Wednesday, March 13_, 1968

It seems to me that this government does not have an economic policy of its own; rather it has relegated its responsibility in this respect to one of its own crea-

tions, The Economic Improvement Corporation, and no one seems to know what their policy is or even if they have one.

The White Paper presented a year ago says exactly nothing and no intelligble explanation of it has even been offered to us. Moreover we are not to be given an opportunity to discuss this province’s economic policy, if there is one, this govern- ment will impose it upon us whatever it is without the consent of the people.

Worse still the arrogance of this government was never more obvious than when the Premier undertook to lecture the Opposition for daring to suggest that their econo- mic policy, which may not exist, was not in the best interests of the Province. He accused us of back-biting and went further and said that we in the Assembly would not have an opportunity to discuss the nebulous plan before it was presented to the Federal Government. I think he repeated that either yesterday or today.

It seems to me that this is a rather high-handed way of doing things; I don’t think that we should accept that. The Leader of the Opposition outlined the position of the Opposition quite clearly when he said, “We will give our support to any policy which will render assistance to our farmers and fishermen, labourers and business interests, but we will offer strong objection to some mysterious plan if it is not presented first for complete examination by the elected representatives of the people before going to Ottawa for approval.” (Applause) That is the position of the

Opposition on this question, and I feel that I cannot add anything to what the Leader of the Opposition has already said.

Mr. Speaker, closely allied to the issue of economic development there is the problem of transportation. This is a vaxatious question which goes back nearly one hundred years, but it may be at the root of most of our economic problems. This is a matter of great importance in Dominion-Provincial affairs and should be under continuous discussion with the Federal Government. Adequate and continuous com- munication with the mainland is a condition of Confederation and it is an agreement which has never been honoured by the Government of Canada. Transportation across the Strait has always lagged behind requirements and the present facilities are not adequate to handle the demands especially in the tourist season. Another new ferry has been under construction for the past four years and when it does finally arrive in September of this year, this, alone will not fill the transportation gap. Nor will it help any in speeding up the service. The delays and waiting periods are long, especially in the summer, and in the winter the ice conditions aggravate this problem.

The long promised and long awaited Causeway is now being reconsidered again. The appropriation for the approaches to it have been cut this year from $15,000,000 to $5,000,000 by the Federal Government, and I am not aware that there was any strong protest from this government to Ottawa in this regard. (Applause)

During the election campaign of 1966 the Liberals enumerated all of the ad- vantages of having what they called two governments in line. Let me list a few of those advntages for you.

(1) The causeway has been postponed.

(2) The farm subsidies have been cut drastically.

(3) The Canadian Forces Base at Summerside is being phased out.

(4) Cost—shared programs are to cease in 1971 or 1972.

(5) We are now saddled with an impossible situation in regard to medical care insurance.

I suggest to you that this is team work that we can do without. (Applause)

There are other items too numerous to mention in which negotiations between the two Liberal Governments failed to help the Province. There was only one occa- sion when two governments in line worked together in this Province, and that was in the period 1959 to 1963. (Applause) Nearly everyone agrees that the Rt. Hon. John Diefenbaker was the greatest friend the Island ever had. (Applause) In co- operation with Mr. Shaw, he instituted equalization grants, his government _1nst1tuted the ARDA program, he instituted the Atlantic Development Board, he instituted the

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