SOCIAL REFORM.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20629, 1 June 1935, Page 25 (Supplement)

SOCIAL REFORM.

Problems Which Canada is Facing. MR BENNETT’S PLATFORM VANCOUVER. April 10. TN AN incredibly short space of time. the Canadian Parliament has already assented to the major planks of Mr Bennett’s “social reform” platform. The Unemployment Insurance Bill passed practically without amendment. The Eight Hour Day Bill was passed as it was drafted. without division. The Minimum Wage Bill, which comprehends administration almost as complex and expensive as unemployment insurance, is now before the House, with a prospect of immediate passage. There have been minor incidents, such as the abortive attempt to legislate a six-hour day on the farm, made by Labour operation Federation,” to give it its official name. But nothing has interfered with the express speed with which Mr Bennett’s programme is going through. The Liberals are aiding and abetting the passage of these Bills with the mental reservation that they will never be implemented. While the Prime Minister was explaining his industrial legislation. Mr Mackenzie King pointed out that they traversed the rights of the Provinces, and the judgment of the Supreme Court should be obtained before they were proceeded with. Mr Bennett replied that the Dominion’s need was greater than that of the Provinces. The Liberal Leader did not press his point, knowing what would happen in the Provincial, arena. Liberal Governments are in power in all the Provinces. Without exception, they have been sharply critical of Mr Bennett and his policies. They ara unanimous in condemning his administration of unemployment relief, which they claim is a national, and not a provincial or municipal obligation. No taxation, specifically designed to relieve unemployment, was passed by the Dominion or the Provinces. The Dominion loaned moneys to the Provinces, shared the cost of relief, up to 50 per cent in the case of single men, and told them they must furnish help to the municipalities. Unbalanced budgets led to talk of mandatory reduction of interest on public debt, or, as in the case of Vancouver, of outright repudiation. To all who protested, the provincial and local authorities explained that the solution of the problem lay only with the Dominion. Mr Taschereau, with the backing of 37 years of Liberal administration in Quebec, echoes the sentiments of many other Provincial Governments when he says he will resist federal invasion of< provincial rights. Yet, though the Provinces be unanimous in this sphere of action, they are by no means unanimous in others. Mr Taschereau and Mr Hepburn, Premier of Ontario, do not respond to the deitiand of the younger and smaller Provinces, in the West and Maritimes, that the constitution of Canada, the British North America Act, be amended to bring it into line with present conditions. The applicants charge that Quebec and Ontario, alone among the nine partners to Confederation, have benefited from the B N.A. Act. Their claim for better terms contains unanswerable logic. Overshadowing this confused political scene is the approaching federal general election, which must be held not later than September next. The Liberal organisation has been gradually perfected during the past year. The Conservatives, victims of many election landslides in the Provinces, have not yet revived sufficiently to mobilise their resources. Defeat stares them in the face. What the fate of Mr Bennett’s “social reform ” policy will be is a matter for conjecture