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be mhanulive 42 1. ~ ,ppc-- UVCAMIC ANG wo will not subscribe to it. tChoors.) But has Mr. Blake laid down such & doctrine or pursued it in practice? My hon. friends do not pretond that there is any more than one Act which wil} give colour _ to their argziument, viz., the dig-- allowed Manitoba HMali--Breod _ Art, and that has -- beon _ answered already, (Hear, hear.) There were several grounds which brought that Act within the conditions laid down by Sir Jouhn Macdonald, When ths Manitoba Act, to which the later one was an amendment, was under consideration, all the cireumstances out of which it had avison were explained by Mr, BHlake, He pointed out that the lands alfectod by the Aet Li d id do td uis TT RTCT CIPS Provincial Legislature, 1 confess that I think this a most serions departiure from constituiional rule, and a most fundameatal change from the position the Provinces occupisd with reference to their Legislature. -- Hon. gentlemen say that the nosition taken by Mr. Blake while Minister of Justice varied from the views already laid down, and that his view was that other mattors might be taken into account in disallowing Acts,. 1 wholly differ in the _ construction to be placed upon the languaze used by Mr.iSlake, But I say further, that if Mr. Blaike laid down a doctrinelike that contended for by ventlemen oppo-- site then I do not follow Mr,. Blake, (Cheers,) J say for my colleague$ and for our supporters, in and out of the House. that if anybody. no matter who he is, be he Liberal or ( 'onservative,. has luid down a doctrine to Justify the act c »nplained of, thp!\ he has laid down & false doactrias afGqtes iney uad vound themseives up with the authori-- ties at Ottawa, and they arse willing to forezo our Provincial rigchts. (Cheers.) SirJohn Macdonald expressly declared that an Act disallowed under the conditions he enumerated should not be dis-- allowed " until the Local Government has an opr portunity of considering and discussing the 09-- jections taken, and until the Locat Legislature nas had an opportunity of remedying the defects." (Hear, hear.) 'This is fair; but hon, gentlomen say that a P'rovincial Actis to be disallowodl on grounds which were negatived by Sir John Mac-- donald in that paper, and that it may be dis. allowed without any communication with | the Uonirinmntak V mnefolatciem ¥ DL Oas AEmAm S P L PoIPIP EVE TT PDTEPUTTT EP POTT eE0EO CA parte statement by somebody whom the Act alfects, and who ignores entirely the views of those who passed the Act. (Cheers.) Hon. gentlemen opposite are descended so low that they +"dly deciare their willingness that the Act she .. . bo disallowed. without giving us an opport aily to say asingle word in its defence. 'Thoe Mimster of Justice may know nothing of the reasons which pressed upon n3 or the ground upon wuich wa thought the Act n ecessary. -- Hoe nray know nothing of our view of ths justice of it--not & single reason which influenced us may be known to him, and yet hon, gentiemen wanted to place him in the position to disailow the Act. i regret excecdingly that my hon. frienis take that ground. They acted differently in nast sessions with regard to the boundary mattor --they acied with us in demanding that eifect should be «iven 10 the rights of Upper Canada. irrespective of how theirfriends at Oita wa wore affected ; but now they had bound themselves up with the authori-- ties at Ottawa, and they are willin® to foreco aie e e e e e m EmmE mrooy . PE NTE Y " It is important that the course of the Local Legig-- latuces should be interfered with as little as pos-- sible, and the power of disailowance should be exercised with greaut caution." I have demon-- strated, Mr. Speaker, that so far from great cau-- tion being employed in the disallowance of i the Streams Act, no caution at all was exor-- cised. (Cheors.) If the stigchtest cautioa had ] been observed in respect to the Act no disallow-- ance would have taken place. (Mear. heur.) Sit | John Macdonald goos on to say * The course of | the Local Legcistaturesshould beinterfered with only | in cases where the law or the general interests of | the Dominion demanded it." Mo thoughtit right to | disallow on no other ground than when the law-- | which means the B. N. A, Act--was affected, or the gencral interests of the Dominion, and then only when imperatively demaunded. (Cheers.) It | will not do for some ingenious man with an in-- genious arguament to endcavour to prove that the l Act will bear in some way upon the goneral in-- terests of the Dominion in order to