Government's cause. Now a new difficulty has arisen. The Premier of Ontario, Mr. Mitchell Hepburn, who has a long-standing political feud with Mr. Mackenzie King, has vigorously criticised the Dominion Government on the grounds that its war policy, is inefficient and inadequate. Pleartened by the vote of (jonfidence that he received in Quebec on October 25, and recalling perhaps that Mr. Hepburn and Mr. Duplessis had previously joined in an alliance against him, Mr. Mackenzie King has resolved on the supreme test—an appeal to the country as a whole. He makes this appeal with greatly enhanced" prestige external 1 reactions ( to the Empire air training scheme provide a case in point—but it is .somewhat ironic that the election will "be contested mainly by a Liberal Govern-' ment and a Conservative Opposition whose members sec eye to eve on principle but differ only on questions 1 of method. I