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I .uuv:.\l Iv aculc luau proolems. he 5 "But his succmssor in office, the' said. ;I..eader of the Opposition. made a; . ll .must confess: that I did. P" gesture when he said during the, i'?..'lyflrplf the Violent. oipposmon 1934 election that he would roter, 'we gut from the Conservative Patty the whole matter to the Privy ' and t.lte Conservative press," he. s?.id. , Council." . "/,ithih"e""i1atdht,',d, tno, political hgegudtiloe an e a no pu imse m e lttt,'i'le,r"tr,'e 'nereaue. . position of viewing the situation Under the circumstances whieh from a political point of view, he Jud developed, the Provincial Treas-' declared. and added: "In that re- urer had become the 2Pgr,"et,ll i,isrii/c'i', I erred." A more cosmopolitan between the two ttchools and thoir Cabinet than his could not be found. tinaneiat problems. continued thei he said. turning to the members of Premier. "The question ot whether his Council on his right. Hon. Harry there "a to be or not to be treptt- Nixon was a United Empire Loyalist rate IChools was not debatable in descendant; Hon. Peter Hoenan was "his House. Those rights were "a son ot old Ireland": Hon. Paul {granted under the British North Leduc was " scion of that great America Act and no Legislature can French-Canadian race"; and Hon. (iii?, a law injurious to either minor- David Croll was "an immigrant boy v. - l "Our opponents and detractors would have the public believe that we are the only ones who took ac- tion of this kind." went on the Pre. gmier. "In Saskatchewan and Alberta there appears an act which is very similar to the one my honorable friend is asking us to repeal. These Provinces have preceded us in set- tling this controversial question. In Ontario for seventy years re- peated representations have been made by the Roman Catholics that they have not been fairly treated with respect to taxes for school pur- poses. Appeal tor Catholics. "Tho only change made in the Ontario law was in 1886, when it was made permissive for a director of a (-ompany to allocate to separate schools that portion ot his taxes represented by his stockholdings. stands out clearly in my mind was their statement that they did not desire to seek any part of Protes- tant funds tor support of separate schools. "it made sumeiont impression on me to C8ttttto an exhaustive study to be made ot the whole school situa- tion." Sodom Overdgbt. The Prime Minister then review- ed the history of the separate school movement in Ontario and Quebec. lie dcclarcd that the act of 1863 which brought the Protes- tant minority of Quebec and the Catholic minority of Ontario. into agreement on the school qurwtion paved the way for the Act ot Con- federation in 1867. No provision was made for distri- bution of corporation taxes. There were few corporations at the time. Two years later Quebec realized the oversight and passed an act which provided that corporation taxes would go into a separate account and be used for the support of both school systems in proportion to the school population. A short time ago the Director of Protestant Education in Quebec had expressed himself as being entirely satisfied with the situation. N am on sate grounds in saying that. had It not been for tho spinn- dld agreement between the two re- Ilgious minorities. Confederation would not have been possible," said Mr. Hepburn. There was a serious oversight in the drafting of the legislation which permitted tho separate school sup- porterin either Province to desig- nate his taxes to the school where he sent his. chiidren. the Prime Minis- ter emphasized. Mmitnr Act: in West. g company and ronminrd I ('dl the store. Under the 'could not say that his the taxes paid by tht could go to srparate who children z'ontinund to at schools, although the were drprived of taNal Government had tried that "obviously unjust" he said. "Some of you say he's the best Minister I have," observed Mr. Hep- burn. "Certainly," called a member ot the Opposition. "a son of old Ireland"; Hon. Paul Lcduc was "n scion of that great French-Canadian race"; and Hon. David Croll was "an immigrant boy who came here from Russia." '000, while In the same year 8.9 per cent» or $298,000. had gone to sepa- lrate schools. Throughout the years Ito 1935 there had been a steady in- ,crease in the amounts given to 'separate schools, and the increase in grants had been based on need, he declared. There had been a cor- responding decrease to public schools, but he realized. he said, that a Government had only a limit- ed amount of money. In 1935 the situation was that 81.74 per cent. of the grants was given to public schools and 18.26 per cent. was given to separate schools. The separate schools grants had increased from A298,000 to 5453.000, he said. l Old Art Altered. I "That, then, was tho situation in 1933 when we enacted the legisla- tion which we are now asked to repeal." ho said. "t am not criticize ing tho Government. I realize it was the obligation of the Govern- ment. regardless of its political at.. filiations." i 'In 1930.he said, 91 per cent. of all 'the grants had gone to public "ttoo15..anyeunt totalling $3.056.