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N A RINGING keynote of justice and equity for all | O creeds, Prime Minister Mitchell Hepburn yester-- -- day offered the Ontario Legislature his new school-- _ tax legislation. -- Fearlessly and unequivocally bringing "into the open" the subject that has been the backyard football of Ontario politics for generations, the young | Premier revealed the means by which his Government will extend to the separate schools of the Province a larger share of c?rporation tarésrs.;d and unequipped o hHandis shem. ¥"May" Becomes "Shalil. \In Ottawa, with a population 50 per Jammed galleries in which Priest and | ment Gatholic, the situation would be 2. Corporations so vast and so com-- plex in structure that the proportion-- ate religious adherence of its share-- holders cannot reasonably be determin-- ed, must apportion their taxes in each municipality according to the rati> of Protestants and Catholics in that municipality, (Under the old act, the full taxes of a great proportion of such huge corporations went entirely to the public schools.) "I'ne present Government has de-- cided to deat with this question now, out in the open. A great deal has been said regarding abolition of sepa-- rate schools. All the powers of this lLegislature could not accomplish that 1. Corporations which, under the un-- amended Assessment Act "may" divide | their taxes between the two types of schools in proportion to the creed of | their sharcholders, have in future no option. For this purpose, the word "may" becomes "shall." end. The right to maintain their own schools was conferred jegally upon the Catholic minority in this Province, and it has to be maintained. "But," continued Mr. Hepburn, "the Catholic people themselves could The Canadian subsidiaries of the United States and other foreign firms come under the second category in so far as the division of school taxes is concerned. No Constitutional Doubt. 50 per cent. in the present costs of education, since a large section of the children of the city would be thrust into a public school system unpre-- acts in Saskatchewan and Alberta. and reviewed the history of tax divi-- sion in those Provinces. "The present Leader of the Opposi-- tion," he said, "while he was in office recoznized the unfairness of the exist-- ing system and sought to increase pro-- portionately the grants to the separate schools. In 1930 and 1933 there were decreases in al; public school grants and increases of 50 per cent. in the separate school grants. Jammed galleries in which Priecst and Orangeman rubbed elbows with im-- nartial observers heard Mr. Hepburn explain the two means by which this <nd would be accomplished: "There is no question in my mind," the Prime Minister began, "of the constitutionality of Ontario amend-- iIng the present Assessment Act in order to bring it into linc with present-- day conditions." He referred to school they chose. If they so decided, be-- cause of inability to carry on in a financial way, I have no hesitation in saying that an unbearable burden would be thrust on the Province and the public school structure. Such a gituation in the City of Windsor, for example, would mean an increase of Premier Hepburn Tells Packed Legislature How Ontario Will Extend to Separate Schools Larger Share of Corporation Taxes abolish the separate school system School Tax Bill Aims at Equity For All Creeds even Under the former basis of division, Mr. Hepburn explained, it was virtu-- ally impossible to arrive at a proper proportionate division of the taxes of such a vast corporation as the Cana-- dian Pacific Railway. He quoted a reference to this effect from a Vice-- President of the railway. "In cases of this sort, under the new bill," proceeded the Prime Min-- ister. "where it is obviously impossible to determine the religion and school category of all the shareholders of & nuge corporation or of a Canadian subsidiary of an American concern. we will in future divide the tax on the basis of the property assessment of the municinality in which the corpo-- ration is situated. In the case of all o:her corporations. divisions of taxes will be made on the basis of the proportion of shares held by separate school supporters. Onus on Supporter. "In all such cases, however, the onus shall be upon the separate school supporter to notify the corporation in which he is a shareholder as to his desire to have his share allocated for separate school purposes. The balance shall be for the support of public schools." In reply to a question by Colonel W. H. Price, Conservative, Parkdale, as to what category would include a firm like the Sun Life, the Prime Minister stated exceptions were being mads for certain firms, in a manner which he would explain at a later time. "Tot me say that I realize full "In our bill today we follow as closely as possible the provisions of the School Act of 1863. We are basing our allocation of schoo!l taxes in accordance with the holdings of per-- sons. The