CHAPTER XXV.

BETTER TERMS, ENLARGEMENT OF MANITOBA, AND

DISALLOWANCE.

THE agitation for better terms, which began in 1871, continued with increasing persistence from year to year. During the Davis administration the question was allowed to remain in abeyance, but on Mr. Norquay's assumption of the reins of Government he made it and the extension of the provincial boundaries prominent features of his policy. His first effort in the direction of securing more favorable terms from the Dominion, with regard to an increase of subsidy, was, as has been shown in a previous chapter, far from being satisfactory or acceptable to the Province. Instead of acceding to the demands made upon them for a reasonable addition to the subsidy, adequate to the requirements of Government, the Dominion authorities only increased the annual grant by a beggarly $15,000; and, instead of acceding to the equitable request of the Province for control of her school lands, they temporized by lending her $10,000 for educational purposes.

The demands upon the Province for local improvements, roads and bridges, drainage of swamp lands, etc., which the rapid increase of population and the extension of settlement called for, made it important that the Government should have more funds at command with which to satisfy the increasing wants of the community. The feeling in the Pro

vince was admirably explained by Hon. John Norquay on the occasion of a banquet tendered to him by his friends and admirers on March 27th, 1881, at Winnipeg. In responding to the toast of "Our Guest," Mr. Norquay, in a brilliant speech, said :- (6 Fourteen years ago, when Confederation was projected, it was, by universal consent, allowed by the different Provinces that, as far as possible, there should be no resort to direct taxation in political exigencies; and in order to obviate such a necessity, every Province was allowed full control of its public domain. out of which it was expected they would realize a revenue for the purpose of carrying on the affairs of Government, and discharging the responsibilities laid on them by the federal authorities. Such an arrangement I believe to have been eminently wise. Manitoba subsequently entered Confederation, and was entitled to equal justice. It has been said that she was sold by some, and bought by others but in all fairness she has certaintly been hardly dealt with. I claim that in order to deal with us in that spirit of impartiality which should characterise all administrative bodies, we should have been put in possession of our lands. Thus we would have been in a position to work out our own destiny, and be responsible for the due administration of affairs, as they were in the other Provinces. But at the outset our public men only looked to the fact that $1,500,000 were paid to the Hudson's Bay Company for whatever rights they had to the public lands in Manitoba and the North-West. The fact was entirely ignored that this amount was added to the public debt of Canada, for which you and I are equally responsible-and the discharge of which we assumed (by being citizens of the Dominion) equally with the citizens of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Bruns

wick, and the other Provinces. What we claim then, is, that while as loyal subjects we are willing to assume our share of responsibility in relation to the discharge of the national debt, it is unjust to deprive us of resources which have been allowed in the case of the other Provinces for purposes of local development. We say it is unfair that these resources should be wrested from us to be appropriated to a road built mainly to subserve national purposes. With as inuch justice could the Federal Government go to Ontario and say, you must contribute ten million acres towards the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, or to Quebec, or any of the other Provinces, and prefer a similar request. Taking away our land was taking away that which, having been found a rich source of revenue by the other Provinces, would have proved a still greater benefit in our case. We are, in short, asked to appropriate for national purposes, our patrimony-our dependence for the future-we are saddled with our share of public indebtedness-have to bear our share of the public burdens equally with the other Provinces. We have our share of the debt incurred for International Railway purposes, and for the improvement of the canal sysWere we, in addition, to give up what ought to be our principal source of local revenue, for the purpose of constructing a great national highway? It is true that the rapid construction of the C. P. R. was of material consequence to us. In common with the other Provinces, we felt an immense interest in the success of an undertaking which had been happily termed a great iron band linking the Provinces together, It might, indeed, connect us together commerciallyit might facilitate intercourse between the Atlantic and Pacific over British territory-it might give us much coveted means

tem.

of ingress and egress-offering to the farmer facilities for moving his grain-to the merchant the means of importing goods; but the real bond of union between the different Provinces that which will unite them individually-will be justice to all the members of Confederation-impartial dealing in every instance. This, and only this, can bind together as one homogenous people those who dwell on British soil between the Atlantie and Pacific. Let them continue to treat this, the fairest and most promising Province of the Dominion, as a step-child, and so long would there be discontent and heart-burning among the people here. Until we are in the enjoyment of the privileges accorded to the other Provinces it is not in the nature of things that there should be that accord and harmony between this Province and the rest which is so desirable in the interests of all. With a constitution founded on justice and impartiality, Manitoba would, I am convinced, soon take her station as the ablest member of the Confederation, and her loyalty and devotion would have full scope. Beyond that, no citizen should require anything at the hands of the Federal authorities: but, less than that, I hope no citizen of Manitoba will ever be satisfied with." Mr. Norquay's utterances were heartily applauded by his auditors, who represented all classes of the community, and every shade of political opinion, as expressing the feeling of the entire popula

tion.

It will be remembered that the $15,000 increase of subsidy, conceded by the Dominion in 1879, was for three years only, and subject to re-adjustment, in 1881, but, in that year, the Ottawa Government declined to make any change in the existing arrangements, other than to allow the Province to draw on capital account to the extent of $100,000, for drainage and

road-making. The proposition that the lands reclaimed by drainage, or a portion of them, should be handed over to the Province to enable her to recoup the money expended on them, was held over for consideration. The extension of the boundaries was provided for by a Dominion Act, passed in March, 1881, and in May following the Manitoba Legislature passed a measure for the Government of the new territory added to its jurisdiction. Neither of these acts defined the eastern boundary of Manitoba positively, the words used were ambiguous, and left the actual boundary between Ontario and Manitoba an open question. Manitoba accepted the eastern extension of her boundary, subject to the final determination of the dispute then existing between the Dominion and Ontario Governments. The new territory was divided into six electoral divisions, and fifteen municipal divisions. It was provided that the election of a member for the division of Varennes, or Rat Portage (the disputed territory), should not take place until the eastern boundary should be fully known and settled. The Province was also divided into three judicial districts, the Western, Central, and Eastern; and provisions were made for holding courts of assize in each of them. Winnipeg was granted two members in the Legislature. In extending the existing Provincial laws to the new territory, the power was reserved to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to proclaim such laws in force in such portions of the new territory as might be deemed advisable. This wise provision was made in the interests of the many settlers in the west, who had made their homes there in order to escape the disadvantages which they considered existed in Manitoba, where the license system was in force, by bringing up their families in a country where the liquor traffic was prohibited by Federal Legislation. Re