- and when» 2.330 attended separate schools. About 6.5 per cent. ofthe assessment was given to public schools and about 12.5 per cent. of the assessment was given to sepa- rate schools. The separate school children outnumbered the public school children by three to one, but the assessment distribution was two to one. There Were many municipalities in which this perplexing problem was not presented. he said. In his own county of Elgin there was only one separate school. Under the old act. the general taxation of the Province had to be usicd to settle local problems. he sa d. That war: the fairest way of do- tcrmining the school population he had found. He quoted an instance. the Ci'y of Cornwall. "here 831 children attended public schools and where 2.330 anndm-I connrnfn The second change was to tn: correct the situation where it not possible to determine the "pious complexion of tho_sh holders In this instance, the It, lation provided that tho assessn be made on the homes in the His Administration had made two changes in the old act, he reminded the House. The first was to change the hill from prruvis.sihlo to com- pulsory legislation. He then nuotrd the hypothetical vase of n merchant G ho owned a store asseszsecl as per- sonal property. He sent. his eliti- dren to separate schools. Under the ticl, ho could say that he wanted all his taxes allocated to separate sehooi support. But supposing. said the Prime Minister, that a chain Morn wanted io buy out a man merchanl, and he (Incidod to sol rather than battle stiff competition Ho WEN given shares in the new company and rmminrd as managm ot the store. Under the old art ht Make." 2.5 raid by wparatp It in und public schools tended separate per cent. ofthe i_\-(-n to public 1liot inmil situation, o V share- Ihc legis- sessmont co n pany " his " lon of to be lo l tario. 'Thert lies a , "My eyes were not opened until' the East Hastings by-election. I did not take seriously the remarks made from the other side of this House, nor in the Toronto Tele- gram." declared Mr. Hepburn. Ho had had some hope when he had gone down to East Hastings, he said. His Government had been a friend of tho man on the back con- eession. he said. No people had en- 'joycd such benefits of towered taxa- ition as his Government had given, ihc said. "I wont down there lo tell them of our fight, with the fow// barons, which rcsultod in reduced Hydro rates to them," he said,"and to tell them of our takin; over" the whole cost of highways in that sec- tion and of how men were, findin: minful employment through the Government's policy ot exporting pulp produetu." "We tax: fro: 'giw had stated that if the Roman Catholics banded together in a political organization. then war was on, and that if Catholics operated as a political group tho agreements of 1863 were violated and that he (Colonel Drew) was "rcady to fight to the bitter end," declared Mr. Hepburn. Such politi- cal campaigning as this had aroused religious prejudice. he said. There will be no election this The Prime Minister charged Colonel Drew's participation in the campaign had been "absolute in. timidation" in some instances. He had stated that if the Roman Catholics banded ingpthnr in He had told them he had hoped to improve their standard of living and make their lives a little more happy. He was not, taxing them to do it, he pointed out. The revenue, of the various departments Wore in.. creasing, especially the Forestry De- partment and the Succession Duties. Department. "I was able in do some. thing for them bra-9.1190 of the effi- ciency of our Sucvvssion 'Duties Of- tico. Again, I say. I levied no taxation on them. We recovered from estates closod and clearaiwes givrn hy the former Administration their spet They "pai had "gem "intimidat minority afraid to Refers to By-Election. "From these men he could not have received bad political ad- vice," he declared. whiv? camp but. i carric C, ronomit- situation he East Hastings d Mr. Hepburn. ind tlrcampaign