CANADIAN POLITICS

Otago Witness, Issue 3773, 6 July 1926, Page 29

CANADIAN POLITICS

GOVERNMENT RESIGNS. June 28. The Prime Minister (Mr W. L. Mackenzie King) has announced the resignation of the Government. He added that he had advised the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament, which be had declined to do. The crisis which led to the resignation of the Government arose chiefly over two questions, the first being the Customs soandal, in which a committee of inquiry recommended the discharge of the Deputy Minister of Customs and the censure of the Minister of Customs, but the Government declined to adopt the committee's report. The second trouble was a religious one. When the province of Alberta was Incorporated certain rights were granted to the Roman Catholic population to establish separate denominational schools. These rights were never exercised, but in some recent legislation affecting Alberta the Quebec Roman Catholic supporters of the Government insisted on maintaining the right to separate schools against Alberta’s protest, and the Prime Minister responded to the demands of the French-Canadian Roman Catholics in order to secure their support in the House. The attitude of the Government on these two questions caused defections from the ranks of the Progressives, whose support had helped the Government precariously to hang on all through the session, and this led to an adverse vote being taken on Saturday morning on a Labour amendment. The Government was defeated by a major, ity of one. Mr Arthur Meighen (Leader of the Conservative Party) has accepted the Governor's summons to form a Government. CURIOUS SITUATION CREATED. OTTAWA, June 28. The following announcement was made by the Prime Minister at a sitting of the House on Monday, which lasted only a few minutes:— The public interest demands the dissolution of this House. His Excellency having declined to accept my advice to grant a dissolution, which, I believe, under British practice I am entitled to, I immediately tendered my resignation, which his Excellency was graciously pleased to accept. Explaining the situation, Mr Mackenzie King said there was at present no Government, and he was not Prime Minister. "I can speak only as a member of this House,” he said, "and in the circumstances His Excellency is without an adviser. I do not think it proper that the House should proceed to discuss anything. Someone must assume the responsibility of his Excellency’s adviser to get a dissolution ir. the existing circumstances and until his Excellency has an adviser I submit that the House should not proceed to discuss any matters whatever.” The moment that Mr Meighen accepts the paid office of Prime Minister he loses his seat, and any Ministers whom he appoints with portfolios are likewise unseated with the result that unless he secures the Liberal and Progressive support he will be without a majority. The resignation of the Government followed more than a week’s hectic debate on the report of the Special Committee which found maladministration in the Customs Department. The Conservatives moved an amendment censuring the Government and the Minister, and the Govcement suffered three technical defeats on Friday last, when five Progressives voted with the Conservatives whose amendment was not voted on. When asked if the Progressives would co-operata with the Government to pass the Estimates, Mr Robert Forke, the Leader, replied: “I see no reason why we should not pass supply. Beyond that I cannot say anything. We want more light on this thing before we take any definite stand.” FORMING A NEW CABINET. OTTAWA, June 28. It is understood that Mr Meighen has accepted the task of forming a Govern mont. He will be sworn in on Tuesday, and this will prevent him from sitting in the House, but he will appoint several acting Ministers for the purpose of putting through the remaining Estimates. At the General Election held in October of last year the Conservatives more than doubled their strength in the House of Commons by returning 116 members in place of 50; the Liberals lost nearly 20 seats, making their strength 101 compared with 118 before dissolution; and the Progressive Party was almost swept out of existence by the reduction of its representation from 63 to 24. The Prime Minister himself and eight of his colleagues —half the Ministers who were standing for election —were defeated, including all the six Ministers who contested constituencies in Ontario. Though the most obvious result of the election was the rout of the Progressives, yet in the new House the 24 Progressive members were ft) fact more powerful than their 63 predecessors in the old. They held the balance of power, but their party discipline was weak, and the problem set to the leaders of all the parties was how to construct a Govern, inent capable of retaining a majority in a House 30 diversely composed. The King Government carried on, and Mr Mackenzie King himself was elected in February of this year at a by-election for the Prince Albert division of Saskatchewan by a majority of 6000 votes over the Independent candidate, Mr D. L. Burgess. MR MEIGHEN ASSUMES OFFICE. OTTAWA, June 29. Mr Arthur Meighen was sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada to-day. He thus vacates his seat until he is re-efocted. Sir Henry Drayton will be the Acting

