CHAPTER XV

THE BATTLE FOR PROVINCIAL RIGHTS

UBLIC opinion in Ontario was much more

PUB

deeply excited during the campaign of 1882 by the startling redistribution of constituencies which the Government forced through Parliament on the eve of dissolution. In order to increase the representation of Ontario from eighty-eight to ninety-two members, the whole political map of the province was altered almost beyond recognition. Respect for county boundaries which had obtained in former readjustments of population, and which principle represented the declared policy of Sir John Macdonald, was ruthlessly disregarded.1 Townships were boldly torn from their natural municipal and historical relationships, thrown, regardless of their proper geographical connections, into new electoral divisions, and the constituencies fashioned to the direct aggrandizement

1 When Sir John Macdonald brought in his bill for the readjustment of the constituencies in 1872, he said: "The desire of the Government has been to preserve the representations for counties and sub-divisions of counties as much as possible. . . It is desired as much as possible to keep the representation within the county, so that each county that is a municipality of Ontario shall be represented, and if it becomes large enough, divide it into two ridings. It is, I think, a grand system that the people of Canada should have the opportunity of choosing for political promotion the men in whom they

of the Conservative party with an audacity unprecedented in Canadian politics. Great bunches of Liberal voters were hived in particular districts, the natural voting strength of the Liberal party was materially weakened, and the Liberal leaders, with rare exceptions, were forced to face hostile majorities in their old electoral divisions, or rather in the new constituencies constructed upon the partisan specifications of their political opponents. In one of his speeches during the campaign, Sir John Macdonald said: "The Grits complain that they are hived all together. It seems they do not like the association. I told my constituents the other daywell, I hope, indeed I know they will be my constituents—a story. When the Reform Club was built in London it was the finest club-house there, and the club-room was really a magnificent chamber. Theodore Hook, who was a great wit, and the editor of a Tory paper, was taken into the Reform Club by a friend who desired to show him the place. When he was in the club-room, the friend have the most confidence and of whose abilities they are fully assured. All that great advantage is lost by cutting off a portion of two separate counties and adding them together for electoral purposes only. Those portions so cut off have no common interest. They do not meet together, and they have no common feeling, except that once in five years they go to the polls in their own township to vote for a man who may be known in the one section and not in the other. This tends towards the introduction of the American system of caucuses, by which wire-pullers take adventurers for their political ability only, and not for any personal respect for them. . When the representation

is increased it should be by sub-dividing the counties into ridings."

said: 'Well, how do you like our room?' Said Hook: 'I would rather have your room than your company.' So it is with the Grits. They do not like each other's company. They like to associate with Conservative gentlemen such as you. Your being with them rather gives tone to their society."

The readjustment struck directly at the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, Sir Richard Cartwright, the Hon. David Mills, Mr. William Paterson, Mr. George W. Ross, Mr. M. C. Cameron, and other of the more active spirits of the Liberal party. But it is satisfactory to remember that at least for the moment the conspiracy was much less successful than its authors expected. In later years, however, when public indignation over the measure had subsided, the vicious readjustment of 1882 proved a serious handicap to the Liberal party in Ontario.2 With the exception of the Dominion Franchise Act of 1885, no other measure of equal partisan enormity has been introduced into the Parliament of Canada. Mr. Laurier loyally supported his colleagues from the sister province in their energetic protest against this audacious measure, and when he was returned to power, sought by a fair and equitable measure of redistribution to restore equal political rights to the Liberals of Ontario. He was blocked 1 Speech at the Amphitheatre, Toronto, May 30th, 1882.

2 Mackenzie, Mills, Paterson, Ross, and Cameron were all elected in 1882 in the gerrymandered ridings. Cartwright, whose old constituency of Centre Huron was abolished, ran in Centre Wellington, and was defeated.

by the Senate, which accepted the Act of 1882 with amiable docility. Indeed since the very organization of the commonwealth the Senate has proceeded on the principle that to question the expediency and justice of Conservative legislation is flagrant treason to British institutions in North America. But the day of redress and restitution cannot be much longer postponed, even by a Senate whose chief function is to prevent the hasty repeal of bad enactments, and all Canadians will hope that the next readjustment of the constituencies will be as conspicuous for justice and fair dealing as that of 1882 was remarkable for contempt of sound public opinion and bold disregard of the rights of the political minority.1

The dispute, long, tortuous, and acrimonious, over the boundaries of Ontario, was likewise an active factor in the elections of 1882. According to the award made in 1878 by Chief-Justice Harrison, Sir Edward Thornton, and Sir Francis Hincks, the territory of Ontario extended north to Albany River, west to the Lake of the Woods, and southwards to the Minnesota boundary. Mr. Mackenzie passed out of office before this decision could be ratified by the federal Parliament, and direct parliamentary ratification was refused by Sir John Mac

1The redistribution bill presented to Parliament by the Liberal Government in 1899 strictly observed county boundaries, and provided that in such counties as were entitled to two or three representatives, the boundaries of the various ridings should be delimited by Superior Court judges.

donald. For years the question remained a bone of contention between the Liberal party and the Conservative party, and between Ontario as represented by Sir Oliver Mowat, and the Dominion as represented by the Conservative leader. Various propositions were made by the federal Ministers for a further arbitration, or an appeal to the courts under various conditions and limitations. All were resisted and rejected by the provincial Ministers. As a last resort, in 1881, Sir John Macdonald introduced and put through Parliament an Act extending the boundaries of Manitoba, and declaring that the eastern boundary of that province should be "a line drawn due north from where the westerly boundary of the Province of Ontario intersects the international boundary line dividing Canada from the United States of America." This Act, of deliberate design, did not undertake to define the easterly boundary of Manitoba. The purpose was to embroil Manitoba in the dispute, and to force a conflict of jurisdiction between the two provinces. As a result, something like an incipient rebellion arose out of the rival attempts of the officers of Ontario and Manitoba to exercise authority in the disputed territory.

1 "I never dreamed for a moment-whether I had succeeded again in controlling the legislation of the country or not,-I did not believe that any Government would have dared to avoid giving effect to any arbitration solemnly entered into between the two Governments."Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, in the House of Commons, March 31st, 1882.