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] "Well," said the Liberal Leader, ""I | just wish to call to the attention of this 'Houss that the Liberal Opposition forced the hand of the Government on four major issues at the last session. The old policy of keeping ridings vacant for long periods had been abandoned by the Government. Last year vacant ssats had been promptly filled." "Filled well," intorrupted Karl Ho-- muth (Conservative, South Waterloo). "I don't know about that." rstorted ) Mr. Sinclair. "Judging from the speech | mads by one of thass by--clection mem-- bers the other day. before he speaks again his spsoech will have to be looked over." pPe2202 NO 90 CS C 00e e o #n |esrbecially when a staff of Deputy Min-- isters and assistants, costing some $116,-- 000 annually. had, he declared, to do ' most of the work. Mr. Sinclair said he could anticipate the Premier's speech on the debate. It would be, he said, the old, old story of \"Mr. Sinclair in a petulant mood," "Mr. 'Sinclair offering no constructive criti-- \cism," and so on, and so on. _ _ hin Mr. Sinclair also claimed that, through the criticism directed by the Liberals last session, the Government's policy of "disseminating propaganda" through The Ontario Gazette had also been dis-- continued. With only one exception-- when the Provincial Treasurer had' published his pre--sessional financial| statoement--the Gazettse had bsen freo| this year of "front--pag>" stuff from| th»> msmbers of th> Cabinst. *"*No: one cof thom,." he gibed, "had 2 sing'e article to his credit. How they must have yearnsd for the old days, when they were making the front page regu'larly--at the expense of the people of the Province." Old--age pensicns had also been forced by the Liboral group, Mr. Sinclair de-- clared. While he preferred to withhold lengthy comment until Premier Fer-- | guson's bill had actually reached the| House, he reiterated his opposition, and | that of his supporters, to any move of | the Government to '"saddle" the mu--| nicipalities with a share of its financial obligation. The case of the ninsteen "wandering Ottawa ballots" had been another in-- stance where the Government had bsen prodded by the Liberal Party into ac-- tivity. * "Surely, Mr. Ferguson cannot say tonight when he speaks to this House," said the Liberal Leader, "that the Oppo-- sition has been inactive--that it has "Propaganda" in Gazettc. Opposition Far From Anaemic. been suffering from ('~ Ciolns "u:' But, the Liberal Leador continued, acmia." pernicious an why had the Minister just sent a tem-- Strong criticism was launched by Mr.l porance message to the teachers? Why Sinclair av the Government's methoa of| Cidn't he write a letter to the people bringing down departmental reports to| Of the Province generally? Was it be-- the House. They came in nicely sealed CAUse the letter to the teachers would and bound. and carried by pages, he NOt affect the revenue of the Govern-- said, but the Opposition members saw MCNt liquor stores, because the pupils nothing of their contents until "next| to whom they passed on the message October or November." On the very) were all minors, and barred from buy-- last day of the 1928 session thirteen re-- Ing liquor? Did the Minister of Edu-- ports, he said, were tabled. | cation withhold a letter from the peo-- "How can this Legislature fulfil its| Ple because its distribution might af-- duty," he asked, "if these reports are| {fect the Government's liquor busincss?] not made available to the members and _ 'Then there was the Minister of Edu--| for their consideration while the Legis-- Cattom-- aAsg the Mqflmw lature is sitting?" e n o Premier Ferguson interrupted to point out that, as the fiscal year of the Prov--, ince does not close until Oct. 31, it was difficult for the departments to get their returns in shape for printing in time for the House. "Then what's the use of tabling them | at all?" said Mr. Sinclair. '"As they| come down now, we over here don't| know whether there is anything more, to them than the ribbon and the red| seal." ; Charges Delay in Returns. | d{r. Sinclair also ripped into the Gov-- ernment for "delaying" returns that had been asked for in the House_by the Opposition. "We are an inquisitive lot on this side," he said, "and when we ask for returns we want them. More-- over, the people should know, too. A lot