The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

"Chr-tmer I: a lewd." The Prune: tangled mun with the Opposition In the exodus minutes ot ttig mach when s no" Pullamentm me was ma tor Colonel W. M. Price. For the benetlt of the former Attor- nmr-ornrra1, tho Premier rrtur--wittr. M-Gencnl. the mm- r3sd--wttrt- oln saying whst it B'tw--S 1925 re- m by the then Provincial Treasur- er, Colonel Price. The report savo- rated an income is: collected try the Dominion and divided with the Prov- ince. rm, weeks ago. Colonel Price voted with the opposition against the new income tax lbw containing this mum. "What's wrong with that?" the Colonel said warm. mum's what you voted tagainst," countered the Pternier., - - - tisteney is a Jewel." nth}: tionsehse," broke in It Premier Menry. -- - The Premier saw the Colonel t little more ct the 1925 address. in which he had pointed out defects ot a municipal income tax truled out by present legislatsoq with}! track fhetir, "It is too bad. indeed. that my hm- brable friend. the ex-Attorney-Oon- en). has such a short memory. but then people change. and there is no- body can chum: as quickly us a poll- uchn: partlcularly a defeated pollu. min. In the Matt and Iiltnpire--that is the omen) omn of the Carmen's- um Party. of tho ems-mm min- ority in th's H-ttes-- ln tho Mail and Btttptte ot Petr. 18. 1936. you will read these words-and thcv on- words that sham tw weighed because one of thr words Ins seventeen letters in it. and I somutlmes think that mv honorubie friend. the ex " Attorne.v-oeneral. when he gets down ta words ot seven svilava-s. does pretty well-here is Nut the Mall and Empire said, re- porting quite faithfully. u it some- the< arcs when it rtparts the spsteh- es of my honorable friend opposite: "Cllmaxtnu " quatrv a vigorom intact: on the Provincial income tax bill in the Legislature last night. Col- onel W. H. Price expressed doubt as to the constitutionality of the section of the but which gives the Pedant! Income Tax Department the right to collect the tax tor Ontario. It was a detention ot authority trom one Gov- ernment to another. and Colonel Pugs: and he doubted whhthcr it would shod in a court ot law." so Doom In I925. "Me had doubts about the con- mummy ot the tax m 1936. but he had no doubts ln 1925." "I doubt. a a lawyer. whether one Government an tutegate It; powers to mother." the laughing Colonel put tn. - - . "My honorable mend ha been caught. with his {we in one direction and his hot. tn the other. and doesn't like tt. Me reminds us of Rummy- Dummy"; conversation with Alice in Wondethnd: " 'When I use a word.' said Hump- ty-Dumpty. in rathtr a mini tone. 'rt means just what I choose it to man. nothing more or less." The Premier explained why he had bruuxht in the income tax. 'mere It; . limit to Vwhich my Govern- ment could go in supporting the eco- naniv: structure of the State. That limit was reached when detieit after deficit no plowed back into the public debt. His Govemmcnt's policy was to ply a you so. It was better to impose a sound tax bamd on an equality ot aaerit'.ee: bearing on all classes in pinpornnr 'At their capacity to Buprtttrt the cost, ot government: and accepted in principle by every qi-ttttsatin Government. "U there my one who will deny that the Malian ot the ttttr "up! income in: tn the Province has iiiGriiiedieee.itlPt1teedtd by the ieeytee,!.'ye, we 2riiif are: with it." sud Colonel "Well. then I an house thermal": and cs- 23 tteerttte their Mr portion of the Fricnung). Then he biased IOU. con . the "Of course. there In. and they ere here in this House and u spokesmen of the vested interests, they have op- posed the income m: bill. and have done everything in. their power to Impede its progress." income tax before his ttonsdtuettts ut the next election. And the Premier could see no more hope in tho meal. sweepstakes and 1353mm taxation proposed by A. H. Acme. He came out with pu- ticular strength against any increase in the gas tax. Explains Finance. But the Premier predicted that no Conservative mctnber--unleta running in u constituency ccmpcssd largely ot the more tutored cuss-win thrht the "I shall give you a detailed AC- count ot my stewardship." the young Premier said. and he began his ac- count by explaining in layman's language what Provincial finance is. " shall endeavor to place before you a clrar statement, showing where ths revenue came from and how the money was extended. A State has three ways of obtaining money: m Br taxation: in) try the operation of tttate-owned onterprisrs. and (3) by borrowing. which implies repayment with interest." Ontario had borrowed. the Premier revealed. until the funded debt on March 31. 1935. stood at 8586.365.- 499.l7. Tho Premier did not let this Hand as the whole statement. In addition, .he said. taxpayers will be callcd on to pay interest amounting to about '8T0.000,000--"so what appears to be a debt, on the shoulders of the people of the Province ot Ontario of some $586,000,000 will in the coune of time. as and when it falls due. amount to a final total of "lr6.000.000." "This funded debt must be met Bt. maturity. and it win be met and honored in the strict terms at the contract." Borrowing to produce a great Pro- vincial morigegc was popular. said the Premier, tttttuse it was a distant alumina borrowing or by taxing. the Province may. in the first instance. obtain eat-- actly the same supplies and services. but. by borrowing instead of taxing. the Province obtains those supplies and services at a greatly increased cost. Notwithstanding this tact. how-' ever. loans are more popular than! taxes. and. just because they are, their; double mischief is disguised. The, people do not feel that the Govern- ment is taking money out of their pockets by borrowing. People think". 