Hide Article Text (OCR)
Principal Grant, of Kingston, who visited Manitoba last summer as a self appointed commission of enquiry on the Manitoba school law,with a view of finding out its weak places in the interests of the then proposed remedial legislation, has published a criticism of the remedial bill of which the follow ing are extracts : “The proposed remedial bill, in my opinion, is well adapted to irritate everyone,without doing a particle of good. It combines the prospects of a long continued Donnybrook between the province and Dminion, with a barmecide feast for the Manitoba Roman Catholic minority. There must be dozens of men in parliament, who, after a little reflection, will see how it is sure to work. The bill puts all the powers of the provincial government into the hands of a board of education which is responsible to no one. “To entrust such powers to nine gentlemen, of whom nothing is re quired but that they shall be nomin ally Roman Catholics, is so contrary to the whole spirit of our constitu tion that one is tempted to think that the measure must have been drawn up by the innocent Father La combe., “When, however, we look a little deeper these extravagant powers are seen to be a pure delusion. The ma chinery looks wonderfully complete. It is spread out over forty pages of type, but there is not a pound of steam to run 14 Not a cent is pro vided even to enable the board to hire a room to meet in, or to pay its necessary expenses. ‘The executive officer of the board is the superintend ent, and he must have a good sal ary. He has all the work to do, and a difficult country to travel over. Without his iniiative nothing can be done. But his salary and the sal aries of the local inspectors and the expenses of normal school and other higher training, as well as more than half the salaries of the teachers, are all to be paid out of a fund to be voted by the legislature of Manitoba. “It sounds like a huge joke. Of course Manitoba will not vote one dollar. The efficiency of the schools is to be determined by inspectors ap pointed by the lieutenant governor. in-council, and every school is to be deemed efficient till an inspector re ports it inefficient. However, let us suppose that the board does meet in the street or elsewhere, and finds a superintendent ‘who will, work for love and put his shoulder to the wheel to set the machinery in operation. Ile organizes a few school districts and gets trustees appointed. These call on the municipal council to levy separate school taxes; the municipal ity obeys. What then? Section 92 of the Britsh North American act, enumerating the exclusive powers of provincial legislatures, sub-section 2, is as follows: ‘Direct taxation with in the province in order to the rais ing of a revenue for provincial pur poses.” This surely deprives the Do minion government of the power to authorize the collection of such tax ation. “The bill proposes that Roman Catholics, assessed for the support of sectarian schools, are to be exempt from taxation of public schools. The British North America act gives no power to the Dominion government to make such exemptions. If it does, why not also exempt the Mennonites, who came to Manitoba under promise of the most favored race treatment, and the Anglicans, who had more schools in 1870 than the Roman Catholics, and people who have no children, and cor porations. “Then the province would have very few people left to tax. Of necessity the province must proceed against any man who refused to pay a provin cial tax. What a veritable Lucullis banquet to the lawyers is suggested by all this litigation. “Again, if the trustees of a school district require a loan for the purpose of building or any other purpose, and the lieutenant governor-in council de clines to sanction the loan. His Excel lency the governor general-in-council is to have the power. “Can the British North America act by any stretch of meaning be made to cover this transference of power. Be sides, what means are provided for in forming his excellency's advisers as to whether there is sufficient security for such loans. It is unnecessary to go on criticizing. The bill means friction at every point. The government would do a brave thing if it called its follow ers together and announced its decision to begin again on the basis of accepting the proposals of Manitoba.” Kres Peas Ottawa despatch of March 3rd: The result of the conservative caucus this Morning placed beyond a doubt that the remedial bill will pass its second reading. The “compromise” committee reported that it had accomplished nothing. *
Newspaper Details
Edmonton Bulletin
Edmonton, Alberta, CA
Mon, Mar 09, 1896
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Cherish M.
USA 26 Jun 2026
Other Publications Near Edmonton, Alberta
Edmonton Daily Bulletin
Edmonton Bulletin
