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Continuing the debate on the Throne Speech. Colonel Drew said the Legislature would only be "shadow boxing" it " proceeded to di,cus, the administration of the different departments of govern- ment before there was complete and understandable information regard- ing the plans of the Dominion Gov- ernment for the immediate future. Colonel Drew criticized the Gov. ernment for its failure to propose a program of legislation in the Throne Speech. He questioned whether the Legislature should have been called to sit when so little business was ready to be put before ing the plan ernment m Colonel D crnment tor program 1 Throne SI Government to obtain "clear and specific" information trom the DO. mimon regarding their plans for the immediate future, Lieutenant-Col- onel George Drew. Ontario Con- servative Leader. told the House yesterday that "we can only discuss our legal and financial requirements when we have some blueprint from which to build; we have nothing now." """'"" K9ir'S',. . ' . i "I wish to bring something else "in normal ttmes " "ts perfectly l to the attention of the Premier and proper and perfectly safe for the " do hope this year he will give it Provincial Legislature to meet in due consideration. I want to re- February and to complete its busi-. call to his memory some of the ncss while the House of Commons ithings I said in this same debate at Ottawa is still sitting. Under. last year. I do so, not for the pur- the British North America Act the upose of proving that I was right ~mane of our powers is clearly. on that occasion. but merely in the defined- In peace we know the hope that the correctness of my tiesltis Of taxation which are open to prediction on that occasion may this Legislature and those which tustify the request that greater are not. in peace we know the 'attention be paid now to the pro- subjects upon which we tptn.d.eal posais which I will make. and tho~e over which the Dominion an, the debate on the Speech Government has exclusive authority l from the Throne on Feb. 25, last "But under the wide provisions' year. I had this to say: ' of the War Measures Act and. the "Already the Dominion Govern. Mohltzation Act Jo Dominion ment has established control over 1ioxornmont has assumed tremen- such things as gasoline. power, dous po-." continued Colonel. fuel. timber, prices and rents. In Drew. "Without "on consulting the ordinary course of events all the Provinces, the whole effect of: of these fall exclusively under the thc British North 1myicf Act hast control of the Provincial Govern- brett thanged by Order-in-CounCIi.; ments. Under the War Measures That may be right. or. " .may. be', Act and the Mobilization Act it is wrong. it may be co.Itst/ttuti.ontl, or, doubtful if there is any Provincial it may not be constitutional. I am field ot taxation which cannot be not 3'9"": 1,l,t,ttg,'h',1,a'sui'g; td fully occupied by the Dominion a o so on ano c . . . ,','.l',"tf,'t',us," what they have done in Government if it chooses to do so almost every field normally occu- hi i done Its' Or der-in ~Councii. ied exclusively by the Provincial T 3 s y.. is 'l,ftu?iri'e's". and it has created " 2"'a,h,.no public discussion and most insuperable difficulties. 'P, am ia arguing about the wis- "Nothing Before Us." - i dam nr otherwise of this course. I ttt Urging an adjournment oi the Ontario Legislature to enable the ru tt "There is literally almost noth- ing before us," said Colonel Drew. "peaking of the legislation indicated m the Speech from the Throne. "This speech calls neither for a vote of confidence nor tor a vote ot want of confidence. -- _ "Wnat are we here to discuss? After a general review of events ot the past year. this is all that the Speech from the Throne tells us. "The proposal of the Government of the Dominion of Canada to take over for the duration of the war the annual revenues from the Pro. vincial corporation tax and the in- come tax. will be submitted to you. The House will also be asked to consider a measure to provide for taking the votes of enlisted men and women in the service of Can- ado. wherever stationed. scwherc ior u: to be sitting here ccomplishing no useful purpose mply because it happens that. with It? rotation of the months. Feb- tary is with us once again." said olone! Dtrw. "Tm 'Shadow Boxing' if Session Continued, Col. Drew's View NO 'BLUEPRINT' far too much to he much to he done he sitting here useful purpose "in addition to the legislation already mentioned bills will be in. troduced to amend the municipal act, the highway traffic act, the workmen's compensation act, the mining act. the Judicature act, the liquor control act and various other statutes. "That is all we are told about what we are going to do. There is literally .almost nothing before Us. We are told that there is going to be a bill to provide for soldiers vot- ing in the event of an election when- ever that may be. That will arouse no debate except as to the method of taking the vote. Every one here will agree that some provision must ho made for such a vote to be taken. The other references are purely routine. "What are the things that we should really be tackling? No plans are indicated tor agriculture. for in- dustry. tor labor. for forestry, or to provide tor the future. "As I look at these words which the Government has placed in the mouth ot the