‘mt- ii-ords at this time. I - from my|

" q".

MAY s0. .1947.

fi

THE CHARLOTTETOWN GUARDIAN — -~ ~~ 11

FIFI DBL‘

a . é 5 m

’ Co. Conservative

Member Speaks on Budget

In The

House of Commons,

. 1- is the Hansard re- ILTEHKAE speech delivered in 1:; Buagst debate in the House by Mr. W. Chester

w...‘ iiiciiibt-r for Queen's: ‘Tiiursfii-LV- MM’ 22: .\_ speaker: at this late hour ‘m rcmintled of the words of a ‘L. philOSODhET who was also a “L. “waiter, ‘and who said he FL,‘ “at come to make a speech ,1" \\.'\ the great Marc Antony “In. “is having a visit at mid- hiciii i» the beautiful Cleopatra. h]. ilqekfid in and saw her reclin- um till a couch and he said. ‘Ob. 1'.» imiitifiii Cleopatra. I did not ,1‘ this late hour to make a

l

rflfllf‘ _

“may I am not doing to make , ~.fl""l'h now: T simply Wish to “w, u.» adyourrimcnt. of the de- hair‘

rm»... agreed to slid debate “iiiuixncd.

May 231

‘peaker. I had the privil- night of moving the ad- I want 3y for the benefit of lion. iii-rs that I have waited for FUIIFlLlPTHbIC time for a n; bz-r ironi my Province io tiifdk nil behalf of that Province. A» iliov have not seen fit to do so ; believe it. is my duty to say a feel

any member had spoken

"il

f

what hc

r favourable to the Govern- iu than ivliat I am about to

"After I moved adjournment of the debate last night some of my friends on both sides of the

lloust- said to me. “Well, we willi

hear tomorrow all about that car ferry, freight and truck traffic. transportation and the non-fulfil- ment of the confederation pact." at first I felt that this was a YIVilPI embarrassing suggestion. iiui on second thought I realize 1' is a compliment. whether or ivit it ivas intended as such. If l had lime-J’

Mr. Speaker: "I would ask hon. iiiembors to moderate their voices. li i< nrarlv impossible to hear the iwi member who has the floor lsilizgesi that those who have important conversations to carry on might use the lobby."

Mr McLure: “Or let them go ‘n iiit-ii" rooms. Mr. Speaker. anrl liavr their usual sleep. 1f I hatl 21m» this House I would surely ia-ai- about iheGoverx-imcntfs neg- ii-cv in fulfilment of our confed- craiion pact. but another time is niminiz. and before this House rises. cvcn if it isvin September "r flriobrruf shall have my say "Yl ‘bet stibiect. I am not afraid w flPfflllflfi from this Government 11-’ H115‘ other government or any iiiicr party the rights that be- lo my Province as a prov-

laattentive Members ‘T have noticed. Mr. speaker.

aieyou have noticed, that as soon]

urban. members rise to speak in this debate a great many mem- hers hike for the nearest exit as

11'“"m¢b0f1¥ hsd called out. “Ail 1-= that's going ashore". I i‘ krill a partial register of

this and I have found that the .\iilllSlf‘l' of Finance (Mr. Abbott» had a fiili House. and in my hum- 111! riiiiriion he deserved it, 1"flt"l'l(l‘ he pleased thcmcr oth- fflvise. But as hon. members on fliflfifPlll sides began to debate '1lY.‘ btiiicri. the attendance peter- ed .i-.ii from a full House to a lffllt‘ ti’ dcuces and one queen. ‘l have kept a register of at- ‘rizuiinrc when tlie hon. members ‘W’? -\f>1?!k111g and on a great mam‘ occasions there was barely 1i iitiariiin in the House But what -' “lr difference? We are all " " to Hansard, i0 our con- so after all we are all

"l"itii'.~-_ *1‘- R par.

