} Manon 20. 1933 '

The following address on the mmgdian National-Canadian Pacific “may Bill was delivered in the i-louse of Commons on March 9, by Mr. John Myers, 1V1). P. for Queens:

m. J. I1. MYER£ (Queens): Mr. gpeaker, in rising to say a. few words on this important question I mute you" that I do not do so merely for the purpose of prolong- hg the debate. I would much rather see the dclsaies cut short

importance of this question I be

tlon o! which every member of thl house is capable. In the few re marks I intend to make \ follow a somewhat different

by almost all the members

the hon. member for Red Deer (Mr. dpcalclnan) who has just taken his neat. I always enjoy listening to him; for even although he is not a lawyer he usually has something 0f a practical nature t0 put before the house. In the few remarks I intend “to make I shall discuss the railway . situation somewhat filmlg the some lines as those followed by the hon. member for Red Deer. deal- ing with it more from thc sland- polnt of transportation as a service lo the country than anything else.

The bill now-before the house is based upon the report o; thc’ Duff commission. Enough already has bean said about the constitution of that commission, the ivork it did,

and the report it presented; I shall therefore not occupy the time of the house py reiterating what has been said in that respect. I have given the report a great deal oi study and thought. and after strip- ping it bare and divesting it of all

_. the frills, I find that three out-

‘ standing facts remain and rcfilse to be set aside.

Importafit Factors

. The first fact is that we must ‘always have railways in Canada. ‘Geography itself" says so. Our wide open spaces, the long distances, ind the heavy commodities of farm and mine and forest, which can ‘be moved only by rail transporta- "tlon, make it necessary that we al- ways have railways in this country. The second fact is that motor transportation has come to stay, and it must be dealt with as such. ‘ 'l‘hird, and I am free to admit ‘the most important fact of all, is that the taxpayers of Canada can- not long continue to pay every saturday night a deficit of a mil- ‘ .ll0n dollars on the Canadian Na- tional Railways. . The bill that is before the house ls an attempt. I take it. to coordin- ate and amalgamatc and bring to- gether into one scheme the three facts which I have just mention- ed. Just before I left Prince Ed- ward Island to attend the present session of parliament I was asked t0 address a meeting of the rail- Wdy employees of the city of Char- lottetown. They were gathered to-

gether in their hall. and I received E

{iffy short notice. I had no know- Jsdse of the object of the meeting. ?hor did I know upon what subject i! was expected to address them. "hit as the meeting opened this piece °l Duper was put in my hand, from ‘which. with your permission. Mr. k aker, I shall quote a brief lwailflph which sets forth what I ésonceiye to be a worthy object on fit" hurt of the railway employees: ‘ It is the object of this ‘name clllbto unite all the employees ‘Ind retired members on the is- ~ find division of the Canadian :Na.ti0nal Railways, that they may 1""! Mather and be of valuable " - “malice to-the railway in its 41mm! to regain and retain its iii-Rifle from the various kinds

Rail Problems ‘ Ably Discussed ByMr.._/_._H.Myres

Disadliantages To Island Farmers Q AnclShippers Stressed By Queen b CoantyM-P. _Ir_2_ Ry. Bill Debate. V.

of motor vehicles that havelby means of very unfair competition made such inroads on its revenue. Transportation being the only goods we have to offer, it is our desire that we give same at a reasonable rate together with best possible service an up-to-date transportation company composed of a loyal bunch oi workers can give. l .

In other words, transportation is what we have to sell; let us go out and sell it. That was the object

‘MR. Join»: u. MYERS, M. r.

P. E. I. Disadvantages

-I believe the house will pardon me if I relate some circumstances

and that we get along with the business of the house and wind up the session and get home, but the day before 1 left home. I want to

iieve demands the very best atten-

I may line from that which has been pursued who have preceded me, except perhaps

'ln the city of Charlottetown the

- 51y for them, and I presume I am speaking for all railway workers 5 throughout Canada. that they are . absolutely loyal to the railways; their heart and soul is in their work,,and. as is characteristic of railway men wherever you meet them, they hate the motor truck. It was their object to endeavour to

