ELECTION IN CANADA

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19665, 27 August 1935, Page 6

ELECTION IN CANADA

A general election is to he held in Canada next month, and it will evoke more than ordinary interest. Though the Conservative Party will fight under Mr Bennett’s leadership, it is no longer a united party. Mr H. H. Stevens, disappointed with the measures introduced by the Government to give effect to the recommendations of the Price Spreads Commission, has announced the formation of a new party, which intends to run candidates in every constituency on a programme of economic reconstruction along the lines advocated by him since his resignation last October.

The formal secession is the climax of a story which began with a speech made 18 months ago by Mr Stevens, then Minister for Trade and Commerce, to a gathering in Toronto. In that speech he denounced abuses which ho declared were prevalent in Canada and •would destroy the capitalist system if they were not eradicated. He was rebuked by Mr Bennett, but stuck to his views, offering to resign rather than be muzzled. As a compromise it was agreed to appoint a Parliamentary Committee —which afterwai'ds became the Royal Commission on Price Spreads —to investigate the causes of the disparity between the prices paid by consumers and the return received by producers, and to inquire into the business and financial practices alleged to be intensifying and prolonging the depression. But a few months later came another outcry over a second speech by Mr Stevens, and this led to his resignation in October.

Mr Bennett in January shocked the staider elements of his party by broadcast addresses in which he advocated drastic reforms to meet the new conditions caused by the rise of monopolistic and quasi-monopolistic organisations, and the consequent failure of free competition to safeguard the interests of consumers and producers and of the public. He seemed indeed to have adopted Mr Stevens’ views. Later came the report of the Price Spreads Commission, with its far-reaching proposals for “ deliberate social control of certain business activities ,and practices ” as a cure for “ undoubted abuses and inequities.”

The Government, and not less the Conservative Party, were in a difficulty. In the first place a large and influential section disliked the whole policy of State interference with business, and in the second place there were grave doubts whether some of the measures suggested did not exceed the constitutional authority of the Federal Government. The result was a compromise. Several of the Commission’s proposals were adopted and have been passed into law, but in a much modified form.

Mr Stevens has denounced the Government's measures as inadequate, and is now appealing to the electors to support him in demanding more drastic remedies. If he meets with any considerable support his followers are quite as likely to come from the one party as the other; but it does not seem probable that the new party will have any great influence on the election.