11, 1928 '
  , fi* -,f   ff a ,I . mi? `CHARl»01"FET5WN ‘GU-UYDUIN' g exon iuvilr
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P1‘il1C€ Edward ISland’s
Constitutional Rights ein ~
  Sacrificed for P
" The Canadian Press reports from Ottawa
of February 8th, credit Hon. P. J. Veniot l Post-
master General, with me fo|i0wing=_ `
' “Mr. Veniot declared that the recommenda-
tions of the Duncan Report had been fully iinple-
mented with respect to Prince Edward Island and
this fact had already been pointed 'out by one- of
the members from that Province.”
Hon. Mr. Veniot is evidently acting "on the
previous statement and assurance given in the
House by Hon. John E. Sinclair, that he was entire-
ly satisfied with the way the Government had car
ried out the Duncan_R_eport recommendations in
so far as it was possible to d0_ V
Such an'~a'»dmisslon as this sent broadcast'
throughout the Dominion leaves a false impression
and will do the case of Prince Edward lslaiid in-
calculable injury. As an instance, look at the in-
terpretationthe Hon. Mr. Veniot has placed on Mr.
Sinclair’s _statement when he announces “that the
recommendations of the Duncan Report had been
fully implemented with respect to Prince Edward
_ Island." ‘
Is Mr. Sinclair advancing the interests _of
Prince Edward Island by permitting such unjusti-
fiable statements to be sent broadcast absolutely
contrary to the facts? Will any prominent shipper,
business man, or farmer in this Province endorse
Mr. Sinclaii"s statement?
_ _ What did the Duncan Report recommend as
regards Transportation for Prince Edward Island?
We quote from the Report which is dated 23rd Sep-
tember, 1926, the following-
“We recommend that the Railway Adminis-
tration should be asked to make a survey of what
is required in this connection, and that the Depart-
ment should make capital provision for the im-
provements to be undertaken within the shortest
possible time_.”
` “Car Ferny. The terms and conditions lip-
on which Prince Edward island was admitted into
Confederation in 1873 contained the following pro-
vision:-
“Efficient steam service for the conveyance
of mails and passengers to be established and
maintained between the Island and the mainland
_of t_1ie Dominion, Winter and Summer, thus plac-
ing the Island in continuous communication with
the Iiitercoloiiial Railway and the railway system
i of the I)ominion.’
“The present Car Ferry ai`i'oi°ds a much im-
proved service as compared with that which the'
Island formerly enjoyed, but in recent years traffic
and freight have considerably increased and will
continue to increase, particularly at certain seasons
of the year. . . .
“Although the ferry boat service is unsatis-
factory, the railway administration admitted that
'tliere wa _need for supplemental provision being
made iiigie' fdrni either of a second ferry boat, or
.1 gp§¢iu;l\f1°eight boat. We recommend that the
matter be gone into from the point of view of plac-
ingtat the disposal of the Island such satisfactory
means of communication as will ensure as regular
and complete a service as can reasonably be made.
We further recommend that, so far as the ferry
iioat service is concerned, it should not be run as
part of the railway operations, but should be run by
the railway administration under separate account
for the Department. We feel that, by reason of
its 'association with railway accounts, this service
does not getthe attention it should receive.”
' 1 , V Hon. Mr. Sinclair and Hon. Mr. Veniot have
the audacity to get up in the House of Commons
and make the statement that the Government has ~
x arrled out the above recommendations in so far
as it was possible to do so,` and that the recommen-
dations had been fully 'implemented as regards
Prince Edward Island. »
1 I Can Mr. Sinclair be _acting in any other cap-
acity than a tool ofa the Government, in making
such .a statement? _ '
I Is Mr. Sinclair alive to the fact that this
Island Province has constitutional rights that have
been violgted for upwards of fifty years in the mat-
ter ,of continuous communication with the main-
land both Winter andr_Summer? t
Do the people of the Murray Harbor Branch
une districts _ with their costly, inadequate _ and
qu¢.0f.dat;e narrow gauge railway endorse Mr. Sin-
g_;l9ir’s statement? , ,
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Do the travelling public and citizens general-
ly endorse Mr. Sinclair’s statement when Passen-
gers, Mails and Express coming by the Ocean Lim-
ited from Mont-real are held up at Sackville for 22
hours at least four months of the year?