0f the meeting of railway workers; concerning

shipping conditions underwhlch we in the Province of

{Prince Edward Island laboured

during the last season. By reason of the high duty on potatoes go- ing into the United States. and because the Cuban market was closed to our products, we were forced to look elsewhere for our market. That market we found in central Canada, Ontario and Que- bec. when we began to look

the moment. any adjustme

secure for the» railways that busin- esa which had been lost. In rising lo address ‘that meeting I prefaced my remarks by stating I had cer- tain things tosay to them with which I did not expect them to agree. I knew I was addressing railroaders. and it is my habit on every oc- caslon what is in my Own mind, and not what is in the mind of slmebody else.

to speak just exact]

Quotes Dull’ Report

In this connection I should like to-quotc one or two passages which I believe will hem- out what I have said and ivill‘ have rcspcctio thc tvans-portaiioil sys- tem in Canada. At the ond of par- ngraph 157 of the Dull report find the following; ,

Since ally measures looking to

a revival of trade are beyond the scope of ‘the commission's inquiry, we pass from this topic with the observation that an lncrcasc in truFn of cvcll twcntyper cent above the, figures for i931, which would still be below the earnings for 1925 would result in substantial improvement in the railway pClSlUOIi in Canada.

EIOSS

Hon. members will note

I88 While we have refrained from making any recommendations we recognize that the of freight tariffs and tolls is

question

inextricably bound up with the question of transport. The posi-

tion at the moment, however. is

difficult and-complex. It has been represented to us by many com- petent witnesses that any in-

crease ln tolls would only impose

a further handicap on the Can- adian manufacturer and producer at a. time when they can least

afford to shoulder additional burd- the increased tolls

ens, and that might have the effect of so restricting traffic as to afford

little. if any. relief to the railways.

189 It would appear that. at ‘ of the freight tolls and tarifls would

be inadvisable, but we feel it our

dutv before passing from this question. to express the view that even under more favorable circumstances the financial posi- tion of the railways may be such as to demand that the whole nuestion of tariffs and tolls, in its wuicst sense. should be the sirblect of special investigiltwfi. with a view to detennining whether or not the existing tarifls and fnlls charred for the conveyance of freight are just and reasonable both to the rail- ways and their customers.

You will notice. Mr. Speaker. th

statement is made that a twenty per cent increase in the volume of freight traffic would make a great difference ‘to the railways. Have the railway managements up to present time made any attempt by l. modification of their nlles to secure that twenty per cent increase?

14o Richmond: st.

ER. BRO W

Fire, Life, Accident, Sickness and Plate Glass Insurance

pat Lowest Rate. Af-lent _at Summerside, Lloyd Lewis

Charlottetown

to say ujll h

that there is reference to a twenty per cent increase in freight handling. Then, in paragraphs 188 and 189 we find the following:

the

cast-iron

around for means to move our crop to the Canadian market we found out, due to the fact that potatoes were very cheap, and that the consumer owing to curtailed

to pay a high price for our com-

all it was necessary for us to get those potatoes to the market in the very cheapest possible way. The freight rrxtc by rail on potatoes slaving: from Prince Edward Is- land to Montreal is thirty ccntr. per hundred pounds. thirty-three cents to Ottawa and. thirty-eight "cents. to Toronto. But we found last fall that by using stcalllshlps \vc were able to move our iaotatocs to thc market. iu central Canada tor about twenty cents pm- hundred 1 pounds. For thc first time in thc‘ history of my sccliou of the country slcanlcvs lcfl. Piiiloe Ed- ward Island and proceeded up thc Si. Lawrence liver to lwOnlYCfll/Bnd Toronto. I should like hon. mem-

Y

a popular nor a profitable way oi transporting potatoes» Neither would it be at all necessary for the railways to meet the waterborne freight rate. The farmer or the shipper likes very much to have a railway car pull into his siding so that, he may pile in his 500 sacks 01' 650 bushels, which go to make up the cal-load of potatoes. He likes to pile them in. neatly and snuilly. close the doors and send the car through to its destination. At that time of the year those potatoes