of the stuff that is ordered by re-- turn never sees the light of day." "A whole year passed." said Mr. Sin-- clair sarcastically, "and then it was shoved under the door, where nobody could see it, or even guess what it con-- tained.". «-- _ Mr. Sinclair cited the case of a re-- turn asked by the Liberals on March 30, 1927, concerning S. L. Squire, for-- mer Deputy Minister of Highways. Notice of the order was before the House for several days, but the return was not ordered by the Government un-- til the last day of the session. And then the return was not made until the very last day of the 1928 session. d neS diy-- Eebroary-- parlicuidlk UTNCS _ Th: tell you," Mr. Ferguson inter-- jected. "He's a well--known biographi-- cal sketch writer, known in the Old Country. He's been in Toronto and is | writing for the Southam people." |\ _"Well," said Mr. Sinclair. "He's not ' in Who's Who with the Premier and | myself." k We es c on se¥ M en abaves rnntinued. continued. At least, he had sponsored a book and written the preface, and that was John Henderson's "Great Men of Canada." Of course, said Mr. Sin-- clair, there were several John Hender-- sons in the world. Just who was this ! lllJ".lo i _ Why, the Liberal Leager COnlUINnuceu, had such men as Sir Oliver Mowat | been "left out"? | *"I am not," he continued, "capable | of strong enough languag? to deal with this procedure of using public money to | place such a book in the schools and ; | libraries." | Brings Premier to Feet. | || This brought Mr. For3uUSsIN to his feet, declaring that a second volume was b°-- '! ing prepared, and that the first had | dealt with men particularly econnecet2a | with Confederation. "I would be very | sorry," said he, "if my friend entertain-- ed the idea or suggested that this book had been distributed because of any political interest in the Department of Education. That department has al-- ways been remarkably free from poli-- | | tics." '"Well," retorted the Minister of Edu-- cation, "there's a little improvement in language, more terminological ex-- actitude." particular one? Mr. Ferguson interrupted to say that if Mr. Sinclair was so interested in that letter no doubt he'd be glad to know that a second cne had gone out to the teachers. '"Well, there's room for it," said Mr. Sinclair. Safeguarding Liquor Sales? "Is it any better?" inquired Mr. Sin-- clair. First--the letter--writer. No doubt the members of the Legislature who watched Mr, Ferguson during sittings of the House remarked that he kept so busy writing something. What were these letters? _ Well, said Mr. Sinclair, he could refer to at least one. The Premier had written a letter to the teachers of the Province, a document which voiced a temperance message, which spoke of the warth of sobriecty, which empha-- sized that the textbook on hygiene in use in the schools warned against in-- temperate habits. Turning his guns on the financial administration of the Ferguson Govern-- ment, the Liberal Leader contrasted the situation in Ontario with that in Canada generally. The Ontaric au-- thorities, he regretted, had fallen far behind the example set by Ottawa. The Federal Government had continued to reduce taxation. The Ontario Govern-- ment increased the burden on the pecoiple of the Province. HMaving fired his blasts at Mr. Fer-- guson in his positicn as Prime Minister, Mr. Sinclair let loose a bombard-- ment on him as "'our Minister of Edu-- cation." He first pictured Mr. Fer-- guson in this portfolio as "letter--writer, book--writer and educational traveller." Continuing to point out to Mr. Fer-- guson certain arrangements to facili-- tate the business of the House, Mr. Sin-- clair suggested that at least there should be two or three days' advance notice of bills to be taken up. Increasing Taxes. "If we are going to pass these reso-- lutions," said Mr. Sinclair, "it is the duty of the Legislature to see that they are brought down. Some one is respon-- sible, and he should be brought to task. To date the Opposition has been en-- tirely ignored in this matter. If we are going to be ignored in future, it is high time that we knew it and the people knew it, too." Returns that were ordered last ses-- sion concerning crushed stone and Hy-- dro power in Northern Ontario had not, as far as he knew, come down yet, eral Leader continued, as Sir Oliver Mowat he continued, "capable