HON. JOHN FArquhar LymbuRN, Appointed Attorney-General of Alberta, 408 HON. SIMON FRASER TOLMIE, Appointed Leader of the Conservative Party, for British Columbia, Nov. 23, 1926. . . . 408 HON. JAMES T. BROWN, LL.D., Appointed Chairman, The Royal Commission 408 New C. P. R. Hotel opened on May 24, 1927... 440 BANFF SPRINGS HOTEL, Banff, Alberta, The Canadian Pacific Railway 456 ARCHIBALD R. GRAUSTEIN, President, International Paper Company, 520 520 GEORGE H. SMITH, President, Dominion Mortgage and Investment Association... 520 GEORGE H. LOCKE, M.A., Ph.D., President, The American Library Association, 1927-28.. 536 HENRY SPROAT, LL.D., F.R.I.B.A., P.R.A., President, The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, 1927... 536 Mazo De La ROCHE, Distinguished Canadian Writer, Whose Novel, "Jalna," won The Atlantic Monthly's prize of $10,000, 1927.... W. O. CARSON, Canadian Representative on The Library and Adult Education Board of The American Library Association.. 536 536 THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, Montreal, Erected in 1927-Tallest Office 718 W. S. FALLIS, President, The Canadian Manufacturers' Association, 1927-28. 760 780 786 788 THE LATEST SHAWINIGAN DevelopmeNT-Dam and Control Gates, St. Narcisse Plant, North Shore Power Company. 792 THE CANADIAN ANNUAL REVIEW THE DOMINION GENERAL ELECTION OF 1926 Stability of Government and Other Main Issues The result of the Dominion General Election of 1926 was generally interpreted as meaning that Canada had secured stable government. The consequence of the Election was that the Liberals had control of the House of Commons provided they got the support of six of the eleven candidates who were elected as Liberal-Progressives. This was a marked change from the previous Parliament in which the Liberals for this purpose required the support of twenty-four of the twenty-eight Progressive, Labourite and Independent members. The balloting on Sept. 14, 1926, strengthened the Liberals by nineteen and weakened the Conservatives by twenty-five, while the Progressive, Labour and Independent groups together had six more members than in the previous Parliament. The causes of the result have been much disputed. The need of a stable government was emphasized by both Liberals and Conservatives. The Robb Budget, the constitutional issue, and the Customs scandals were the three issues of which most was heard in the campaign. Local issues of major and minor rank also emerged in various parts of the country. Of major importance among the local issues were railway rates in the West, which helped the Liberals, and Maritime rights down by the Atlantic, which helped the Conservatives. Alongside the Customs scandal there were a number of smaller scandals discussed, some of which cut one way and some another. The considerations which led the voters to defeat Rt. Hon. Arthur Meighen, Conservative, and return Rt. Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King, Liberal, to office have been much discussed without reaching a generally accepted conclusion. The probability is that the Budget brought down by Hon. James Robb in the Session of 1926 played the largest part in the result. The Customs scandal was offset by overstatement on the part of Conservatives and by the failure of some of the new charges which they brought forward. The constitutional issue undoubtedly influenced voters in some parts of the country. It was prominent in the opening speeches of the campaign and it figured in the speeches made at its close. Immediately after the dissolution of Parliament, Mr. Meighen set about the formation of his Cabinet. The first announcement of the new Cabinet was made on the night of July 13, 1926, but on Aug. 23, following, the names of Hon. Andre Fauteux and Hon. Eugene Paquet were added to the Ministry. The full list of the Ministers as announced on these two dates is as follows: Prime Minister, Secretary of State for External Affairs, and President of the Privy Council... Right Hon. Arthur Meighen. Hon. R. J. Manion, Ontario. . Hon. Sir George H. Perley, Quebec. Hon. R. B. Bennett, Alberta. .Hon. H. H. Stevens, British Columbia. Hon. George B. Jones, New Brunswick. Hon. Eugene Paquet, Quebec. Without portfolio-Hon. Sir Henry L. Drayton, Hon. Donald Sutherland (South Oxford). Hon. Raymond Morand (East Essex), and Hon. John A. Macdonald, (King's, P. E. I.). The campaign was opened by Mr. Meighen at Ottawa on Tuesday, July 20. At this meeting the Conservative leader was accompanied by Hon. E. L. Patenaude and by Hon. G. D. Robertson, as well as by the local candidates. Mr. Meighen reviewed briefly the history of Parliament since Mr. King assumed office in 1921 and charged the Liberal party with trifling with its pledges and with pursuing