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one proportion of the people who went to the polls Monday who voted for total war against Hitlerism, Manitobe ranked third among the nine Canadian prov inces. The Yes vote won here by better than four to one, and almost 220,000 votes were cast for the, atimmative. Of this, all Manitoba is proud. Unfortunately, however, there is a sombre side to our pic tue. The total negative vote here exceeded $2,000. Who were these people who voted against releasing the Government from its pledges? The answer to his question will ‘come as a shock and a disappoint ment to all who cherish the ideal of a united Canadian people. A cateful analysis of the vote cast in Manitoba must lead to this con clusion. Wherever the people of British stock predominated the affirmative vote carried over whelmingly, and wherever Cana dians of French, German, Ukain ian and Polish origins were pre dominant the negative vote gener ally triumphed. This does not mean that all New Canadians lvoted No. It does not mean that all New Canadian polls went No. It does not mean that all French- Canadians voted No. The result in St. Boniface showed a substan tial minority which sees the war in its true Light. The problem of the Breness Canadian vote in Manitoba is as much in a category by itself as does the vote in Quebec. Here there are issues that lie deep in our national roots. Here there was a question of open leadership, urging in many quarters No. The ‘French-Canadian descendant of the earliest white people in the land has his own distinctive tra dition and political, attitude, de plorable as this particular mani festation of it must be thought at this moment in our national history. It is possible, too, to see, some reason, dangerous thongs it may be, why German polls voted! No, Nazi sympathizers are among them. ‘There is the pull of the homeland upon the uprooted Ger man not long in this country. Here is something known and expected. But what of the large negative vote at many of the polls where Canadians of Ukrainian and Polish origin predominated? Here, sure ly, is a matter of deepest concern. These people come from lands cruelly subjugated by (a) Nazis. + is inconceivable they were vot ing for Hitler. But why did they vote as they did in such numbers, not all of them by any means, but far too many? Among these people there are very many who have served Can ada faithfully and well. There are thousands of their sons in the Canadian armed forces. Some of them today are in Hongkong. But why is it that in the pattern of the Manitoba voting it is in polls, where these so-called “foreign” stocks predominated that the Not vote appeared most heavily? Obviously it is that among these New Canadians the march towards complete citizenship has been uneven. The ranks are broken; “and among them there are those ' who,’ for one reason or another, have failed to understand the J issues,at stake in the war, or the fate ‘that would follow defeat. There is here a problem of leader= ship, and by that term must be ‘included not only their own com munity leaders, but the general leadership in Canada. Here there ‘has been failure. Here work re mains to be, done. : 7 “re measure of the dereliction or duty of all those in posi tions of readership can “be seen from the following analysis of the ‘No vote In Manitoba. ‘In Provencher, there were a few affirmative islands in a nega tive sea. Emerson, Letellier, Mor tis and Dominion City all voted Yes. The district south of Da iminton City and the Piney area also went affirmative. The heavy French, German and Ukrainian districts carried Provencher for the negative. The village of La Broquerie led the constituency with, ten to one for the negative. Gardenton, Rosa, Tolstoi, Wood bridge, Becker, Arbaka, Sundown, Breinnach, Sarto, St Melo, St. Elizabeth, St. Jean, St. Pierre, Aubigny, Otterburne, Ste. Agathe, Giroux, Grunthal, Dulrost and St. Joseph all had large Ne majorities. The negative margin was smaller at Vita, South Junction, Overton, Fierzie, Broadview school, Bour ret, Charlitz, East Braintree and Middleboro. In the St. Boniface constituency, all the Transcona polls and all but one of the Norwood polls voted “Yes by substantial majorities. But in St. Boniface city, only two polls, one on Berry street and one on Grandon street, voted for total war. Of the eight rural polls in Springfield municipality, only Ross post office and