“As l look at the Government "l"1f"‘d»'1.\' l am grateful for a 11" Pr attendance than most hon 111rr1ilit"rs have had. and I would W1" tliaiik _vou to them for that 1 'i‘111 ==av this. that if there were

:1‘ l-lansard reporters in this "-1" l can assure you. Mr. iii-saw tit-t. r could fill this

ihiiiilici- iii the ncitt ten minutes hr 111M” W“ no record to co .to “ "1“iri of what T would say T"... umi is true of a great "w" others. iisil“ 1_1lis budget debate I have H missed one sitting of the ‘"11"’ I have listened to all the iEZFFHP‘ "11 the Maritimes except F" “'11P deliver hv the hon. mam. H“ l” "fly-oi (Mr. Brooks» and mqfd "f" 1WD being absent on ‘h; occasion: I was called out of I RmHMI-l’ Some of the speeches vmm l?" in l\ nosltlon tnninder- "em ullv. and I regret that memblillltih indeed. When hon. “Muss Weak in that classical qmflv ire. French. unless they go M” {and carefully. as the Min. W, g “import (Mr. Chevrieri {m1 u!‘ hon. ember for lihlin- M ‘t? “Pmlngi do. I am at a m; 11 understand what they mm“ I was born in a French "m Rent in Prince Edward Isl- md-I nown as North Rustlco-J um w" Proud to be born in ‘n; "memos-f always held it. ‘hand the French people there ' bihev wanted to learn tag- le . ut we were not privileged to h: French. However. the other m g-hlDDei-iing to meet one of “Mb Olnch member of the re- armll en committee I inter- o him what Ifwanted to Q . ‘known with regard w “tmflounty. I said this te r l touches pee Queens’.

i

7' "lffltne enhance "Dun" "h" “bile. and canoe-

ially within the last. couplc of days. I have felt elated. that. the Marltimes are being recoilnizcd. so well recognized that I flm iii. most envious that we have not a

bv-flsvflon pending in ilie PIO- vince of Prince Edward Island. When the Government rcalivc

m" 1119)’ have a. long ovrrdile by- election on their hands they seen to sit up and take notlceto ivarni up to the fact that the Maritime: ‘"9 B Dart of Canada.

"But I do not give the cntirc credit to the lay-election. I be- lieve that lion. members who havu spoken so ably on the unfulfilled obligations of the Government to the neglected Mafltimes have Px_ cried a great deal of influence. I refer to such hon. members as the member for Royal. the lion member for Cumberland tMf. Blackt, the hon. member for Co‘.- chester-llanls (Mr. Stanfield) the hon. member for Halifax iMr. Isnori. the hon, member for An- tigonlsh-Guysborougli iivir, Km“ and there have been a great many others. I did hope. Mr. Speaker. that the Minister of Fisheries zMr. Bridgcsi, with all his clon- cnce. would have spoken on iiv rights of the Maritimes in [his debate.

“I wish to say that is afforded me real pleasure when the hon. member for Davenport Qvir, Milf- Nicolr. a coilsliiticncy of that great Province of Ontario, cliiiiav- ed his efforts bv his interest and factual information regarding the neglected Marltimcs of iliis Do- minion. It was a grand hm] glorious feeling for me when hf‘ spoke about the best bit of red earth in the world. my Province. It was an assurance to me also that my cfforts to keep the Island on the map have not been in vain.

"All this. Mr Speaker. ls a pre- amble to ilic subject that is be- fore us for debate ai this Hill“. 0M that is important to us all whether we are in private or poi- itical life. and that is the subject of the budget,

Mr. Abbott's Budget

"I introducing the budget. on April 39 the Minister of Finance informed the House that it was his first. Political history records the fact that it is either the making or the breaking of a man who first delivers ilie budget. At this time I wish to congratulate the Minister of Finance on play- ing first fiddle. Since his debut in political life seven years ago the hon. gentleman has played

many parts in Government. Hc played second fiddle i.o the ex- Minister of Finance iMr. llslcyi;

second fiddle to the ex-lvilinistci- of Defence. Hon. J. L. Ralston. and to another ex-Minisier. Gen- cral A. G. L. MacNaughton. Then

ihrflillh the itrahl! I the hen. member for Grey North Cascl.