have it dis-- 'uliowe:l. but it must be demonstrated that the interests of the Dominion imperatively demand it. ' My hon,. friend (Mr. Meredith) says that Sir John Macdonald must not be tied down to those rales | formulated by himself. But Sizr John meant that wa | should betied down to those rules, and he meant the Provinces to be tied Cown to them, for he trans-- l mitted a copy of them to ali the Provinees in order | that they would know how Acts were to be deait | with, and they were dealt with accordingly for | tweive years. (Cheers.) Is goes on to recommend that upou the receipt of the Acts by His Excel-- | leney, the Minister of J ustics should report to him | with regard to them, and that he should make a separate report as to the Acts considered illegal or ; unconstitutional, and in cases where there is con-- current iegisiation, and where the Acts ailect the interests of the whole Dominion. Mr. MEREDITH--Hear, hear. W term "constitutional" of wider application than its application to the B. N. A. Act. Sic John Mac-- donald'sow i words, his own subsequent actions in dealing ..ith Provincial Acts, do not warrant any other interpretation than as applied to our new Constitution embadisd in the British North America Act. Now the Provinces were content to accept those views so exproessed by Sir John MacdonaM, and rightly so expreased. He said :-- e PA emeaieenin t enc nc 2e f that principle even thouch wo pass Taws some-- times which a--« injuriouns to the English peoplc, and -- which -- they _ would _ gladly disallow it it was in ~ accordance with modern _ constitutional practice _ and _ nsage. There is no possibility, therefore, of making the term "constitutional" of wider avolication than its ¥. no matter tive, has laid »nplained of, rine and wo But has Mr. e -- dig-- id that hear.) wrought down MBA dins. Ailihicbateain. 7 sds Pv c 4 B 11 4 o d d tia k d of -- Lientenaut--Governor Letellior, Despatche were written exprossing in a strong manner thet | opinion against any suen courss of conduct on th | part of the Dominion Government, but did no advise His Excellency in interfering with the course which his counsellers might choose to ad vise. So that if it wore a plecso of importinence o the part of Mr. Blake to make observations on this Act, it was impertinence which he shared with the Imperial authorities as long as thest matiers have been dealt with, and it is imperti nence, 1 venture to say, / that plenty of iliustrations _ wiil -- he found on 'the ° part of Sinr John _ himself. Returning _ to the subject, let us see what are the grounds upon which the Minister of Justice, in his report, recomimended disallowance of the Act in question here. Oneobjection to wahnich he refers is that our Aot was retroactive. and we have hoeard a great doal on the same point on the floor of this House. Everybody knows, and my hon. friend wiil not deny, that retroactive legislation is sometimes necessary in the interests of Justice. Jt is lexzisia-- tion in rexard to which Legisiatures ousht always to be eautions, but yes it is legislation that cannot be avoided without submitting to a great deal of injustice. There are numerous instancses of revro-- active legislation both in our own statute books and in those of the old Province of Canada, so that there is no necessity to object to it. _ With reference to the subjects to which our Jurisdiction extends, if retroactive legislation is required, I do not suppose that anybody would doubt that the principal quarter to which to o in order to obtain that degislation would be the Provincial Logisla-- ture. _If the matter had to do with our municipal interests those who desire it should come here, because wo have jurisdiction over municipal institutions, If any person required retroactive legisiation on questions aifectingy civil rights or property he should coms here also, beocause in these matters we have purisdiction. But here is i now departure, in contending that wherever legislation is retroactive the Dominion Govern-- ment shall assume the authority for disallowanee. 