difference is that the divi-- sion of taxes between separate and public schools along the lines indi-- cated is now compulsory. This is because in Section 65, we change the word 'may' to 'shall.'" J well,." Mr. Hepburn resumed, "that this Government has not gone as far in this matter as the separate school supporters would like us to go. And 1 also realize that we have gone much further than some holding the OP-- posite opinion want us to go. I desire to emphasize that I deprecate to the fullest extent any talk to the effect that this measure constitutes & raid on the Treasury. "No mention is made of public utilities I might point out the ex-- ample of the C.N.R., which is oper-- ating at & tremendous loss. The capital of this utility is supplied partly by Catholics, who are 't.:e.lnc u.x:d Mc uoc on anpes ( AnScfik with | / stt : nar en N es o s o o w o s o enc > l as C by Catholics, who are being taxed also to make up its deficit, yet by the bill they get no share of the taxes from the railway. Ap\"t\ "I can only say in conclusion," said the Prime Minister, "that I hops this bill does not provoke what we in On-- tario want least of all--a religious controversy. I often regret that our ancestors, a thousand or so years ago, decided that there were 100 or 1,000 different roads to heaven, and only one road to the other place. It is often almost humorous to see us pious Christians fighting like heathens over religious issues. I can only add that in a case like this where differing faiths and denominations are involved and variance of opinion naturally arises those whose interests are con-- cerned might well remember the in-- junction which plays so large a part |in their creed: 'Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you." IGovernment Statement. "The benefit of the doubt--if such it can be termed--has in the past been twice given the Protestant schools. For example, take the case of all corpora-- tions not specifically referred to. There the onus has been placed on the sepa-- rate school supporter, and the entire share of taxes levied against such cor-- poration, other than that definitely indicated as going to the separate schools, has been classified as the right of the public schools This included shares held by a corporation, even though its own shares might be held by a separate school supporter. The onus and burden, cons>quently, has been entirely on the separate s=ool supporter. "Sixty--seven years ago, the Prov-- ince of Quebec realized that the Sepa-- rate School Act was not doing justice to the Protestant minority, and the Prime Minister of the day, Hon. Mr. Chauvreau, introduced a bill designed to settle the division of school taxes paid by public corporations, which funds were to be placed in a separate panel and divided among the Protes-- tant separate schools in proportion to the Protestant population. "In drafting the Act of 1863, the legislators of that day undoubtedly be-- lieved that they had provided for the distribution of school taxes in Ontario satisfactorily, but they naturally aid not realize the extent to which we would become industrialized in the succeeding seventy years. Today in certain municipalities over 50 per c*+nt. of the property is owned by incor-- porated bodics. Given "Benefit of the Doubt." Cites Quebec Action. "Hence, for sixty--seven years, the Protestant minority in Quebec has been enjoying a measure of justice and equity that has been denied the Catholic minority in Ontario. "Where not possible to determine such ownoership, taxes paid are divided on the basis of general property as-- sessment, but where such is the case, again only on basis of the rateable property belonging to persons who are separate school supporters in relation to the rateable property of persons who are public school supporters. In determining this proportion, property assessed in the name of corporations is not taken into effect. "The purpose of the bill is to give reality to the provisions of the Sepa-- rate School Act providing for distribu-- tion of assessed property of corpora-- tions for school purposes as between public and separate schools. The act now on the statutes provides for a division of corporation taxes wholly at the option of the directors of a cor-- poration, while the basis of division is ownership of shares of corporations. This present bill makes such a divi-- sion compulsory, or, in other , words, changes in Section 65, 'may' to 'shall, but applies the same principle of ownership of stock in so far as can be determined. The Government statement explain-- ing the bill is as follows: _ * son of the large number and wide distribution of its shareholders is un-- able to determine the religious com-- plexion of such shareholders. Sec-- ond, the case of the corporation, 25 per cent. of whose stock is owned by another corporation or corpor-- "There are two classes of corpor-- ations whose taxes are divided on the basis of general property assessment. First, the corporation which by rea--