Canada

by John George Bourinot

Starting as a purely agrarian movement the U.F.O. became a co-operative society, finally growing into a strong political party in provincial and federal politics. Ontario and Alberta soon fell to their prowess, and it was thought that the same result would happen in the Dominion arena. The ideas advocated by the new third party were a more modified protection to home industries as opposed to the decidedly protectionist policy of the Coalition Government; opposition to the return of the Government controlled railways to private ownership; stimulation of immigration along definite lines; and the creation of means whereby capital for production could be supplied to settlers on safe and sound lines.

Whether the Progressive party will continue to be a factor in Canadian politics is for the future to decide. The net result of the general election of 1921 was the almost complete disappearance of the Coalition party and the meagre election of the out and out Liberals under the Hon. William Lyon Mackenzie King, who had been a minister in Sir Wilfrid's cabinet some ten years previously. The number of Progressives elected did not come up to the general expectation, but they represent a considerable number, in fact being second in strength to the party called upon to form the Government. Their leader, the Hon. T. A. Crerar, who had resigned from the Coalition Cabinet of Sir Robert Borden two years previously, is a leader of some force and ability. But Mr. King has surrounded himself with a cabinet of considerable Parliamentary experience, so there is every reason to expect that the Liberal Party will be in power for the usual life of a Parliamentary term.

Perhaps the most outstanding event of the year in which Canada was interested, was the Disarmament Conference at Washington, where she was represented by Sir Robert Borden. If it did anything, it certainly paved the way for saving billions of dollars by restricting the construction of capital ships, and in this Canada was no mean factor.

But before all, it is domestic problems which concern the Dominion particularly. No country realises better than she does that it is coal and comfort which will attract settlers from the Motherland to till her fields, build up her factories and engage in the trade which makes a nation truly great. As Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba have no coal mines, "white coal" is a vital necessity. Not long ago the Dominion Water Power Branch took a census, and found that Canada has available nineteen million horse-power. Of this practically 90 per cent. of the Central Station power is derived from water power, 95 per cent. being in the above-named provinces, which have to import their coal supplies from other provinces and the United States. As far back as 1911 the Province of Ontario realised this, and began to arrange for the building of the Chippawa-Queenston Power Canal and plant, which represents an investment of almost a hundred million dollars. The plant will have a capacity of 650,000 horse-power, which will be distributed throughout Canada and possibly the neighbouring States, and will be an important addition to the Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Transmission System which was inaugurated at Kitchener, Ontario, in October, 1911.

Elsewhere in the Dominion the fuel problem is being met by fresh discoveries. In the Mackenzie River district gushers of oil have been struck, in one case producing a flow at the rate of 1,000 barrels a day. Already several large companies are operating in that district.

As for comfort, not only Canada but also the world realises that the day of hand power is past. Without agricultural implement machinery driven by motor force, it would be impossible for the great Northwest to yield the harvests which she does without a labour to which new settlers would be unaccustomed. By means of the hydro-electric commission homes are warmed in winter, lighted all the year round, as indeed are the cities, towns and villages, and cooking for the family accomplished with a modicum of trouble. Electric railways connect communities and settlements. The telephone is in almost everyone's home. So that with the pianola, the gramophone, and other means of diversion, the winter nights are not what they were to the people in the years of the nineteenth century.

In railroad facilities Canada, if anything, is fifty years ahead of her time, so well are they developed. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, from Monckton, New Brunswick to Winnipeg and thence to Prince Rupert, B.C., which was commenced in 1905, and finished in 1915, was leased on its completion to the Grand Trunk Railway Company for fifty years. Owing to the war, and the financial difficulties in which the constructing company found itself, the system of 22,000 miles of line was taken over by the Government in 1921, after an arbitration which excited much comment on both sides of the Atlantic. The decision regarding it was given by the Canadian Grand Trunk Arbitration Board at Montreal, headed by Sir Walter Cassels, and one of the members of the Board was no less a person than ex-President Taft, now Chief Justice of the United States. As a conspicuous result of political action the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway is still more the subject of politics than of history, and it is quite likely to remain in that phase for some time.

The year 1921 will also be memorable for the work of the joint American-Canadian Commission appointed to investigate the possibility of the proposed Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Waterways. It was estimated that the initial cost of canalising the St. Lawrence River, constructing six dams in the rapids and improving the St. Claire and Detroit Rivers will be 253 million dollars, the up-keep requiring 2 1/2 million dollars annually. Fortunately considerable revenue can be made through the sale of the five million horse-power obtained from the dams which will pay a large part of the carrying charges. The great value of such a public work is in the relief from congestion on the railways, particularly the American, at crop-moving time. One of the most important results will be that Port Arthur, Ontario will virtually become a seaport.

In all this work of expansion and progress the women of Canada have taken their place. This was recognised when the War Committee of the Borden Cabinet called a Conference of representatives of women's organisations in February, 1918. The initiative was rewarded by a closer co-operation on the part of these societies with the Government, especially in connection with the conservation of food, the compilation of a National Register and the increased production in industrial occupations. Later in 1918, an Act was passed by which Canadian women received the Federal electoral vote on the same basis as men. In addition to electing a woman as member of the provincial legislature, the British Columbia Assembly had the honour first of choosing one of the fair sex for Speaker which, however, was declined, Mrs. Mary E. Smith, the Labour candidate-elect, maintaining that she could be more useful as a private member than either as Speaker or a member in the Government. When Mrs. Irene Parlby was similarly successful in Lacombe, Alberta, she was not so modest when Premier Greenfield offered her a position without portfolio in the United Farmers' Cabinet. To those who have the feminine movement at heart, these instances will certainly be a source of much encouragement.

But, perhaps, the west of Canada is more willing to depart from the established order than the east. Then, again, the conditions are different. The maritime provinces have been living in peace and amity with their neighbours for many years. The immigration problem, carrying with it different races, conflicting ideas and unsatisfied ambitions, does not present itself in the same way. Halifax and Quebec, where immigration is concerned, are mainly ports of entrance, and intending settlers are generally Europeans.