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APRIL 2 Boot! j ' ootleggers Budget, _ | 9g9 get, Col. D Maintai i ol. Drew Maintains _ ) Describing the financial statement | of the Province as a "bootleggers' Budget to a very considerable ex-- tent," Opposition -- Leadet George Drew declared in the Legislature | westerday that a surplus m('x'cly! meant over--taxation of the people log that amount. : Closing the Budget debate for the Opposition, Col. Drew described the | liquor operations of the Government / as "disordorly distribution at its | worst." The enormous sales in the | \months following the Prime Min--| 'ister's announcement of liquor and ; | beer restrictions showed evidence 'of lack of control, charged Col. Drew. a "Men working in factories who |try to get a glass of beer to which | they are legaily entitled after work-- \ ing hours find that others who have . | pleniy of time on their hands have | absorbed the available supply," com-} mented Col. Drew. "That is simply |/ creating a bootleggers' paradise, and the evidence is clear on all sides that bootlegging has starte(lf on a scale not known in this Prov-- | ince since the days of prohibition." | Col, Drew said the idea that the; Dominion -- Government possessed | | some mystcrious source of funds| from which they could make pay-- | ments to Ontario which imposed no burden on the people of Ontario was one that had to be dispelled. The three great taxing bodics, the Dominion, the Provinces and the municipalities, all obtained their money from the same people, he said. Dealing with agriculture, Col. Drew clashed with Minister of Agri-- culture P. M. Dewan, the exchange becoming heated at times. * Col. Drew drew attention to what he described as a conflict of opinion on the Liberal side of the House e -- over the position of agriculture. He quoted from Provincial Treasurer' Gordon's Budget address a refer-- ence to the plight of the farmer and the need for drastic action to save this basic industry. f "That seems to be in conflict with the glowing assurances given by the Minister of Agriculture," said Col. Drew. * "I was comparing the position of the farmer in 1943 with what it was in 1940," declared Mr. Dewan. "I stand by what I said."