The Ontario Scrapbook Hansard

Ontario Scrapbook Hansard, 29 Mar 1935, p. 1

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Hepburn Refuses to With-- draw, Appeals to House, and Is Supported ROW ABOUT "BRAZEN" 4 the Leader of the Opposition will make any more statements about his rugged honesty, Let him not make any such statements if he has any ' regard for honesty and truth." | These were the biting words hurled' across the floor of the Ontario Legis-- | lature yesterday and directed toward| the Hon. George S. Honry by Premier| Mitchell F. Hepburn, who flayed the| Leader of the Opposition for "insinu--| ations'" that Conservatives had gont to their graves as the result of perse--| cution by Liberals. Premier Regrets Speaker's Ruling. Members Reverse Speakei's Ruling own admission. strengthened the Pre-- mier's refutation of Mr. Henry's charge concerning the East York Hydro workman's death. "On his deathbcd." Mr. Underwood | swore in the affidavit. "he (James! Peake, the Hydro workman) told me| that he would not have been there (on | his deathbed) if Mr. Gcorge S. Henry | had carried out his promise to g}\(e: Yesterday's bitter incident is be-- lieved to have made history in the On-- tario Legislature, for Premier Hepburn flatly refused to accept a ruling of Speaker N. O. Hipcl, and. in an appeal to the House, had his objection sus-- tained by a vote of 63 to 17, on the part of the members. The division was a party split----17 Conservatives against 63 Liberals who were in the Chamber at the time. nim a job after he had resigned his position with the Hydro--Electric Power Mr. Henry's charge on Tuesday that a Hydro workman in East York had "died of a broken heart" as the result of persecution by Liberal members of the working gang was hurled back at the Leader of the Opposition when the Premier produced an affidavit from the deceased workman's wife, which stated. that, in her opinion, her husband's death was a direct result of Mr. Henry's promise, allegedly broken. to secure him another jobh. Refutation Strengthened. "The Honorable the Leader of the Owosltdon has been making too many of thoss charges," declared Mr. Hep-- burn. "He told us some time ago that in his opinion the death of the Hon. Robert Cooke was a result of per-- secution at the Abitibi inquiry." MHenry Denies. A second affidavit produced by the Premier and signed by Thomas W. Underwood of Markham, for many years a supporter of Mr. Henry by his Mr. Henry jumped to his feet and denied having made such a state-- *"Well, what can as brazen as that Mr. Henry was again on his fest demanding a retraction of the word "brazen." He declared that severai days ago the Speaker of the House has ruled out of order the word "brass" uttered by the Attorney-- E&peaker N. O. Hipel,. after some de-- lay in attempting to make Mr. Henry repeat the words he objected to, ruled that the word "brazen" was "un-- parliamentary .' By Vote of 63 to 11 WONDER now if the Honorable you do with a max. 9" asked the Pre-- Speaker," declared Mr. Hepburn. * regret that I can't, but I will have t appeal to a vote of the Hokse." _ _ The Chisf Whips of both parties re-- tired to round up the members, and the vote on the Speaker's ruling was' shortly taken, with the vote over--| whelmingly against Mr. Hipel on a| straight party vote. Sam Lawrence (CC.F., Hamilton) voted with the Opposition. The vote was 63 to 17. C€ooke Reférences. "Would any honorable member of the Opposition get up and say that their Leader did not make that state-- ment about Mr. Cooke's death?" asked the Premier. ie s suppose Harry Johnston rounded up those affidavits," put in the Hon. Leopold Macaulay (Consorvative, South | Gene f Going back to Mr. Hoenry's state-- ment regarding the former Hydro worker's death, Mr. Hepburn declared: '"It is a serious reflection on the citi-- {zens of Markham. In all fairness, the Leader of the Opposition should with-- draw the statement and apologize." The Leader of the Opposition was silent. "Apparently," put in the Premier, "the Honorable the Leader of the Op-- position has no intention of being gen-- | tlemanly enough to withdraw the statement. We'll leave the people to be the judge." $ | O% | ter York). "Harry Johnston had nothing to do with them," returned the Premier. Morgan Baker (Liberal, North York! declared that. in his opinion, the word used by Premier Hepburn was not "'strong cnough." --"Order, ordor!" shouted severai members. Later Mr. Baker, given the flcoor by Speaker Hipel, declared that the Hon. George S. Henry's statements con-- cerning the Hydro workman were an "insult" to the citizens of Markham Village. Visit to Former Premicer. In Mrs. Margaret Peake's affidavit she declared that she and her hus-- band had visited Mr. Henry aiter his alleged promise to find another job, and had been informed by the then Premier, in 1930, that "he would do something." Mr. Underwood's affi-- davit stated that Mr. Henry had ad-- vised Mr. Peake to resign his position from the Hydro and that he (Henry) would find him another position. Mr. Henry explained that he had suggosted to Mr. Peake that he had better resign and that he would speak to the Hydro Chairman in regard to having Mr. Peake reinstated in an-- other position. A previous statement by the Leader of the Opposition that the great majority of Hydro workers were, be-- fore the June election, Liberals was -'M;.'}igr;a remained silent and seat-- ed, and the incident closed. Rumors Discussed-- There is no foundation, it was learned at Qusen's Park last night, for the report that yesterday's Parlia-- mentary tangle might cause the resig-- nation of the Spceaker, Hon. N. O. Hipol. While Premier Hepburn apparently sot precodent when he divided thse House to overrule a Speaker's man-- date, the entire matter was described last night as just another occurrence in "the hottest Legislature in many years." Veterans could not remember when a House vote had triumphed over a Speaker's ruling, although the Opposi-- tion was downed on that question some four weeks ago. Hon. Dr. David Jam'eson, Spsaker of the Fourtcenth Loegislature and a veteran member from 1898 until 1919, was of the cpinion that a precedent had probably been set. ral. March 23 "scilly" by the Attorney-- ruling, Mr.| As for Mr. Speaker Hipel, he can add the expoerience to the laursls he has already gained while prosiding over the Legislature's "hottest sos-- Government members and even Cabinet Ministers have tangled with the Speaker's rulings, but no Prime Minister ever--according to the vot-- erans--appealed to a vote of the sion." The Spsaker has bsen called on for more rulings and dscisions in four weeks than foll to the lot of some of his predscessors in as many It climaxed a running attack on the Government's Hydro contract in-- dictment. "There should be grsat care."" he urged. "The honor of the people has besn swinging somewhat in the bal-- ance in recent weeks because of un-- OF POWER PACTS guarded remarks made by some men in high position. The most honest people are found among those who are most needy. The people who have no bonds don't want their honorable name besmirched becaiuse some one wants to take something from the bondholders. The bonds were made in good faith--if they possessed techni-- cal flaws they should oc cured." The former Premior said that all the legal members of the Opposition thought the cases advanced in the legal argument were irrelevant. FOR the honor of the Province--no talk of cancellation or repudi-- ation. Hon. George S. Henry's eight--hour Legisla-- tive address was wound up yesterday afternoon with this appeal. 'The remainder of the former Pre-- mier's argument consisted mainly of the reading of documents--in particu-- lar the full letters written as reports last summer by Hydro engineers when they were asked if their opinions had been sought by the Commission. The former Premier stressed references in reports from T. H. Hogg. R. T. Jeffery, E. T. Brandon,. and H. C. Don Carlos. In these sentences the engineers had spoken of early study of Ottawa power sites; receipt of large applications for power; and informal approval, in one instance, with the Gatineau 60--cycle contract and the Beauharnois nego-- tiations. "I am quite conscious," said Mr. Henry, that he (the Attorney--Gen-- eral) was trying to build up his theory that they had not been consulted about the Hydro contracts, The en-- gineers were in continual conference thinking of the needs of fresh power." DEFENDED Henry Attacks Expose V ALIDITY _

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