condition in which they went in. That is not the cam with po- tatoes carried: by steamshin- In the steamship there are from 40.- 000 to 60,000 sacks, and hon. mem- bers will readily understand that in loading, unloading and storing a cargo of that size some damage must result. Many potams are bruised, and~a great deal of dam- age takes place. In my l-iew by a very slight concession or a. slight reduction in the rate for the time being the railways would have had no difficulty in securing a twenty per cent increase in frcight hand- led, and our section of the coun- try would have been put in a much better condijion. I should like to say i1 Word "f" cerning the manner in which shill- pers and farmers arc treated when they load cars. If a shipper is loading a. steamer for Cuba, the railway company will allow him the use of cars for ten days. That is, cargoes may be assembled from the different railroad stations throughout the province and to the seaport. Under these circumstances no demurrasc is charged during a ten day per- iod. But for some reason which I cannot understand. and which I doubt whether any 0th" 31°11- member can understand. when we seek to ship potatoes either to the United States or another part of Canada. we are allowed the use of the cars for only flvo days.

Railway Inconvenienoes The assembling of a large car- or 00,000 sacks requires

number of cars and takes consider- able time. A steamer is not like

buying power was not in a position‘

modity, that if we were to live at

bers to know that that is neither.

‘what we have to sell, so let us go

will leave the car in exactly the '

go of potatoes consisting of 50.000 a great

a railway trail; it does not always arrive at the destination at the time expected. Storm oraccidcnt of some kind may intervene, and it may be one, two or three days late. "but only five days’ use oi the cars is permitted. Last fall our ship- pers sent e delegation-to the head _ emcee! till Atlantic division at thehoerdmustbechle-tolave

The cnanlorrsroww cuaanum

lowed ten days’ use of the cars in loading steamers, but they Wflfi met with s. blank refusal. If the general manager, Mr. Appleton. had been home at the time I think their request would have been suc- oessful, because we have always found him very obliging and willing to meet our wishes. However, he was not there, and this delegation met the freight or traific manager who made a blank refusal. The result was that the shippers had to unload their cars into the freight sheds, which entailed s. second handling at extra expense and‘ with additional loss of potatoes’; Some of the shippers were sq vex- ed about the, matter that they moved their potatoes to the sea- POYt by motor truck instead of us- ing the railway. '

Freight Classifications l

There is just one other matter about which I should like to speak. and that ls the freight classifica- tions. The hon. member for Red Deer said that transportation is ,the most important factor in the life of a country. There is no de- nying that, but what is the use of having transportation facilities if they are not available in such‘ ,a way as to be b?st suited to those whose business it is louse them?l, [A short time ago I was talking to‘ ‘=1 gentleman engaged in the build- 3 ing supply business. He sells all, kinds of lumber, brick, cement. win- tiows, doors, and so on. and, he was : telling me of his shipping troub-" les. An owner or contractor would come to him with a bill of mater- ial for a house he intended to build, and ask that that ulster-la] b? put in a car and consigned to his railway station. Because of the rigid classification this man foimd that. he coilld not ship brick or ccuvm with lumber, or win- dows and doors with scantling. that the i=hlplncnt ivould have to be bro- ken up into the difiereilt classi- fications. It would take nearly r whole train before the nlan could got Whill. he wanted. In this con- nection I should like to quote from section lfifi, silb-section 5 of thc DuIPrcport. as follows:

Ill elasticity oi’ freight rates and railway practice generally which prevents prompt action in the meeting, cfialling revenues and dealing effectively with com- nctition from other forms of transport.

The classifications may have been all right for the time for which they were made, but that time hals long since gone by. We are, now faced with the competition of the motor truck which knows nothing about classification of freight. It will back up to your warehouse and take brick or cement of lumber or anything you ofler, and if our rail- ways are to survive they must meet this competition upon com- mon ground. Transportation is

out and sell it. Car Landings

I should like to quote a few fig- ures in suppor‘ of what I have said. Looking over the carioadings, I find that the total for the year ended December 3. 1932, was 2,- 041,755. In 1931" the uru' adings were 2,406,189 and in 1930, 2,959,- 597. Miscellaneous freight shower] ' the largest decrease, 157,105 cars or 26 per cent. Merchandise dnclln- ed by 85.442 cars or 11.9 per cent. ‘Ihese figures goto show that mis- cellaneous freight and merchand- ise are, shall I say. most offended against by the classification rules

Moncton to ask that they be al-

millwy. In part I agree with that

for cco above that there is one other, qual- ification which to my mind is more essential, and that is his ability w 80 out and get business. Trims. Dortation is the only commodity llc will have to sell; let him go out and sell it. not according to My rigid, cast-lion classification rules but in the way that will be easiest and most beneficial to the ‘Patrons of the railway.

