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Mr. King Will Void Hydro Legislation, Ellis's Prediction By his "honest blundering." At- torney-General Arthur Roebuck had caused the present Hydro crisis in the Ontario Legislature, Arthur Ellis (Cons. Ottawa South) charged yesterday in a brief, bit- ter denunciation of Mr. Roebuck and the legislation he had intro- duced to give Hydro Crown rights. His hour-long speech was mark- ed by several sharp clashes with members of the Government, par- ticularly Mr. Roebuck and Acting Premier Harry Nixon. Once the Conservative member was ruled out of order for debating a previous ruling made by the Speaker. Predicts More Suits. Mr. Roebuck: word 'honest'" "Mr. Attorney-General," retorted the Ottawa member. "do not think that every one has a dishonest mind. I have not. I hope no such thing. In spite of all 2t errors and blunders you have ma e. I still believe they were honest blunders." Mr. Roebuck: "t didn't use the He had sufficient faith in Prime Minister Mackenzie King. the Con- servative member declared. to be- lieve that he would exercise the rights of the Federal Government to disallow this piece of legislation. Mr. Rosebuck's "rttaudrninistrtv. tion and his muddling" of Hydro affairs had resulted in legal actions against the Hydro Commission claiming more than 8s,000,000, said Mr. Ellis. He predicted there would be still more suits against Hydro. Then he launched a further at- tack on the legislation before the House. "I think it is bad legisla- tion. You must have been driven pretty close to desperation to have brought this in," he said to the At- torneyAhrnertM. ATTACKS THREE BILLS Mr. Ellis: "No, you couldn't, when speaking of a political opponent, but I can." J. A. Habel (Lib. Cochrane;, In. terrupted Mr. Ellis. and the Con- servative swung on him. "You," said he, "vote as you are told. not us you think. You always vote as you are told." Inoculation Termed "Bad." The clause in the Power Commis- sion Act. and the clause in the pres- ent legislation which gave Hs dro the right to refuse any action against it without the consent of the Attorney-General was bad legis- lation. he declared. lie did not rate. he said. what Government had first adopted the measure. "That's your hope," said Mr. Roe- buck. Conservative Holds Roe- buck's 'Honest Blunder- ing' ls Responsible for Power Crisis "I came into public life because I was a great believer in public own- ership. and I still am: and I shall not retire before the Attorney-Gen- eral. There is no one today doing more desperate damage than the present Commission and particular- ly the Attorney-General." Mr. Ellis declared. Ill]. Held "Out tenuous." He decribed Mr. Roebuck's legis- lation as "outrageous," and declar- ed: "Surely the Hydro should pay its honest .debts, and surely it should not be given the power to override the courts of the Province. In all my enthusiasm for Hydro I cannot believe that it should he placed in this position and 1 do not Mr. Ellis declared that the legiSo lation had been introduced con- trary to the rules of the house, and that no notice of motion had been given. Major James Clarke (Lib.. Wind- 'or-Sandwich), was in the chair and he rose to halt the member for Ottawa. He pointed out that the Speaker had already ruled the legislation in order, and he said: "Any insinuation that the Speaker made rulings contrary to the rules is deserving of the most severe cen- sorship." Ruled Out of Order. Mr. Ellis: "There is no intention in my mind to say that the Speaker did not make what he believed to be an honest ruling, but I want to draw the attention of this House as to whether this bill is not proper and legal-----" believe that any public enterprise should be given extraordinary pow- ers that. a private corporation has not." he declared. Mr. Nixon: "The Speaiter's rul- Ing is not debatable. The member is out of order." "The member is out of order," declared Mr. Nixon. The chair up- held him and Mr. Ellis switched his argument to declare that the Do- minion Government would give very serious consideration to dis- allowing the legislation. "I have sufficient faith in Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King that I think he'll disallow this bill." he declared. as Mr. Roebuck taunted him that the former Conservative Government, under Mr Bennett. had not disal- lowed the Power Commission Act of 1935. Claiming that it was not the policy of the Hepburn Government to shut the door to any one-that even Communists. on occasion, had been known to bring deputations to the seat of Administration-M. M. MacBride. Independent Liberal, Brantford, asked why the power people of Quebec had not ap- proached Queen's Park it, as re- ported, they had some new pro- posals to make in regard to the power situation. "Why don't the companies come along if they have something open and above board to propose?" he