Government Leader in the House of Commons and several acting Ministers will be appointed to put the business through. When the House opened in the afternoon, Sir Henry Drayton, in announcing the plans of the new Government, said: *‘Having in mind the fact that the present session has now continued almost for six months and is very near its close, Mr Meighen believes that it is the first duty of any Government that he might form to conclude, with all despatch, the work of the present session.” Sir Henry Drayton announced that his leader accordingly had decided to constitute a ternporary Ministry, composed of seven members, adding: “So soon as prorogation takes effect Mr Meighen will immediately address himself to the task of constituting a Government according to the method established by custom. The present plan is merely to meet an unusual, if not an unprecedented, situation.” The new Government suffered its first reverse in the House of Commons to-day, when the Speakers ruling, declaring m order a sub-amendment to the Customs report, moved by the Liberals, was upheld by a vote of 115 to 114. The sub-amend-ment would strike out the censure of the King Government contained in the Conservative amendment to the Customs report that provision should be made for, an inquiry, ‘‘on a larger scale,” of the Customs administration. During the debate preceding the division Mr Mackenzie King submitted that if the Conservative amendment, in its present form, were adopted, the Meighen Government would be voting carried by a majority of 10. THE DISSOLUTION ISSUE. OTTAWA, June 30. ‘‘The decision of the Governor-General not to grant a dissolution to Mr Mackenzie King is an indication that Canada is not an autonomous country,” declared Mr J. S. Woods worth, a Labour member in the House of Commons to-day. Disclaiming any disrespect for his Majesty’s rcDresentative Mr Woodsworth added: “II wc are debarred from speaking on constitutional questions we might as well give up at once.” NEW CUSTOMS PROVISIONS. OTTAWA, June 30. Following on the split in the Progressive ranks which resulted in the Government carrying the early morning divisions, Mr Robert Forke to-day resigned the leadership of the party. The Acting-Minister of Customs, Mr Stevens, announced on Tuesday that as an immediate step towards carrying out the reepmmendations of the now-famous Customs report members of the Mounted Police were being stationed at all the vulnerable points on the Canadian border from the Atlantic to the Pacific. WASHINGTON, June 30 The strengthening of the Canadian border patrol will be followed next week by . the addition of over 100 United States officers along the boundary. NEW GOVERNMENT DEFEATED. OTTAWA, July 1. The Meighen Government was defeated by one vote on a Liberal motion amounting to no-confidence, —namely, that the actions of the Acting Ministers in the House of Commons are a violation of the privileges of the House. The motion was carried by 96 votes to 95. The Progressives voted against the Government. A dissolution is expected. PARLIAMENT TO BE DISSOLVED OTTAWA, July 2. It was officially announced to-day that Parliament would be dissolved with the passing of the legislation waiting on the Order Paper. This announcement came as a surprise. It is expected that Mr Meighen will prooeed with the constitution of his Cabinet. Referring to the Government’s early defeat in the morning on “what is really a question of law, and admittedly not a question of policy,” Mr Meighen, in a statement, said: “The fact of this defeat coupled with consideration of the chaotic condition into which public affairs are drifting and the too evident instability of the Government, necessitates in my opinion an early appeal to the electorate. It is now my duty to complete the organisation of the present Cabinet, after which the date of the election will be announced immediately.” Mr Mackenzie King, in a statement today, in which he revealed the developments of the week, said: “This morning a dissolution was obtained by a defeated Ministry,—* Ministry, which by a resolution of the House of Commons it had been decided never had the right to exist. On Monday last a dissolution was denied to a Ministry which had not met with a single defeat in Parliament during a period of over four years and a-half. In the circumstances the issue which is above all others now before the people of Canada is whether or not the Government of Canada is to be caried on in accordance with the expressed will of the people ly their representatives in Parliament under a system of responsible self-government.”