EMPIRE WAR BASE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 287, 5 December 1939, Page 8

EMPIRE WAR BASE

CANADA'S BIG ROLE NEW QUEBEC GOVERNMENT Il ■ LINK IN LOYAL CHAIN "Old men barely able to walk were | helped to the polls. Bed-ridden veter-1 ahs travelled 30 miles from a military ■ hospital to cast their votes. It was' a wonderful demonstration of unity i and loyalty." In these words a Montreal business man, writing to a manufacturer in , Auckland, sums up the election which : was precipitated by the Duplessis l Government in Quebec, after the out-, break of war, on a policy of neutrality. I The polls held on October 25 conclud-1 ed in a landslide for the Government, ; which was routed in a great turnover ; ot seats from the Union Nationalists ■ to the Liberals. The Montreal Gazette, commenting i on the result, said: "Quebec has not! only rid itself of a Government of 1 which it was ashamed, but has sent a message to all other provinces in the | Canadian Federation and to the Empire, a message of which the signincance is not to be missed by either the friends or the enemies of British countries and British institutions. •For the first time in history 'Federal Government members took

part as principals in what was, nominally at least, a provincial contest ... In the campaign the word 'conscription' was bandied about from the inception of the contest to its conclusion, and yet conscription was never an issue, for every speaker was against compulsory military service. The only excuse for keeping this old bogey before the public was the pretence that this side or that was seeking to hoodwink the electors and would have recourse to conscription at some future time.” A cartoon based on the result showed "Quebec voters” in the figure of a smith at an anvil forging a link marked "A Loyal Quebec" in a chain of nine links, representing the nine States of Canada. Underneath was the title "A link in the chain of Empire loyalty." Canadas initial war effort was the raising of two divisions, one for overseas duty and one for reserve. Both divisions were complete by the end of October, except for a few technical experts for the second. In addition, there was a waiting list of recruits, but meantime no more were being called up. Instead, a few regiments had been demobilised to enable Canada to develop her industries to serve as an Empire supply base.