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* We U | f tAnQSAafi,\rc\,. lb\\\, m'. "m mnbn' 8 W 4 , % # * ~--He~noted that a census of 1921 # -- | showed that Ontario had 41 per cent. of all the people in Canada over 70 years of age, there being 102,284 peo-- ple of that class in the Province. It was estimated that by 1928 this figure y had increased by 10 per cent., a large | liability to be met by the Province. The 'chief feature of the act, he % continued, was the provision for an allowance pension of $365. Liberal -- members protested -- the statement, Mr. Ferguson pointed out that if a man had an income of $250 he was 3 entitled to $115, and if he had $200 he was entitled to $165. The maxi-- mum pension was to be $20 a month. Liberal Leader Sinclair still pro-- tested the Premier's interpretation of the statute. ; Mr. Ferguson raised a long argu-- t ment on the old--age pensions mat-- ter. The survey forecast in the Speech from the Throne had to be ; made, he contended, to see how the solution could best be worked out. It was not merely a question of leg-- islation in Ontario, for there were conditions obtaining here which were not common to other Provinces. He j stressed the point that the East was unlike the West; the West was younger, the people were younger. and the pensicns scheme could be adopted there far more easily, speaking from the point of view of financing. than in Ontario. For instance. he said, Prince Ed-- ward Island, with a total population of $5,000, had more than 5,200 peo-- ple who would be entitled to pen--| | sions under the scheme. "'l'heir; Prime Minister iold me,." said Mr{ Ferguson, "that they couldn't think K of the thing. The burden would be' ' too great." Mr. Ferguson pointed out that there were 112,514 persons in On-- tario orver the age of 70. Quebec has 70,000; Manitoba, 11,000; Sas-- katchewan, 9,000; Alberta, 9,000; # British Columbia, 10,000; Nova Scotia, 27,000, and Prince Edward Island, 7,000. If only one--third of the aged peo-- ple in Ontario were to get a $120 pension the cost to the Provincial Treasury, he said, would be $4,200,-- 000. . On top of that the Province would have to bear administration' costs. Debate on the question developed for a few moments at this stage into a free--for--all. Then the Prime Min-- ister outlined some of the factors which, he inferred. contributed to his "look--before--leaping policy." Children's Respounsibility. '"'We have," he said. "adopted the principle in this Legislature of hav-- ing children provide for their par-- ents in their old age. Now, we shouldn't come along and relieve the children of their responsibility. We should see that every legal means is exhausted before the State is called in to relieve them of their responsi-- bilities, That is a condition obtaining here, but not elsewhere, except pos-- sibly in Saskatchewan." -- Mr, Ferguson -- mentioned the _ Houses of Industry in which, he said, people are being cared for com-- fortably., '"Are we going to say that C these poor people are to be put upon 12 pension.~ That is snother condi-- tion which does not prevail gener-- ally througzhout the Dominion." Mentioning the extensive pension-- ing schemwe of railways, etc.. he ask-- ed*, "What's to become of these? | The Government. said the Prime Minister. doesn't want to rush into the scheme until it has more com-- plete knowledge of it. '"Until it knows*"* he added, "exactly where it's going " He said he had discussed the Gov-- ernment's survey attitude with dif-- ferent labor organizations, and that they nad considered the Government to be perfectly "reasonable" in its view. e Aurelien Belanger (Liberal, Rus-- sell) moved the adjournment of the debate, [