Personal and Confidential. January 11th 1926.
Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King,
Ottawa, Ontario.
Dear Mr. King:-
It was not possible to be in Ottawa during the past four days and to come in contact with different currents of opinion without forming some general impression of the situation, and in view of your request, when in Toronto, that you would be glad if at any time I had any suggestions to make I would make them, I venture to give you impressions I gathered during my visit to Ottawa.
If the vote on Mr. Meighen’s motion is adverse to the Government, your course is simple and problems of administration are over, for the time being, so far as you and your colleagues are concerned. If, on the other hand, the vote is favourable to the Government, as I anticipate it will be, you face problems
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of great difficulty and complexity in attempting to carry on the Government in a house where you just have one hundred and one members of your party out of a total of two hundred and forty five.
If the Progressives vote with the Government on Mr. Meighen's amendment, it is an indication that they prefer the policy outlined in the Speech from the Throne to anything that Mr. Meighen is in a position to offer them, but there is room for the widest difference of opinion as to details when you come to embody in legislation, or express in administration, the Government's proposals. And if you experienced real difficulty in carrying on during the past four years then you had a majority of one in the House, owing to the instability of Progressive support, how much greater will be your difficulty at the present time. My impression is that you will find it practically impossible to carry on the Government in a dignified, courageous and efficient manner under present parliamentary conditions. If your Government should meet with rebuffs from time to time in the House, even though not of capital importance, the effect might be,and I fear would be, to steadily lower the prestige of the Government in the country, and the longer
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you continued in office, under such conditions, the greater mortgage you would make upon the future of the Liberal Party and Liberalism in Canada.
I cannot forget the situation created in this Province after the Provincial Election of 1902, when Mr. Ross returned with two majority but with the opposition so strengthened and with such a body of public opinion behind it as indicated the public really desired a change. Mr. Ross decided to hang on and fight, and he did for three years. But during these three years the prestige of the Government and the Liberal Party was so lowered that now, for twenty years, Liberalism in Ontario has never had a real chance to win a general election. Had not the war situation intervened the position might be different, but undoubtedly the hanging on to office by the Ross Administration, in 1902 and the scandals that developed during the next three years, constituted a load upon the back of the Liberal Party in this Province from which it has not yet wholly escaped.
In view of what you have said to me about your difficulty in carrying on even under the parliamentary conditions which existed during the past four years, I cannot but think that your difficulties will be greatly accentuated under the present conditions.
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On the other hand, if the Progressives want your policy rather than Mr. Meighen’s, I cannot see how Mr. Meighen can carry on in an efficient or dignified way, but I presume if he found he could not he would go to the country and take chances on another election.
What then would appear to be best, in the interests of the country, in view of the present parliamentary conditions? It appears to me that if the Progressives indicate a desire to have the policy outlined in the Speech from the Throne carried into effect it shows a common interest between the Liberal and Progressive Parties in the House and that it is their duty to come together in some form to enable the King's Government to be carried on and to give some measure of stability to the proceedings of the Government from week to week and month to month. How could this be accomplished? It appears to me it should be possible to accomplish it by a frank and honourable coalition between the Liberals and the Progressives, for the purpose of putting into legislative and administrative effect the policy outlined in the Speech from the Throne. I think the Government cannot expect the Progressives to come in except on the clear understanding that they come in as a party, maintaining their own party
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organization and their own party caucus, and having two or three representatives in the Government, according as their numerical membership would warrant.
In other words, I have in mind some such arrangement as was made by Mr. Bruce in Australia with the Country Party, except that I do not think the Progressives here should ask or receive the exceptional consideration which Mr. Bruce gave the Country Party in the organization of his government. If you could organize a coalition government, with say three Progressive Members, for the purpose of carrying out the policy announced in the Speech from the Throne, then the Progressives become just as responsible as the Liberals for seeing that the Government has a majority in the House.
Why should the Progressives have the policies they desire carried into effect without assuming their full share of responsibility for carrying these policies through the House and later into effective administration? Mr. Rundle just returned from the West a short time ago, and while in Winnipeg he talked with some of our Liberal friends there who are in fairly close touch with the situation and are genuinely anxious to see the best possible solution. Mr. Rundle came back with quite a definite impression, which he has authorized me to pass on to you, that if Mr. Forke was frankly approached and a coalition offered he would accept, and that he
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[Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King.]
might also be prepared to bring Mr. Crerar in.
I quite realize the objection to coalitions, but this is a coalition made necessary by the decision of the people in sending three groups to Parliament. There no doubt would be difficulties in working it out, but if the end is desirable then the difficulties should not deter; they should be overcome. It might be that the Progressives could bring Mr. Crerar back and that he would be one of their Representatives in the Government. If so, this would be a great gain and would strengthen the Government's side of the House.
You may think that I have taken a rather pessimistic view of the present political situation, and you may not agree with the solution I have suggested. I think, however, that it was at least my duty to give you my impressions and conclusions for what they are worth.
I want to thank you most sincerely for your great kindness to my wife, my daughter and myself while we were in Ottawa, which we very sincerely appreciate.
Yours faithfully,