` It is over two years since the Duncan Re-
port was issued, admitting and establishing our
rights as a partner of Canada and the second Car-
Ferry so much needed to promote our Agricultural,
Fishing, Commercial and Tourists interests, has
not as yet been ordered, and it will probably take
two years to build a modern boat to meet the Island
requirements. Was Mr. Sinclair and Mr. Veniot
Justifled or in keeping with the facts when they
broadcast such statements? _ The greatest difli-
culty R-cards _of Trade and Politicians have been
UD against is in combating. thepropaganda in the
Press in Central and Western Canada to the effect
that the Duncan Commission recommendations
have been .fully in_1plemented, and now an Island
representative acting as- a tool for the Mackenzie
King Government is prepared to sacrince the in-
terests of his Province and fall into line to save the
party from its record -oi’ negligence towards Prince
Edward Island and in defia-nceof the Duncan Re-
' port recomniendations. While it cannot spare a few
hundred thousand dollars to broaden the Murray
.Harbor gauge. it goes on _spending millions of
_ dollars for Railways, Hote1s,.and lmniigraticn ur
p .
poses all across the continent, but continues to ig-
nore Prince Edward island as a Province and part-
ner of Canada be_cause the representative from the
Island is unfaithful to his trust. ‘
What did The .Patriot, `the Liberal mouth -
piece, have to say about transportation and the
need of a second Cai' Ferry, when the Conserva-
tives were in power away back on the llth Marcli.
1920, almost 8 years ago. We quote :-
SECOND CAR FERRY STEAIVIER
(Patriot, Tliurs.day, March ll, 1920.) '
The meniorial addi'esse`d to the lion. .l. D.
Reid, Minister oi’ Railways aifd Canals, and D. B.
Hanna, President of the Canadian National Rail-
ways, has been prepared by Messrs. W. F. Tid-
marsli and Nelson Rattenbury in this city on behalf
of producers, e.\:porters and merchants of the Pro-
vince. ' t \
This_ memorial asks for the following im-
provements in our transportation scrvice:- f
tl) Another Car Ferry steamer, equal in
power and capacity to the Prince Edward Island;
( 2) For the completion and standardiza-
tion oi' the Prince Edward Island Railway as rapid-
ly as circumstances will permit; _
(3) ‘i‘o operate on the branch line between
Tormentine and Sackville (until such time as thc
second steamer is on the route, when it may be
possible to carry cars from terminal to terminal
without-change) more modern and up-to-date pas-
senger coaches, with a diner attached; coupled
withmore powerful locomotives to ensure faster-
time;
(4) To use on the Prince Edward lslaiid
branch modern and up-to-date coaches with chair
cars attached to express trains, together with more
powerful locomotives: _
(5) That connection with the Ocean Lim-
ited, of' fast express between Montreal . and the
Maritime Provinces be made at Sackville, so as to
place' Prince Edward Island in respect to passenger
and mail service in the same position as the pro-
vinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Strong arguments are used in the memorial
why such improvements should be carried out. lt,
is pointed out, for instance, that almost the whole
traffic of the -island is centred on the Railway and
Car Ferry, and the branch line between Tormen-
tine and Sackville. .