Defence.

(Mr. he became Minister of On Tuesday. April 39,

we found him calling the tune

and playing first fiddle. "At that time it was interest- ing to note how the Prime Min-

ister smiled upon him as he call-

ed him to the second fiddle sent and when the Minister of Finance in his address

in the front row,

would draw a long bow with a high note how the Prime Mini.» ier beamed upon his protege with

the nicest of Virginian smilesl

“In his budget speech the Min-

isicr of Hiiancc told us that a What the people ivrint is the present day to They are not willing to buy futures cven on a 29 per cent A few days prior delivering his

great day is coming.

be great.

profit margin. to the Minister budget sport-h I looked at a pic- iurr of him in Mall. moustache at that time,

the Globc and I do not believe he had a There I

saw a man in comfortable attire.

shirtslceves rolled up to the o!- ccps. earning his $18,000 annual lllflPllllllly by the sweat of his noble brow. It reminded me of a the words of a great British Prime Minister who said. ‘sweat and iC2lf.';'—S\A'Cflt for the Minister of Finance but tears for the taxpay- ers of Canada.

More Dissatisfaction

"According to the Minister he laboured hard and well to make us believe that his first budget held out more money for all. higher wages for all, higher profits for all, lower taxes for all, lower prices for all, higher pro- duction for all industry with fioor and ceiling prices to protect pro- ducers and consumers. Oh, what .t liopc! But notwithstanding all this clangitig of tambourlnes and idealistic verbiage. when the searchlight is turned on the bud-

get it reveals at the same time‘

the nigger iii the woodpilc of hope for better things.

“By this budget will come stif- ling of private enterprise with less production, more jobless men _-and it is reported we have thirty thousand of them in the Maritimcs at the present time- nioro discontent and general dis- satisfaction throughout the entire country’,

“l-latilng listened attentively to the Minister's budget from the first to the last I wondered who prepared it—~I knew W110 delivered it. and in my opinion it was ex- tremely urll delivered. But I noticed particularly the high praise given to the budgets of other years—and I wish the ex- Ministei‘ of Finance were in his scat. Then I wondered why the chaiigc of ministers in the finan- cial dcpartiiicnt. Had the pre- vious Minister become over popu- lar. or had he lost caste with the taxpayers -of Canada to the detri- ment of this Government? Tha: question l’ shall leave for hon gentlemen tr answer. -

“When the budget was finished I thought of an old quotation

from scripture which is heard frequently. It will be found in Genesis, vCilflfltt-Pl‘ 27, verse 221

World Press Gels Fade

The United Nations is tackling the ivorld-wide p-oblems of the free exchange of information through its sub-t mmlsslon on the Freedom of Information anti of the Press. Herc a group of rouespondents. whose dispatches go to almost every nation in the world, get the facts on an important story at U.N. headquarters from a IJ.N. press oflicer (center, reading). The press has free access to virtually every U.N. activity.

K.

‘The voice is Jacob's voice. hui the hands are the hands of Lsaufl"

Hon. Mr. MzicKerizic: “You have ii. wrong. Read your Bible again. ‘The voice is the voice of Jacob. but the hand is the hand o! Esau?‘

Mr. McLure: “Mr. Speaker. I should love to correct the lion. gentleman; I know lie has relic:- ious ideas, but he is mistaken in correcting me.“

Mr. MacKenzic: "Get me a Bible."- Flctitiuus Surplus Mr. McLure: "Most of us con-

sldered it was a typical budget of other years fuiinclled through_a younger minister in a Govern- ment effort to eliminate some of the bad taste of other drastic budgets; for instance, failure to increase exemption for botli mar- ried aiid, single persons,

"We all believe the Govern- ment owes evcry man and woman. if physically fit and capable of doing so. an opportunity to earn a living. The lower paid Ol‘ sal- aried people iii the country are earning only a bare existence aivii are paying their full share of1 taxation to -the revenue depart- ment. through hidden taxes. They‘ should not have to priy an in- come tax on top of what they are already paying.