'thet. a loan entails only a distant.1 calamity. although the nut weight of. ', it is felt in a present calamity. But l 'rthis is not, perceived by the most oft the people. and for the time at least their blindness to the true state of affairs reconciles them to a sore in- fatuation." Reduction Shown. ', 'Ihe Premier switched trom princi- ples to figures to show how the gross debt of the Province went up by " most '6.000.000 at month in the last eight months of the Henry regime. and have it had been reduced, even in . the early months of the present mime. The Henry Government "legacy of debt" tor the eight months before the election was "7.821.978. the premier said. The new Government in its first tour months had been able to reduce this monthly increase to #3.- 502543. Relief in the winter of 1934-35 upped the increase again to ".T26,01'2---or still two million and more below the monthly increase in the - debt when the Conscrvotivee left office. "The diiiermcv bmvmcn the system of raising money by loans and that. ot providing for an expenses by tax- ation is that. while in both cams the some pressure is made at the time on the comtort of families and the gen- eral public. in the former my. that is, by borrowing. there is the form- tion md growth of a great Provincial mortgage which remains to oppress and enteeble and impoverish the country. In either wayxthat is by Mend. 13 The Premier. a few minutes later. gave the Opposition its long-desired l answed to Opposition charges that the lGovernment had increased the - i debt by $100.000,000. ' "Considerable curiosity has been I expressed by honorable gentlemen op- posite as to the amount of the debt increase of the Province of Ontario. Since I last had the honor of address- I ing this House, according to the Cassandra-like wailings of the Opposi- , tion, this Government was said to be I increasing the gross debt this year by enormous sums. The increase was 'statcd as likely to be around $90., t 000.000 or $l00.000.000. Well, Mr.' gspeaker. this Government succeeded 'lt.,he most, extravagant administration! lin all Ontario's history. It had tot carry on for a long time with the former Government's financial pm- grame. but it has shown marked im- provement. In the meantime it has been incumbent on this Government. because of the times in which we are. and Because of the depression and 'unemployment. to combine the ele- ments of social justice with sound l economic action. We have succeeded l in doing this. as I shall point out to lyou later on in my address. But let (me state to this House and to this [Province that: not only have we re- 'duced expenditures and increased' ' revenues and shown more prudence in! iour financing. but We have spent' [wisely and, instead of wasting money (by foolish landing and by embark- I ing upon improvident schemes, we l have exchanged the hard-earned dol- l, lars of the taxpayers of this Province tor either social or economic benefits. '-, We have kept alive and well the peo- ple of this Province. We have re- -mcmb:red as John Bright, said, that 'the nation dwells in the cottage,' and 'our vital statistics will demonstrate that the hca'th of the people of this : Provmce was Lever better than it was , during the present fiscal year. 3 Staining Ears. And lit all that period. the Premier reminded the House, his administra- tion had been marrying on with the Henry Government supplies, tax- raleng machinery and commitments which continued long after the Gov- ernments had been changed. " see you are straining your we to find out whether we have increased the gross debt by $100.000.000. Well. gentlemen. we have . . . not. Nor have we increased It by 875,000,000. nor by 850,000,000. We have increased the gross debt of this Province from April I. 1935. up to and including Feb. 29. 1936. by the sum ot $14.- 245.657.26. and we have actually serv- iced the increased debt of this Prov- ince. increased though it was by over $6i.000.000 in the last year ot the Henry administration. at a. lower cost than for the previous year." the Opposition that his figures were of Feb 29. and he believed would be lmprovrd when the final figures cane in at the cud of March. The funded dibt. he revealed. had increased only by 87.495.015. in spite of the "tre- mendous demands" made on the Gov- ernment. The Premier arrived " this figure by deducting from his new issues ot $43.000.000 the 838,000,000 of the debt which was retired during the year. -- In his list of items appeared: "ts.- 937,000---purehased for debt reduction (having the hard cash in hand, which came in from increased revenues) ." There was another $8,000,000 In the bank in cash on Feb. 294112 Premier reported. to set off against his cross debt increase. "We hav'e made a good beginning. We are manning to a, balanced Budget. and to the Pegging, and even the reducing. of the debt," - The Opposition benchers might smile, said the Premier. but not in any year did their two ex-Provincial Treasurers succeed tn bringing down a balanced Budget or in reducing: Pegging the debt. And the Premier repeated that statement as "a. feet" to former Premier Henry. and aid that examination ot the Public Att- counts for the year ending October. 1933. showed that what was chimed asaaurptusturnedouttotte* deficit. '1 'itaralrP"rernier 1fent on to tell