The memorial g‘o'es‘on to say:---
“That the Car Ferry, in order to handle the
traffic during tliecrop mo`v/ement last Fall, was ob-
liged to discontinue -connection with the Ocean
Limited from Montreal, thus delaying passengers
and mails for Prince Edward Island twenty-two
hours at a season of the year when such delay
caused great inconvenience to the travelling pub-
lic, as well as inconvenience and loss to importers
and exporters, shows that the capacity of the Car
Ferry was over~ta,§_ed during the period referred
to. ,_
P
.  I ~r
-le ‘g \
arty Interests
That notwithstanding the sincere efforts
of the Railway oiiicials to handle the heavy ship-
ments that offered during the crop movements.
considerable congestion occurred. Shipments
were delayed, and in consequence of the conges-
tion prcducts that would have gone upon the_ mar-
ket during the Fall months are now held in store
here. ' '--
That each year the Car Ferry has to be tem-
porarily removed from the service to undergo
necessary repairs. if this removal takes place in
the early Spring, as was the case last year,-the
movement of the clean-up of the crop of the pre-
vious year is interrupted, and if later in the season
the tourist traffic is temporarily suspended and
travel diverted to other places, causing, in either
case, both inconvenience and loss to the province.
` That since the inauguration of the present
system of transportation production has increased.
and with still greater extension of shipping facilities
~~.--will, in- the opinion oi` yitui' memorialists, increase
indefinitely. I
That the extensive fisheries of the Province
can nevei' be fully developed until the Railway is
standardized throughout its entire length, so as to
enable, fresh fish to be loaded on cars at fishing
centres, and carried to destination without break-
ing bulk. i
' That ii` an accident should happen the Car
l~"ci~r_v the whole system of transportation, asf it
affects this province. would be suspended inde-
finitely and incalculable loss would result.
That the annual deficit against the Priiice
Edward island Divisionof the Canadian National
Railways, which is more apparent than-real, should
not be considered as a deterrent to further im-
provement oi' the system. Under the -present sys-
 tem of accounting the entire operating expenses of
the Prince Edward island Division is charged direct
to the Division which receives credit only for the
freight, both inward and outward, pro rata in pro-
portion to the distance hauled. The balance of the
receipts accruing i`rom the long haul is absorbed bv
the system in general ever which the traffic passes.
Your memorialists are oi' the opinion that
when the short haul, the large quantity -ot' i'reight
originating in or destined for Prince Edward Island
are taken into consideration, the presentsystem of
accounting is not equitable and should be revised.
The Summerside Board of Trade has been
agitating on this very important question, and with
all the Boards of Trade on the Island acting in har-
mony, their united efforts should have some effect.
lt is probable that the Railway Departmeiii.
will reply stating that it intends to pare down the
estimates “to the bone" this year. But the import -
ance of the present work which is asked for by the
memorial is one which requires immediate atten-
tion; it would be false economy to delay it much
longer. ‘
We have no doubt that every person ap-
proached. (ill sign the Memorial, which has such
vince. g '
an importa t bearing upon the welfare of this pro- . ,
We can hardly believe that the Governinent
will refuse the request i'or a second Car Ferry. From
a monetary standpoint alone, it would be good pol-
icy on the part. of the (loverinnent to provide it. lt
would mean increased production, greater trans-
portation and more prosperity. Not only for the
people of this province, but for Canada generally.
This matter is of such supreme importance that it
would be a crying shame to relegatc it to the shelf.
'rr to let it be dealt with by subordinates. lt' it can
be successfully shown that it will not pay to pro-
vide another (lar Ferry _then, let us have the facts
and the figures: but we claim that it will pay from
everystandpoint. Aside from this altogether, the
trade of Prince Edward island must sui’fer immeas-
ureably if another steamer he not provided. The
present Car Ferry has done magnificent service,
and time and again- The Patriot has given credit
to it, and it is no disparagenient to state that one
Car Ferry is altogether inadef|uat.e for the service.
_ We _are also delighted to notice that in the
bixth Provision of the Nleniorial, the meniorialists
state that “connection with the Ocean Llinited and
fast express be iiiadséat Sackville., so as to place
this Island, in respe .. to passenger a.nd mail ser-
vice, in the same position as our two sister pro-
vinces.” ~
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