h language to deal with f using public money to amk in the schools and 64. dA =" "iur repogoe s ngonipemagn ie ryemimeminn" "I ds think "It W&Z done for political purposes," retorted Mr. Sinclair, "and the Liberals of this Province think it has been done for political purposes." Mr. Sinclair contended that it didn't help matters to publish a second volume now as an addition. The second volume should have been announced with the first book, he declared. Apparently it was only after public opinion had ex-- pressed itself that a second book was prepared. Then he pictured Mr. Ferguson as an educaticonal traveller. Just back from England, the Minister of Education had described educational institutions here as being like a "sausage machine," grinding out products. Well, said Mr. Sinclair, Mr. Ferguson ought to know, because he "oparates'" the machine. Going on, Mr. Sinclair noted that Hon. George S. Henry had also mads a trip to England. Yet when thess two Government officials came home their interviews given to the press on agri-- culture in England contained a diver-- gency of opinion. This retort brought crics of "No" from Government members, and even a whistle of surpriss from a specitator in the galleries. "And," Mr. Sinclair went on, "I say so from the floor of this House. And I have heard many people say so as strongly as I do now." Surely, said he, the friends of those great men who had been "left out" wouldn't "relish" a second book, when thoese great characters should have bsen in the first publication. The Educational Traveller. Next Mr. Sinclair criticized Mr. Fer-- guson's project of university work in high schools, on the ground that it cast a burdsn on the municipalities involved. It would cost, said he, every municipality $30,000 to $40,000 a year in taxes. It would be cheaper for those municipalities to s@Ad. their ten to twenty students, who would benefit, to the university, and pay their tuition and expenses. Mr. Sinclair pictured a municipality in which this university work would be done in the high school, say, in Peterboro'. There would have to be five teachers on university subjects, each with a salary of $4,000 a year. There was $20.000 in one shot. Then there would be costly equipment. University Work in Schools. Many of the true friends of Hydro, said the Liberal Leader, were men who sat in the Opposition, criticizing, and by their criticism seeking to reveal the true state of affairs. '"You're carrying the argument to the point of absurdity," Mr. Ferguson in-- terrupted. "Just take Peterboro', for example. All the equipment and staff necessary to carry on the work is there." Mr. Sinclair retorted that Mr. Fergu-- son's stand was proof that he did not deserve to hold the portfolio of Min-- ister of Education any longer. Every one knew, he continued, that these municipalities had not the equipment of the great university centres, and the teachers in high schools were busy now. If they had time to teach uni-- versity subjects under the new plan, they were not fulfilling their duty now. Lighten Farmer's Burden. "Let me show you people what you are eternally blowing about," said Mr. Sinclair, and he proceeded to quote sta-- _ Mr. Sinclair delivered an impassioned plea for light taxation for the farmer. "Since he is unable to shift the burden of taxation imposed upon him," said he, "the Government should do every-- thing in its power to lighten that load." By reducing his automobile license fee; by reducing road tax: by allowing one motor--operating permit to do for an entire family; and by repealing the land tax, the Government could, Mr. Sinclair asseverated, considerably ease the farmers' burden. William H. Ireland, Conservative Whip, thumped his desk resoundingly. '"'There," said Mr. Sinclair, "the Whip sits and pounds his desk, seeking to make political capital out of a matter that means bread and butter to the people of this Province." "At present," said he, "the Govern-- ment ignores the farmer. They can afford to do it, I suppose. They gorry-- mandered a lot of rural ridings and added them'to the cities so as to make it safe to go to the country when they felt like it." At some length, Mr Sinclair scored the Government for its Hydro "preach-- ing." "You would think," he said, "that the Conservative Party was the only party that had ever done anything for Hydro." Credit for Hydro.