Commends Directors

I" passing r should like to sey lust a word with reference to the Present directors, who will soon be retired. They have been in office °1l1y a short time, but I believe that during the last two years they hive Dlflyed a very important part in the history of Canada in Wgflrd to transportation. I think they have done wonderful work in mil-tins down the expenses of the railway and trying as far as hum- dilly possible to make revenue and expenditure come close together,

The other evening my hon. friend "0111 Queens-Lunenburg (Mr. Ernst), Spfiikihg on this bill, expressed the fear that his branch line might be almost entirely out oiI. and that the fishermen in his constituency would not be able to get their fresh fish to market. The hon, scntielnan has my sincere sympa- thy. and I want to advance th" opinion which has been very well ,vxpressed by the hon. member m; ‘ Red Deer, that service is the primi-

‘factor. We must have transpor-l lotion. and if any service of thc‘ kind mentioned by the hon. mem- ber for Queens-Lunenburg is un- duly curtailed I believe it is thc dutv of the railway company to sce to it that something is slur-ti- tutcrl. I know somihing about’ 'he fishing business. and I knoy." something about th- shipping of fresh fish to marks-t. ‘TVe have number of shipping sirltions in my

He must have theability to save

mmley; he must have due regard y on all occasions. but

that today the Canadian National! is a fine system. The roadncd good, thc rails are good, the rolllrlg, sun-k is good and the men are, days ahead. 1t may bc tiuc that, as the Duff report says, the red‘ thread of extravagance slioyved up a. little in the past few yours, but; money was plentifu; their and to show for it we now have a line‘ railway system of which we all should be proud. ' In this connection I should like,’ to refer to the hot/sis owucrl in‘; the Canadian National. I thought from the very outset that the idea of a railway building and owning a hotcl in Canada was n hugc mistake. It has not been (lone m the United States; the l‘iill\\‘fi\"l~i in that country do not 0\\'ll hotel.» and I know of no country." other than Canada where this has been done. However, we have Ilium umv, and it is up to us to Ira".- lilo best of them.

l

Hotel Welt a airmii/l

I should like to touch on jlift mi: other point in conclusion. In read-i lng thc proceedings of thc Scnatc committee which dealt with this bill I notice a refercncv, bj: one gentleman who gave evidence, m our little hotel in thc My uf Cll.il‘- loteown. I resent the remarks tilat were made on that occasion. This gentleman said we had a hoio. that was out of all keeping with the province: that it was 51v mzmri and so elaborate that the mtivcz. of Prince Edward Island u-crc afraid to enter it. Nothing is fur- lher from the truth, Ilia SpcakPi‘. fnCharlottctmvn we haw a hi" little one hundred room Culrnzliall. National hotel, and from thc

standpoint 0f earnings I Hill's}; 1i is ul-

a/Jout fourth in thc sgsienl. though it has l)"(‘l‘. in opcrat‘ than two years. I can usstlw "it that. hotel is well pairouizcil layj the people of Prince Edward ls- lanri and by the tourists wl» cs3!

Jill).

province, and rapid tranuporrritioil is the one essential for those whol are engaged in thc fishing industryl The railway might very well study the question of putting on prop- erly equipped motor trucks to con- - vey the products of the fishermen to the nearest railway centre, if railway service from any point such as this is to be curtailed. The fishermen have it pretty hard. If there is one class in this world for whom I have had a great pity dur- ing the past two years it is our fishermen. I have seen them land- ing the very best codflsh that can be taken on the Atlantic seaboard and selling them for less than one 08M a pound. and the same applies to mackerel. It is the duty of the trustees, I submit, whoever and whatever they may be, to look after. the business interests of the farm- ers, the fishermen, the lumbermen and all others engaged in the pri- mary industries of this country.

Intercolonlal Railway s

I should like to say just .1 word with regard to that old question in the Maritime Provinces. the In- tercolonlal railway, which already has been referred to by other hon. members. It is well known to every member of this house that this railway was the one inducement which prompted the Maritime Provinces to enter confederation. They were told that they would be linked up with the markets of Canada, in lieu of the markets they were losing alOllg the Atlantic sea- board, by a government ovimed railway. Up to the present time we‘