“To my initid, these things arc proof sufficient that the ex-Miii- ister of Finance had his hand on the gearshift even if lic had to reach over from the back seal.

"Let us look for a moment :1‘.

1aud called the balance. $352 mil-

the budget. The \MllllS1.(‘.l' boom-rd his surplus of $352.l44,000 as a1 great. feat. the grcatcsl. iii eight".- years. But. Mr. Speaker, I have‘ my doubts wlieihei" tlic Minister; himself believes it, because latc" in his ivondcrftil speech he issued

this uiarning to all of us-I quote from I-lansard at D1186 2515'» '11“ should not. however. be led into false optimism. ‘nor should we _.unip to the conclusion that out‘ present tax structure is much more than adequate to meet all our future requirements.

"Suppose we look for a mom- cnt at this financial monstrosity. the budget. In the fiscal year 1946-47 Government expenditures were $2.632 million in round fig- ures. The revenues from taxes and departmental incomes were. 52,610 million or $2.612 million. Actually there was a deficit of $20 million or $22 million. How then come a surplus?

“You have heard, and it will not hurt for me to repeat it. that the Government sold war assets for $372 million which no doubt had cost the taxpayers over $1 billion or probably $2 billion. anti this $372 million was called a rcvcnuc. But I will bet you the Minister of Finance earmarked it as non-recurring revenue."

Mr. Abbott: "It was classified

as expenditures when the stuff was paid for." Mr. McLure: "They took into

account the deficit of $20 million

lion. a surplus. I Wonder if any chartered bank would call it a surplus. I wonder if a business firm would stand before a banker whom it owed and declare a sur- plus sliown in this manner.

eeuatry will swallow the bait. 1 "To submit a budget surplus by the methods f have outlined. and announcing a forecast sur- plus for the next year of 8190 million or $200 million. is in my opinion an insult to the intellig- ence of the taxpayers at a time like this, when the country is groaning and staggering under its present load and crying for relief.

“The Minister. in bidding for a popular budget. hit right out with high income tax. He should have raised the exemption on single taxpayers to $1.200. on married taxpayers without dependents toi $2.000 or therenbouts. and msr-1 iied taxpayers with dependents to ' $3.500.

"No tax relief for the married women who work! Evidently the Government do not want women any more, even if nurses and school teachers are now scarce No assistance to new business‘ and very little to old established firms.

No Relief

“Business in general must be‘ disappointed with Canada and Canadians fought a great war in the name of free- dom and in ihr: defence of the dignity anti morale worthy of ur- dinary .men. Supposedly we are back now to peace time. should this Government now deny to our citizens the privileges and responsibilities of running their own businesses? What freedom it would be to businessmen if they could now run their own businesses. They look forward to the casting off of the unbearable bureaucratic shackles.

“No relic! for business. no relief for farmers. no treaties for fish- ermen! This budget will continue to strangle the treasury of many millions of dollars more o! tlie taxpayers’ money.

"This budget appears to me to be the essence of the economic muddle in which the Government finds itself today. It strikes at the very root of the effort to get production established by private enterprise. ,

"The first and most vital task that the Government should per- form and that they should now perform is to clea-r up'this econ- omic mess resulting from years of socialistic incompetence. mal~ administration and reckless finan- cing. That is the task that the Government should apply its ef- forts to, and this would restore confidence both at home and a» broad in Canaclas march for- ward. _

"I do not know. Mr. Speaker. whether I would term this an election budget. but it has all the earmarks of a leadership budget ~page the hon. the Minister of Frinance. A Liberal newspaper in

Taxpayers Know Better i

my home town. Charlottetown. commenting editorially on this budget. said: ‘What a budget.

