October 8, 1867

TUPPER DECLINES CABINET SEAT?

All eyes in Ottawa continue to be trained on Dr. Tupper to see whether or not he will take a seat in Her Majesty’s Privy Council. The latest news suggests that such a seat was offered and, for a second time now, Dr. Tupper has declined the honour.

Observers suggest this opens up a path by which the prime minister can ask Joseph Howe, leader of the Anti-Confederation party, to join the Cabinet.

Calls are mounting in Toronto for the Ontario Premier John Sandfield Macdonald to dismiss Crown Lands Commissioner Hon. Stephen Richards from the provincial cabinet following his defeat at the polls. The calls are coming from Tories who wish to take assume a majority in the cabinet that they do not hold in the Legislature.

Richards, it will be recalled, was the first Reformer to accept a request from Sandfield to join his coalition cabinet.

EXCISE TAX ON REFINED OIL COMING?

The London Free Press reports that the Government will introduce a 3-cent excise duty on every gallon of oil refined in Canada.

DOMINION GOVERNMENT WANTS TO CONTROL COURT APPOINTMENTS

The Dominion Cabinet appears set to assert its right to control all court appointments in the country a move that seems sure ruffle feathers in the provinces for its encroachment on provincial powers.

D’ARCY MCGEE A TEETOTALER

On the Sunday following his recent election to the House of Commons, D’Arcy McGee announced that he had become a teetotaller. He said the decision had been made prior to the election but kept it quiet for fear of the move being seen as one of political expediency.

THANKSGIVING IN MONTREAL

The Episcopal churches in Montreal will observe a day of thanksgiving on Wednesday, October, 9.

MONTREAL DEATHS

There were 74 deaths in Montreal last week: 60 Protestants and 14 Catholics. 37 were under the age of 1. This the first week we’ve seen where the number of deceased Protestants exceeded the number of deceased Catholics.

TORONTO GENERAL HOSPITAL SITS EMPTY

Reverend John Joseph Lynch, Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto, has written to the Toronto City Council decrying the state of affairs at the Toronto General Hospital which he describes as “a large and well-ventilated hospital building capable accommodating…300 patients. The halls, wards, and various conveniencies {sic} for the sick appear to be very good.” But, the Bishop said, just 27 patients are housed in the hospital while there are “hundreds outside in misery and suffering who might easily be relieved.”

The problems of the hospital are not owing to a lack of funds but rather to mismanagement, the Bishop claims, and he has petitioned the council to turn over management of the facility to the Sisters of Charity.

If the sick poor had the fate of the Hospital in their hands, their verdict would be to be taken from their cabins of misery and to be left in the hands of good doctors and tender nurses, no matter what their religion may be, if they only have the religion which makes them practice charity towards the poor, and especially towards the sick.”

The Bishop also called for improvements to the flow of the Don River which would serve to improve the health of those living near its banks.