Luthwyn school voted No. Ste. Anne went No by Six to one. Not a single affirmative vote was polled at Linden school; and Lorette, Isle de Chenes, Grand Pointe, J.. Norbert, St. Adolphe and Howden voted Nov ~ * + HURCHILL constituency takes in most of the northland, and rpany polls are still unreport ed. So far five have voted No. These were all in the south end of the riding: at Cowan, Selacer, Pine River, Pulp River and Duck River. I Souris, Poll 48 was the only one which registered a nega tive majority. Neepawa had four negative polls. These were at Mountain Road, Cory school and Polls 47 and 52. Marquette went out to one for the affirmative, and its record was spoiled by a pocket of negative votes in the settlement, largely Ukrainian, stretching from Men zies north to the Riding Mountains. In this area nine polls ran up sub stantial negative majorities. These were St. Lazare, Menzies, Hored, Leech, Marco, Olba, Mears, Ru thenia, Silver Beach. Although several polls were sti ul reported in Portage Is Prairie, its affirmative majority was about seven to one. Two polls in pre- dominantly French-Canadian dis tricts gave narrow margins to the negative. These were at St. Ambroise and St. Laurent. Several dither French divisions, however,’ returned affirmative majorities. Brandon ‘had the distinction of an affirmative majority from every poll, and three of its rural sub-polls had no negative votes, de ae 4 7 r © HE far-flung Selkirk constit uency. still has a score or more polls unreported, but It already has 19 with negative ma jorities. These are Melniceschaal, Komarna,Norris Lake, West Foley, Husavick, Praserwood, Berno, Arnes, Geysir, Knausa, Ted wyn, Shornecliffe, Okno, Virdir, Sylvan, Bouville, Dog Lake, Pion eer and Moosehorn. In the north ern section of the constituency in which these polls are located there is a mixed population in which Canadians of Scandinavian, Po lish, Ukrainian, French and Ger man origin predominate. The Mennonites in Lisgar con stituency boycotted the election, and at Reimland the polls were open all day without a single vote being cast. While the affirmative carried at Plum Coulee, Glent Cross, Haskett, Gretna, Altona and jthames, the vote was ridiculously jight. In Winkler the negative ‘carried 51 to 42, in Rosenfeld it was 81 to 12, and at Horndean it was five to three. Substantial majorities for the auirmotive were piled up in the towns of Dauphin, Makaroff, Rob- Hip, Mehatry, Grandview, Gilbert Plains, Winnipegods, Mountain View and Ochre River. This en abled Dauphin to emerge with a comfortable majority. In the out lying districts wh the electors were Canadians of French, Polish, Ukrainian and German origin predominantly, there was a heavy No vote. Negative majorities were reported from San Clare, Shevlin, Shell Valley, Lennard, Shortdale, Halton, Grifton, Mink Creek, Bod han, Galland, Ethelbert, Hollexz, Carnegie, Lemberg, Valley River, Sifton, Skala, Fark River, Fishing River, Weiden, Volga, Toutes Aides, Million, Ste. Rose du Las, St. Amelie, Lonely Lake, Gayar and Guyey. At Bodhan the count was 237 No and 38 Yee;ar: Shell Valley it was 145 to 20; at Ste. Rose du Lac it was 249 to 168, and at Holicz it was 189 to 14. The splendid turnout of East Kildonan people enabled Spring field to stay in the affirmative vote column. Pine Falls, Pointe du Bois and Lee du Bonnet also helped. In the Ukrainian-Polish, German settlement, the negative vote was heavy. At Greenwald school, only three Yes votes were cast against 109 negatives. At Green Bay it was 224 to 36; at Brokenhead it was 226 to 41. The other 21 points reporting negative majorities were: Claverleat, Kor rell, Lewis, Haddashville, McMunn, Janow, Oldenbury, Seven Sisters, Lapton, Zora, Gonor, Naral, St Peter's, Highland, Ladywood, Brightston, Woothew, Libau, Scanterbury and Thalberg. In Macdonald, better than one- third of the No vote was recorded in six French-Canadian settle ments. Notre Dame de Lourdes recorded 287 No votes against only 67 Yes, St. Eustache recorded 230 to 0, LaSalle 192 to 29, Cardinals’ 110 to 16, Bruxelles 162 to 24, and Mariapolis 198 t0 24. Substantial negative majorities were also re ported from St. Leon, Somerset, Haywood and Fannystelle,
Newspaper Details
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA
Fri, May 01, 1942
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
Eliza T.
CA 11 Jul 2026
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