Lieutenant-Governor, I cannot refrain from criticism. I do not think we should have been called together with nothing more than this to place before us. "I will go further. Unless the Government has a program of legis- lation not indicated in the Speech from the Throne, then I believe this House should adjourn until the Government is ready to place be. fore us measures in keeping with the part this Province must play in the combined war effort of the whole Dominion. I for one am un- willing that we should be mere tinte-servers in this Legislature simply because it has been the cus- tom to call the Ontario Parliament together in the month of Febru- ary. "In the debate on the Speech from the Throne on Feb. 25, last year. I had this to say: . "'Already the Dominion Govern- ment has established control over such things as gasoline. power. fuel, timber, prices and rents. In the ordinary course of events all of these fall exclusively under the control of the Provincial Govern- ments. Under the War Measures Act and the Mobilization Act it is doubtful if there is any Provincial field of taxation which cannot be fully occupied by the Dominion Government if lt chooses to do so. "'I am not arguing about the wis- dom or otherwise of this course. I am simply explaining the situation., as it exists. Whether we like it orl not. this and every other Provincial _ Government can have no way of knowing from day to day what powers they will have tomorrow. They govern on suffrance. This Government is confronted with the simple proposition that during war it cannot lay its financial plans for the future without some effective and continuous working arrange- ments with the Dominion Govern- ment. The same is true of every, other Province. How can any butl- get for the coming year be anything but the wildest guess unless the Government has some intimation regarding the plans of the Dominion Government?' 'ebvldGe4i"eir "I believe every member will re- call how I urged that this Govern. ment should establish some definite working arrangement with the Do- minion Government before passing legislation and preparing a budget. "We all know what happened. Iii; passed 1egi.s.ation. We adopted a budget. We'prorogued. And then some weeks later the Dominion Government, without any consular. tion so far as I am aware, adopted measures and presented a budget which knocked the props right out from under the whole Provincial structure set up by last year's ses- sion of this Legislature. Only now at this session is it intended to in- troduce an agreement. readjusting matters between the Dominion Gov- ernment and the Provincial Gov- ernment. although we thought we had disposed of the very items cov- ered hy that agreement in our bud. get debate last year. Waste of Time to Sit. "I do not. think we should waste any more time sitting here until our own Government can give us some clear indication of the inten- tions of the Dominion Government in the various fields of legislation with which we are directly concern- ed," Colonel Drew continued. "What docs this Government know of the intentions of the Dominion Govern- ment in regard to agriculture? I, for one. wish to discuss that subject. But I cannot see any use in arguing about what we should do if the measures we adopt are to be changed overnight by an Order-in- Council passed by the Dominion Government. What does this Gov- ernment know in regard to the in- tentions of the Dominion Govern- ment respecting labor? I had the opportunity to spend some time with that great little Englishman. Ernest Bevin, and I wish to make proposals which I believe would greatly improve the situation here. But nothing will be served by at. tempting to lay the foundation of better labor relations unless we have some indication of the course to he followed by the Dominion De- partment of Labor during the pres- ent session of the House of Com- mons. 7 --_ "Our efforts are necessarily divid- ed into two phases," said Colonel Drew. "First is the consideration of legislation, and the other is the adoption of a budget to provide the necessary finances for the machin- ery of government in the coming year. I hope the members will agree with me that in these two fields ot our endeavors we will only be wast- ing time if we continue to sit here. "With all respect to the Lieuten- ant-Governor. both personally and in his official capacity, I recognize that his words are only the words of his Ministers and I believe that the Speech from the Throne is utterly meaningless so far as it deals with the future until the Ontario Gov- ernment is in a position to give us some definite information as to what it expects to do during the pres- ent session. "Please do not misunderstand me. I am not suggesting there is noth- ing useful for this Legislature to do. There is much we can do. Above all we must reduce expenditures in every possible way. But we can only discuss our legal and financial re- quirements when we have some blue- print from which to build. We have nothing now. "In all earnestness T urge that this Legislature be adjourned so that this Government may obtain clear and specific information from the Dominion Government regard- ing its plans for the immediate future. Otherwise, with the very best of intentions and with all the intelligence we can devote to our efforts, we will be creating nothing but men ot straw which may be knocked down immediatley after-