Wednesday" March 13, 1968

the matter in regard to this .Province. So far as I know the Government of Prince Edward Island has no policy in respect to either question, and as I suggested earlier we in this Prov1nce had better get a policy and get one quickly or we will find our: selves signed up for another century of depression.

I have my own opinions on both of these problems and I, as well as members of the Oppos1tion, would welcome an opportunity for a full scaled debate on these Vital issues. So it would not surprise me if these matters were also to be relegated

to'some so called “experts” outside the Province since this seems to be a habit of this government.

. I want to quote one or two examples of problems which may arise and which indeed have already arisen, in which we have no stand and no policy. For example, Premier Johnston of Quebec has already made it plain that the problems of Con- federation as they now exist cannot be limited to the establishment of linguistic rights. Itagree with him to some extent but he didn’t define what he meant by the statemen .

There is, for example, the problem of provincial autonomy and the right of the provinces to some authority in the formulation of Canadian economic policy, as well as in other fields, notably, education. Mr. Johnston insists that Quebec play a prom- inent role in television and radio. I couldn’t agree with him more on that. Tele- viswn, especially, is a very powerful medium of expression and of indoctrination. All of us are or should be familiar with the possibilities of projecting images and messages by television. I can understand, therefore, Mr. Johnston’s concern in this respect. It has been said that he and many of the people in Quebec regard the CBC as a huge monolithic propaganda machine, and they say so not without reason. All of us are too familiar with the left-wing tripe which it suddenly gives from time to time, as for example when it portrays American soldiers as ruthless storm troop- ers, and when it mobilizes its resources to carry sympathetically “the Hippies” and other stuffy characters as objects of admiration if not, veneration. (Applause)

It should not be surprising therefore that Quebec demands control of radio and television in the Province, they are in effect saying to us that they want to be exempted from the degrading, demoralizing and possibly anglicising influence of the CBC. I sympathize with them and I hope that any future delegation from this Prov- vince will give serious consideration to the division of powers in this field, because it is an extremely important affair.

No province in this country can afford to have a propaganda machine wholly controlled by the Federal Government.

Provincial autonomy is another problem which requires close examination.

Quebec demands a good deal of autonomies and I think that in general Mr. Johnston is correct in this. So in general terms the more de—centralized a govern- ment is, the more democratic it is. However, this can be carried to extremes and we could end up with an intendant Federal Governmnt.

All of these are very important issues and which we must form a policy. It will not do for us to have to give the “off-the-cuff” opinion when the question arises at some future conference. This is not good enough and more discussion of these and other Constitutional problems are required before we blunder, perhaps, into a new Constitution. Now I am going to leave the Constitution for now.

The future Constitution and the problems of economic development are the two most important matters now confronting the people of Prince Edward Island, and it is unfortunate that these are the two which are receiving the least attention

at the present time.

Mr. Speaker, in this Province the government likes to take credit for every- thing that happens except, possibly, the sunrise and sunset, and so it is in regard to operation NewStart. Our Provincial Government has so misrepresented this oper- ation that only a few people here in this Province know what it is all about. There- fore, I think I should spend a few minutes informing the members of this House

about the functions and future activities of this operation.

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