TORIES SWEEP TORONTO
The results of yesterday's polls in Toronto and other ridings have given John A. Macdonald's coalition a 24-11 seat lead in the House of Commons. In Ontario, the Liberals and Conservatives are tied once again, this time at 11 seats apiece. The Québec Conservatives continue undefeated in that province holding all 8 of the seats returned thus far.
The Tory candidates in East Toronto each pulled off surprising late comebacks against their Liberal opponents to take both seats in that constituency, matching the sweep executed by their colleagues on the west side of the city.
As polls closed after the first day of voting, Liberal Dr. William Aikens held a 67-vote lead over Tory James Beaty. By the time the final vote was cast, Beaty had overtaken closed that gap and captured a majority of his own of 133 votes, defeating Aikens 1113-980.
On the second day of voting, Ontario’s Provincial Secretary and Registrar, Hon. Matthew Crooks Cameron polled 268 more votes than his opponent Liberal James Stock. Cameron had trailed Stock through the first day of polling though managed to close Stock’s lead to just four votes by the end of voting on the first day. As the polls closed on the second day of voting, Cameron led Stock by 264 votes, winning 1178-914.
In West Toronto, Tories Robert Harrison and John Wallis confirmed their first day leads and will represent the riding in the Commons and Ontario Legislature respectively.
MACDONALD DEFENDS COALITION APPROACH
In a campaign speech delivered in Toronto, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald defended his coalition approach to government with reference to the Pitt-Portland Coalition of 1794 which gave birth to the Tory ideology to which the prime minister adheres.
When the great Napoleon had massed together hundreds of thousands of men to hurl them upon the coast of England, and when not only the freedom but the very existence of the mother country was imperilled, it was a coalition of the Tories under William Pitt, and the Whigs, under the Duke of Portland, who was nominally the head of the party, but whose real head was that greatest of all statesmen whose name {I mention} with especial pleasure because he was an Irishman, Edmund Burke. It was a junction of parties under Pitt, Burke, the Duke of Portland, William Fitzwilliam and others, that saved England; and if the dear old motherland was not now a province of the French empire, and if she was not now trampled upon by the heels of a foreign soldiery, it was because these patriotic men abandoned their parties for a time and joined together in coalition to defeat the designs of the intended invader.
Macdonald’s linking of support for his coalition with support for the Dominion has been repeated by his candidates across the country and has raised the ire of Liberals who are adamant that the mixture of party and patriotism pose the true threat to the Dominion’s survival.
During his nomination speech in Montreal West, Thomas D’Arcy McGee is reported to have said that a victory over his opponent Bernard Devlin of less than a thousand votes would cause McGee to lose “all confidence in the loyalty and in the sense of my fellow citizens.”
Questions of loyalty have dominated the campaign so far, whether it be the disowning by Reformers of those of their number who have chosen to support the ministries of the Johns Macdonald (Alexander and Sandfield), or whether it be the claims of the Tories that a vote against them is a vote against Confederation.
The Liberals, in the form of the Globe claim now that it is these very charges of disloyalty that put the nascent Union in peril on the argument that a divided Canada should be easy pickings for a neighbouring country that might decide to orchestrate a dispute with Great Britain.
The arrival of the news of the contents of Mr. McGee’s nomination speech in Montreal West coincides with the arrival of the news that he has been defeated in his bid for the Prescott seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Despite having a majority of 20 at the close of the first day of polling, McGee has fallen to Liberal James Boyd, 838 to 816.
Supporters of McGee had travelled to the constituency from both Ottawa and Montreal with pockets full of cash to aid in their canvassing efforts but their overtures were rejected either because of the honesty of voters in that constituency or because the Liberals offered a higher price.
In any case, the defeat of McGee is at minimum an embarrassment for Prime Minister John A. Macdonald who had personally selected this seat for McGee. At worst, it is a sign that the political magic of both McGee and Macdonald has worn off and more surprises may be in the offing as the election enters its final three weeks.
In any event, it is more than likely that voters recognize the claims of both parties in this dispute are exaggerated for their electoral effect and will therefore fail to serve their intended purpose as voters make up their minds for other reasons.
(It is reported that the opening bid for votes in Frontenac yesterday was $20.)
PROTEST IN CARLETON
Defeated Conservative Judge James Skead will protest the results of the election in Carleton on that grounds that some voters did not cast their votes for both races at the same time.
HOWLAND ELECTED IN WEST YORK
Hon. William P. Howland (Inland Revenue) defeated his Liberal opponent H. S. Hubertus in a landslide victory that the Liberal press now declares a foregone conclusion. Such conclusion was the result of Mr. Hubertus’s late entry into the race and his being little known in the constituency. The suggestion seems to be from the Liberals that had the race been a fairer one, Mr. Howland’s victory might not have been assured.
But the Liberals have no one to blame but themselves. While it is true that Howland and supporters had commandeered the Reform nominating convention held in Weston, it is also true that local Liberals in that riding insisted on nominating George Brown as their candidate despite having already been informed that Mr. Brown intended to run in South Ontario. Indeed, much of the Reform difficulty in this campaign appears to be of their own making.
ONTARIO CABMIN DEFEATED
Hon. Stephen Richards (Crown Lands Commissioner) has been defeated in his bid for a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Richards, one of the Liberal members of Premier Sandfield Macdonald’s “Patent Combination” was outpolled by Conservative Benjamin Tett in South Leeds. There is no word on future plans for Richards who may resign from the cabinet or seek another seat elsewhere.
NEWS FROM THE WESTERN TERRITORIES
Residents of the Red River Colony are hoping to forestall the sale Rupert’s Land by the Hudson’s Bay Company to the United States. That immigration to the colony can only occur by travelling through the United States makes the colonists’ argument against American annexation more difficult, they are confident that they have proven the case to the British House of Commons for their inclusion in the Canadian Confederation.
The potential sale of the lands has also upset local Indians who are expected to cause trouble for the HBC if their claims are not first attended to.
Gold has been discovered in the Riding Mountains, a four-day journey from the nearest from the Red River Colony.