a fiscal policy which had "almost dried up immigration and had driven hundreds of thousands of our sons and daughters into a foreign land." He declared that in the Session of 1926, Mr. King had "sought to purchase a continuation in office" by laying before the Progressive party "a series of promises of definite and important legislation upon which the country as a whole had not rendered a verdict." The main work of the Session of 1926, said the Conservative leader, had been the investigation of the Customs Department by a special committee of the House of Commons. The evidence obtained by that committee showed, he maintained, "that the degeneration of this (the Customs) Department commenced with the advent of the King Government and continued throughout the whole administration of Mr. (Hon. Jacques) Bureau, continued to the full knowledge of Mr. King, and continued in the face of repeated protests by large numbers of the population of Canada and especially by the business people of Canada." (The Gazette, Montreal, July 21, 1926.) Mr. Meighen declared that, as a result of the Customs investigation, the House of Commons had passed a vote of censure upon the King administration by a majority of ten, although in the House of Commons, Liberals, Progressives and Independents numbered twelve more than the Conservatives. "I ask you again, said the Conservative chieftain, "do you believe a Government responsible for the loss of millions of money of the Canadian people, responsible for frauds unnumbered, responsible for the wrecking of the livelihood of thousands of our workers by the competition of smuggled goods, responsible, in a word, for the utter collapse of a great department of state-do you think such a Government should now get a certificate of character and be declared by the electors of Canada to be the kind of Government the people want?" Mr. Meighen went on to say that, in order to evade the issue of the Customs scandals, Mr. Mackenzie King had sought to divert attention by seeking to convince the people that a great constitutional issue had arisen when, as a matter of fact, there was no constitutional issue. After discussing the constitutional issue (which is treated more fully under a separate sub-heading) the Conservative leader went on to announce that the first duty of his Government would be reform, not only of the Customs department, but of all the branches of the Civil Service. He proposed "to lay the basis of a practical, vigorous and fruitful immigration policy, and that basis shall be first of all employment for the people of Canada." He proposed further to take practical steps to extend to the producers of the Maritime Provinces and the Western Provinces, the coal markets of Central Canada and to provide encouragement for co-operative marketing of agricultural produce. Mr. Patenaude at this meeting announced a rapprochement with Mr. Meighen and further details of his attitude will be found in an account of the Election campaign in Quebec. Senator Robertson declared that the chief issue before the people was whether the Canadian constitution as recognized and operated since Confederation was to be continued or whether the country was to adopt "Mr. King's policy as described in the words of a Communist resolution adopted at London, Ont., on Good Friday, 1925, 'resolved that it is in favour of complete independence for colonial and semi-colonial portions of the British Empire'." (The Gazette, Montreal, July 21, 1926.) Mr. King delivered his key-note speech in the same city on Friday, July 23, when he was accompanied by Hon. Ernest Lapointe, Minister of Justice in Mr. King's administration. The Liberal leader opened with an account of the circumstances following the 1925 Election, and justified his action in holding office till Parliament had had an opportunity of deciding between himself and Mr. Meighen as to which should be Premier of Canada. He maintained that Mr. Meighen was given every chance to govern if he had been able to do so; "that his chances, in fact, were a thousandfold better than my own since, when Parliament met, not only did he lead the largest single group in the Commons, but he was in his seat in the House at the head of his party and I was not at the time a member." He declared that He declared that "the support given the Liberal party by the Progressives and other members was not a matter of bargain and barter as opponents of the Administration all too eagerly sought to have the public believe. It was," he continued, "a matter of honest co-operation with respect to a known programme of legislation arrived at in the open and openly avowed by all the parties concerned." (The Citizen, Ottawa, July 24, 1926.) He added that "the moment the relations between |