Friday, April 14, 1967

this is very important for the future and I know the Honourable men on the other side of the House will go along with us on this.

Honourable Gordon L. Bennett: Mr. Speaker, I would respectfuny suggest that perhaps you might take, under advisement, the suggestion that has been made by our friends from across the floor and reserve your decision, and bring it in at a later

date. Mr. Speaker: I will have my decision at the next sitting. Walter R. Shaw: On Wednesday. Lloyd G. MacPhail (Second Queens).

Mr. Speaker, first of all, allow me to add my congratulations to you, Sir, on your elevation to the honourable and responsible post that you now hold. I realize, that the duties that are inseparably connected wit this position are not always easy to discharge, but I believe, that we can rely on you, Sir, as has been so well demonstrat- ed here, to use your best efforts to conduct, in a most fair manner and in a manner producive to harmony that would ensure the proper dispatch of the business of this House. I wish to congratulate the Mover and Seconder of the Draft Address for their efforts. May I congratulate, too, at this time, the Government on it’s election to office last summer. They were indeed successful in selling to the people of the Prov- ince the proposition, among other things, that it was time for a change. I wish, Mr. Speaker, that I could sincerely congratulate the people of the Province on this develop- ment; however, I hope that the change will not prove to be more expensive than this small Province can bear. This, of course, at times seems to be a rather forlorn hope.

While campaigning for election, the people on the other side of the House, the present Government, established themselvs as bein perhaps the most promising group of people in modern times, selling the people 0 the Province this image of sin- cerity and holding forth the prospects of indeed receiving all good things at once. So far, this platform has been used for precisely the same purpose as they would use a platform at a railway station, that is, to get on the train. Now, in office only eight months, we see, instead of them demonstrating a fresh approach with new ideas with progressive and aggressive policies. they indeed prove to be only carbon copies of their weak Ottawa counterparts. Indeed, trying to emulate them, they have been stumbling from crises to crises. Now, we have heard kind commentators say that the Ottawa Liberal Government is accident prone. Perhaps we might extend the same kindness and apply same term, accident rone, to the present Government here, and not apply any harsher condemnation whic might come readily to mind.

It seems that the Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Pearson, is indeed the Prem- ier's hero. During the 1966 Liberal National Annual Meeting when, I am quotin the words, strong resolutions from Ontario Liberal Party and Canadian University Li ral Federation were presented for leadership conventions at regular intervals, Mr. Camp- bell made an un-scheduled intervention and pro sed the vote of confidence. This display of youthful enthusiam, would, of course, most laudible if the present Fed- eral Government had given Prince Edward Island preferred treatment, or if indeed, in view of the time that has since elapsed, the Prime Minister had shown any evidence of his appreciation of the assistance of his most exuberant and youthful] disciple from Prince Edward Island.

The problem of Federal assistance, and it has been and is critical, because 60% of our Provincial Budget, total Provincial Budget, comes from Ottawa and it would be difficult indeed for us to increase our 40%. I was distressed to read, from a speech of Mitchel Sharp’s on March 7th, 1967, that of the 98.3 million equalization payments, and this includes the former Atlantic Provinces grants, that were allocated to the Atlantic Provinces, that Newfoundland received, Mr. Speaker, 34.5 million, New Bruns- wick, a similar amount, 34.5 million, Nova Scotia received 24.2 million, and Prince Edward Island only 5.2 million. As we can readily see, this is only slightly more than 5% of the total for the Atlantic area. This obviously indicates a great decrease from the 10% of the total Atlantic Provinces grants that we used to receive under the previous Conservative Government at Ottawa when the previous Conservative Govern- ment was in power here. Our people in this Province, the same as in other parts of Canada, are quite depressed by the heavy burden imposed by inflation, by price in- creases in nearly all consumer articles, and indeed tax increases as well.

_171_.