"T1115 1111018 budget. to say i111!‘ and they were so mean with little least. ls qucstonable bookkcrifivhi Pyjncg Edward Brand)

Oi" suppose a manufacturer snrieci to tire practice of part of his plant

may resort to this kind of ac- counting. but I do not believe the

There's

re-l 3-"111111, to the provincial agreements. Aii- equipmcnt to, FlIOW a ycarl_v profit. Governmental

“That has reference of course

other million or two would have been just chicken feed, but we

this budget. .

2 Great

Sale Priced . From Stem To Stern

Greatest Ever

l-‘reiii the standpoint of Values. , Crowds Volume ...this sale 1 totally eclipses every previous re- 1 cord. Join the crowds now.

Stocks

canon ans.

i i i t

l...

(IIQI Correctly

"There ‘was one peculiar thin: about this budget. Before it was delivered there did not seem Ln be any secrecy about it; ilicrc was no secrecy about the terms of the budget. For instance. the Minister of Finance. before lic de- livered his budget. announced tlitii. there would be a surplus of over $200 thousand."

Mr. Abbott: “Million?

Mr, McLure: "Million."

Mr. Sinclair (Vancouver Northi “Read a little more carefully."

Mr. McLurc: "Let me hear that voice again." Mr. Sinclair: "Read a little

more carefully. If you arc goini: to read you might as well read correctly."

An hon. Member: too."

Mr. Sinclair: "I speak single word. I don‘t read." Mr. McLure: "For instance. the Minister of Finance announced over a month ago that there would be a surplus of over $200 million."

“You read

every

Mr. Sinclair: "That is right. $200 million."

Mr. McLurc: "You are listcii- ing, are you? The leader of His

Majesty's Opposition fOfPSflVlISflfllfj sixty days prior to that. a iliirt‘; per cent income tax reduction which he announced. My leader must have had somc inside infow, mation; wnetliei" lie was in col-l laboration with the Ministci" of1 Finance-J ' Mr. Abbott: "I can assure my‘; hon. friend as to that; there was’ no collaboration.”

Mr. McLurc:“--it is not for mo. to say. but lie was only one per cent higher than the Minister."

Mr. Abbott: surprised than the leader of the

“No one was morn»,

had to scratch for every nickel we received.

Opposition." (Continued on Pace ltl- Gel-fl“

1 my hearing-all

§o@-@cQ>s~$co<9>ce§-isa Ellen's Diary 1

B) an Island Farmer's Wife

‘QT-we

r ea --u ~flli .-..>..».. tCanilirueri irc-m Page l4!

'11 511F018“! the old oiic. While it still ticcds nitist-tiizue hands to (‘i-dd tlic fiiisiiiii; min-lies, ii i, an lHIPIOVCIlICIIL oi-ei- the former ivlii-cii had been fashioned out, l); 51111919 maple Saplings bent over l0 form an arch, though we“ “ad 51113P”1‘11‘<1 "lo vines well for a period of years. The discarded maple plates were cut in sieve 191121115 Iifici‘ a battle with their toughness and consigned than to the ivoodbox to assist in hastening the farmer's dinner. "The woodbox Ellcit" that is wiiat James is call.‘ 111i,’ to mo now. "The appls “ca! anti ilie rose hush came this evm 111l1§~1 put the trees down cellar but the rose bush is lii the ivood. 1>'>‘-}'—I didn't know where to nut .-i. Jeanie and I were lhSOlll a; 11"‘ 1111s. hlvma zone to nticnrl s ' ill-av in the fT-ifilffilllliiy 1lo'-":i the river road. flock rufitorri us flirt-r» and we horned lvlth lilr. and A. walkini‘. up rll tonight's velvety darkness from lane's and. The entertainment. was meat (‘l’.,i!I_\'fl1liF, being g light, fgfnpv dy zlrama. refreshing to folks, now lijr clay ialzen up wlili Werner things. And so aftc-r years of wish. ll’l.'-I for it. I own a yellow Climb- 1'11: rriscl Btit Jami-a continues in 111V to kccp up liis line of ("illi- niiliiit-ziiion with nit‘ and if “my ivoriis fly up. my tiiotiights remain liciii-.-.-" his tori gr up and beyond but one: “Bed!”