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"We are here to transact the business 'FK -"- ------_ " WW -_.,..-------. of the Province. Our duties do not stop i2f 'rT,',hd',t"' 'thttfte,',"eh,ei,',t I there. We should try to help the people . e new rem er solve their problems. What are the will adopt that attitude. My suggestion chief problems? We have unemploy- today is that this session should be ment in our urban centres and we have given over almost entirely to a study stagnation in our rural districts. The of farm conditions in Ontario. I am worker in the factory is working short 32:13: bthe saggrestion early so that it hours because there is no one to buy e " ere itt no time. the manufactured goods. The farmer hteeiat Committee. is depressed because the workers in the "Some years ago we had the Agricul- towns cannot consume his produce. The tural Inquiry Committee, composed of conditions are related to each other. a few members of the House, who Primarily the problem is a Provincial travelled in many parts of the Province 2::- m?,',1,?i,t,e' tge rfi',eg,'.1eedol7ertl.1 ',"iti'getr,mttriog 'f, conditions. That . - so ar as t . - ment has given aid to the Provinces to quiry in the diff t 1w ent The in be used by the Provinces. The problem, the committee 'IC? wt"uf2,st,wt'nrt therefore. is ours, and this Legislature superficial. Conditions then were not should make a special effort this ses- depressed and there was not t Mon .to help solve it, more especially interest Shown The recomm than. in relation to the condition of agricui- were not very. fully acted en ont, ture. Before discussing the matter the committee had re rtedumn after further, or making any suggestions, let "The Agricultural 'tff,', nut tee is one me We 8 few Nets and present a pie- of the Standlna gstrnmrr.r- " eh. Condemnation ot the Government's when of last. sesswn in raising its salaries from $8,000 to $10,000 per year He, member. was coupled by Mr. Nixon with a demand for a retroactive 10 per cent. reduction in the same, and in the salaries of higher-priced civil serv- ants. and an expression of his, ,wmlnzness. in the face of existing F "hard times." to accept a similar reduc- itton in his own sessional indemnity. first came, namely, Hon. Mr. Dunlap. North Renfrew, and Hon. Dr. Godfrey, West York. Problems of People. "Aa Buch," he said, " have a duty to perform. I will analyze legislation and suggest improvements. My legal attainments are at the service of this House. I will also scrutinize the finances. I will try to be of assistance to the House. I hope to serve, not in a critical, captious, biased manner, but in a constructive way which will be helpful to the people. Freed from the limitations of party leadership, I hop: to be able to discuss public affairs from a business and economic angle. I am! free to give this Legislature my opinion i as a Liberal lawyer, a Liberal farmer. and a Liberal citizen of Ontario. I. hope the Government will consider sug- I gestions I may make, for I believe Il think " very many of the people of Ontario are thinking today. I will make suggestions from experience also. for there are only two members of this House who held seats here before t Inch an appointment he felt to be a one-man job. Establishment of a. board of administrators would, in his belief, not work satisfactorily. Ovation for Mr. Sinclair. Mr. Sinclair received a long and hearty ovation from both sides ot the House when he rose to speak. After preliminary reference to the changes in the membership ot the House and the Government. and after congratulating the new Liberal member. he referred to the tact that the party had not its Ontario Leader in his place in the House. "The members elected by the Liberal Party are here. They have honored me by permitting me to lead them," said Mr. Sinclair. amid applause. He was. he continued, Leader of the Opposition by virtue of the Legislative Assembly Act. new Milk Act " "gtittitt iniquitous ture of agricultural conditions in On- measure." Ind bluntly pointing out teutrrto today." the House that, while he, like Mr. Bin- Mt. Sinclair then quoted figures ttutr, "3 not prepared to move an showing that the taxes in Ontario "we" to the motion before the townships were $28.20 per capita, and Assembly. it was only because the pres- 3.8 per cent. of assessed value. Com- ,ent 33mm of Agriculture was "a new paring figures for all municipalities as nun. and should be given a chance to between 1919 and 1929, he said that Pe! his feet." in the ten years, while the increase in ' Otherwise, traid Mr. Nixon, "1 population was only 16.9 per cent., ,would move an amendment. and that and the increase in assessment 41 per "unendtnent would strongly condemn cent., the increase in taxes was 88 Agriculture Department." per cent. The county rate had in- Salary Rise Condemned. creased greatly, due to Provincial legis- Condemnation of the Government: lation and taxation. In Ontario County action of last sesston in raising its the rate had increased from 1.9 mills in salaries from 88.000 to $10,000 per year 1910 to 11.7 mills in 1930. per member. was coupled by Mr. Nixon Growth of Taxes. In the impending appointment of a Commission to administer the Security Frauds Aet--trn appointment, which he had advocated last. session, and which he thanked the Attorney-General ior acting upon-Mr. Nixon stressed the need for a. non-partisan appointee. "The Agricultural dommittee is one .of .the standing committees of the never otrered a constructive suggestion. That was his way of dismissing what I said. I do not believe the new Premier will adopt that attitude. My suggestion today is that this session should be given over almost entirely to a study of farm conditions in Ontario. I am making the suggestion early so that it cannot be said there is no time. Special Committee. "This is no political question for any party to play with. Conditions are not as they are because this Government is in power. There can be some blame at- tached to the Government, but I am not