1 thousht that matte® was sufficiently settled by the ruies which Sir John laid down at the early . poriod at which h* considered the subject and pre-- pared the memorandum to which i reter. It is vot that no instances of the kind had come before I to the notice of the Dominion Government. In-- ( stances had occurred in which they had to con-- | gider that question--instances nat only before a | Liboral Minister of Justice, but also before a Con. | _were lhe property 'of the Dominion in the Pro-- yines, and although.the legislation might ordi-- narily be within the competence of the Legisia-- tnre, on this particular subject, the posicion of Manitoba was exceptional, and that legislation re-- garding them oucht to be enacted by the Do-- mminion. Further, that Act provided for certain things to be done by the varties concerned within three months, and the #ilatute providel for the giving of three months' notice. No notice was given, and the matter camo before Mr. Blake after the expiration of the three months. QOae of the Ministers of the Manitoba Government told Mr. Blake that they had not advertised the notice he-- cause they exgected the Act to be disailowed, and it had not therefore properly been rexarded as an Act ofi the Legislature. During the time of Mr. Blake and of the Liberal Administration & great number of Provincial Acts were passed.and my hon.{friend, with all his industry, has not been able to find a single disallowed Act upon which to hang an ar-- wvumert except this one, aad that 1 lhave shown n x to be a case in point. (Cheers.) My hon.friend says that he can find expressions in Mr. Blake's paper on the Quebec Insurance Act to show that ho' did not consider, the Government should be cofnfined to the conditions laid down by Sir John Mucdonald. Let me call the attention of the House to two or three expressions made use of by Mr. Blake to show that his contentions do not favour the position taken by my hon. friend. I may say that the Act ander consideration, and with refer-- ence to which he was matking these observations, he did not disailow. The Act was to tax in« surance policies. 'There is not an exclu-- sive power regarding laxation vested in vither the Dominion or the Provinces. The Dominion has unlimited power of taxation. It may lovy direct taxation or indirect taxation. The Provinces, on the other hand, can tax, but it must be a direct tax, excapt in the case of licenses, when they are permitted to tax for the nur(\l)me of revenne. 'Fo a large extent, therefore, and in an important sense, there is concurrent Jurisdiction in the matter, and our taxing as a Province might jJustly be regarded as an interference with the general interests of the Dominion. Bearing that in mind observe what Mr. Blake says. 'The in-- surance companies objected to it, and memorials were presented against it, and yarious reasons urged for disallowing it Mr. Blake, in discuss-- ing those reasons, pointed out that Acts levying taxes in the Provinces might in some cases force I'mon the Canadian Government the necessity of disallowanee. -- No donubt they mizht, because the Dominion itself has the rizht to iax. and there mixzht be a clashing with the Dominion legis. lation,. He goos on further to say that the mat ter was subject to this obsorvation :--"That the people of the Provinces requiring to raise a reve-- nue to tax themselyes for the purpose of a local want might claim, and be admitted.a considerable latitude as to the dciermination of what their tases shonid be." 'There must be no inneces ary interierence on the part of the Dominion ; there must be no preténce that the Act interferes with Doininion interests. It.must be a reality, and great caution must be employed before the right of disatlowanece, which the Imporial Parliament h:'.~" rexarding> legisiation interfering with im-- porial interests, should prevail, -- (Mear, hear)d Mr. Blake goos on to point out another feature of the Bill which he thought to be objectionable, and to which he asked the attention of the Govern-- ment. My honograble friend must know very woll that it has been the habit of the Imperial Government up to the present time to make ob. servations and point ou; their objections to Pro-- yvinciat Acts, which at the same thimes they had no th(_muu! oi disallowing, and which they 43\':'1'0;%!)' roiused todisallow. As an example. the Homs Goversment entirely dissunmrad af Pus nenaniral ter was subject to this people of the Provinces nue to tax themselves were the _property Acts, which at the same tiine they had no it oi disallowing, and which they expressly Itodisallow. As an example, the Home ment entirely disapproved of the removal ntenant--{Governor Letellior. Despatchoes vritten exprossing in a strong manner their iaxzainst any suen course of conduct on the The Dominion Government, but did not siis isxceclhency which his coun U legislation that cannot ting to a great deal of rous instanses of revro-- our own statute books rovince of Canada. so Act was to tax in is not an exclu-- laxation vested _ in the Provinces. The eP# raise a reve-- se of a local considerable ¥¥ e . 9 the not the ad-- al