asked. "Why have somebody write editorials for them instead? Let the Government. and the Legisla- ture and the people of the Prov- ince know what, if anything, the power interests are prepared to do." Protection for People. In emphatically supporting the trio of power bills now before the House, Mr. MacBride indirectly re- ferred to recent judgments handed down in actions brought against Hydro by the power companies "Judges," he said, "are Just human like any one else, and Just as liable to error. Perhaps they didn't understand the legislation we passed in 1935. If so, let's put it on the statute books for all to under- stand.'" The first duty of the Legislature. submitted Mr. MacBride. was to protect the property of the people. What about the contracts? No contract, he said, was a Just con- tract unless it stood the test of analysis. The power agreements had been planned by shrewd sharp, keen business men, he said. who had sought to "get as much of the best of the deal as they could." It was the bounden duty as well as right to correct the wrong that had been done. "A most powerful and influential morning paper" in Toronto, he said, had recently Jamuaxq at, 5 time as the p sed St. Lawrence ' development a?! be gotten under I way. Then mare Quebec power ,than was ever needed. more than ipossibly could he sold, had been contracted for, and the St. Lawrence idea had been abandoned apparentlv. Why had it been thrown overboard? he asked. Mr. MacBride said he found it difficult to believe that when Hydro lhad bought huge blocks of Quebec 'power back in 1929 and 1930 they weren't aware. to some extent at least, of the depression that was in store for the country as a whole. In his City of Brantford the assets of the local Hydro System amounted to $1,714,000. Those assets, he said, had to be protected. The people who bought City of Brantford bonds had to be assured that the principal i'and interest of those bonds would 'be paid on their due dates, and the gcity's credit would be maintained. published an editorial. stating that while it was not aware of what the future might hold out in type of government, the affairs of Hydro, it believed, were safer in the hands .of an honest judiciary than in the hands of any set of politicians Pwith expediency as their chief pur- pose. Before any more such edi- torial were written, said Mr. Mac. Bride, he would suggest to the writer thereof he study the philo- sophers of old "He might realize," ,said he "that we are various men, jthat the good Lord doesn't. make ia' two of us alike. We all have an opinion on various questions and we in this chamber are quite as honest in our opinions as those with whom we may differ are hon- (est in regard to theirs." ',Attreement With U.S.A. ! Hydro had experienced no diffi- j culties, said the Brantford member, until the Quebec power interests had entered the picture. At the time the first. 60.000-horsepower Gatineau purchase was announced, the then Premier Ferguson had i, stated, said Mr. MacBride, that I it was just to take care of Eastern IOntario's special needs until such i time as the pmsed St. Lawrence "I don't know how I possibly could go back and face my supporters and friends," declared Mr. MacBride. "unless I voted in this Legislature to protect their property and inter- ests." "Boottetrtrer of Power." Was it not correct, asked Wilfrid Heighington, Cons., St. David, that during the regime of Right Hon. R. B. Bennett that an agreement with the United States to develop the St. Lawrence had been reached. and that the Senate at Washington had killed it? "You'll find it's right," said Mr. Heighington. "Then we had better annex the; United States and get along withI the St. Lawrence," smiled the!, Brantford member. ': Regarded as Duty. A. McQuibban (Liberal, North Wel.. lington) claimed that it Govern- ments had stuck to a policy of devel- oping Ontario's own resources, nota single horsepower would have been required from Quebec. "But our great enterprise," he said, "became ringed by private companies and Hydro became almost a bootlegger of power." . As the Legislature member who, in 1931, had first criticized the Hydro-Quebec contracts,). Geggge "Is that an answer or a question?" asked Mr. MacBride. "That's my question to you," Mr. Heighington shot back. "Well, if that's the case, I never heard of it," said Mr. MacBride. In 1928, Hydro had generated twenty-eight times as much power as it had bought; in 1929 it generat- ed six and one-half times as much; 1930. four and three-quarter times as much; 1931, three times as much; 1932, twice as much; 1933, one and one-half times as much. However, in the year 1936 the whole pro- cedure had been reversed by the present Commission and Hydro was now developing six times as much power as it purchased. A VWhen the -Beauharnols Company was considering its development Ht Quebec, it went to the FoderalGov-