pressing that now, It is not too late for this Government and this House to study the situation and try to work out some rend. "This picture is not interesting, but it shows pretty well the condition ot the farmer. The farmer I have chosen is the one who has no debts. I leave to the imagination the condition of the farmer with debts. And I imagine they are numerous. If the farmer with no debts is making no money, how is the farmer with debts able to carry on? We boast of agriculture being the basic industry. It munds well in after-dinner speeches. It sounds well in good times, But how does it sound to the farmer himself today? I would like this House to get the farmer's point of view and the farmer's plight. Mr. Sinclair painted a vivid picture of the plight of a typical Ontario farmer today. The hypothetical in- stance was of a farmer with 100 acres, ot good land. good buildings, with ma- chinery. 4 horses, 15 dairy cows, 2 sows, hens, and usual equipment, all: paid for. Such an asset would cost at; least $12,000. said Mr. Sinclair, and he figured the farmer should make at least! $2,000, counting interest on investment/ wages and profit; on his business. In- stead. the farmer in this situation would get only $717.50. Mr. Sinclair said, and produced detailed figures. on the man- agement of the farm and price of prod- uce to suppor this statement. The revenue, he figured, would be $2,137.50, and the outlay $1,420. "This is not wages at $2 a day," said Mr. Sinclair. . What if Re Has Debts'.' "What had the Province done for agriculture?" asked Mr. Sinclair. He quoted figures to show that a. smaller percentage of the total Provincial rev- enue was being spent on agriculture. In 1919 the percentage of total revenue spent on agriculture had been 6.17. The percentage in 1930 was 4.01. Claiming that farm taxes had in-i creased tremendously, Mr. Slnclalr said i that the taxes on his own farm, which'. he said was typical of all others, hadl, grown steadily from $22.74 in 1894 to $122.41 in 1930. He then quoted the price ot agricultural produce. . Cn " p, Iways said I Mr. Nixon derided the contents or! the Speech from the Throne, saying i that the document was the most barren _ he ever saw; that it was given over en- , At the outset of his remarks, Mr. Nixon chatted Premier Henry for taking too great a. load on his shoulders. Where his predecessor in otNte, Mr. Ferguson. had run the Ministry of Edu- cation in addition to acting as Prime Minister, Mr. Henry (said Mr. Nixon) was handling two additional depart- ments-Education and Highways. "I claim and urge," said the Progres- sive Leader, "that these two great de- partments should have the attention of individual Ministers-the best that can be picked out. Either my honorable friend is to be greatly overworked or these departments are to suffer." " realize conditions today and have decided that in the interests of the whole Province the suggestion I make is worthy of the support ot every mem- ber of this House. I hope it will be adopted. Above all, I hope our efforts will result in the accomplishment of what I have already indicated, an im- provement in agricultural conditions, and therefore an improvement in gen- eral conditions." Too Mnny Departments. "To make this suggestion possible for the tTovernmentto act upon, I have de- I clined today to criticize any of its; policies or its financial record. I have _ not even made suggestions of agricul- tural policies or remedies, lest these by inference be regarded " criticism in-:' directly given. "t realize the Government will get the credit for what is accomplished. I cannot help that. I will be satisfied if we succeed in doing something to start an improvement in agricultural con- ditions. " we succeed, our towns and:, cities will soon feel the benefits. Poverty and distress will begin to disappear. l "This is my suggestion today. I am moving no amendment to the Address. I hope the Progressives will move none. This is no time for political rntutoeuvring. It is a. time for all to give our best thought along a common line. It is a. time to try to render a real service to the people. They are locking for us to do something. I am prepared to do mv part, and I believe all the Liberals will do theirs. "To assist in this inquiry I will work with any lawyers or members of the Government. or any other group in the House. I realize the position of agri- culture today. I believe we can im- prove it by our united effort and study. Believing this, as I do, I am urging this line of action for this Legislature " the present session. "The scope of the inquiry should be unlimited. After the evidence has been taken the committee should make a report to the House. with a summary of the facts and the committee's recom- mendations. The report could then be debated in the House. The publicity from the inquiry, the report and the debate would be a great aid by itself. but I am satisfied that out of it all would come much that would be used to the advantage of the farmers and the improvement of their condition. Part of the findings might relate to matters of Federal jurisdiction. I am sure the Bennett Government would not resent receiving them from the Henry Government. The evidence and the report should certainly be forwarded to Ottawa, in any event. To Aid Agriculture. House. tttir been . society for the entertainment and improvement ot the farmer members of the Legislature. As such it has been largely useless. espe- cially to the farmers of Ontario. I would suggest tor this session that this practice be discontinued and that the committee meet as an evidence-taking committee. It should call as witnesses farmers from different parts of Ontario who are carrying on and operating their own farms. Evidence should be taken down and kept as a public record. The inquiry should be as to: (1) Existing conditions on Ontario farms; (2) the state of the industry generally: (3; causes contributing to that state; (4) suggestions of remedies; (5) what fur- ther Provincial aid and in what form.