Richard Bedford Bennett

“ But it is now necessary that we give further, and the most careful, thought to our economic system, so that we may the better appreciate its capacity to serve us in the conditions in which we live today. Our best interest leaves us no alternative. We will examine the system without prejudice of any sort. We neither hate nor love it. ”

“ Measures of reform should normally, of course, be initiated and carried out, not in times of depression, but in times of comparative prosperity. That is obvious. Indeed, I suppose that ideal and timely measures of reform might avert a depression by removing the causes of it. But we never have worked ideally, and probably we never will. So if, through lack of reform, depression follows, the next best thing is to introduce reform as soon as the conditions of the depression will permit. ”

“ And it is your duty to yourselves to support him, and not me. Your country's future is at stake. This is no time to indulge your personal prejudices or fancies. Carefully and calmly, look well into the situation. Then pick the man and the policy best fitted to deal with it. And resolutely back that man and that policy. The nation should range itself behind them. In war you fought as one. Fight now again as one. For the task ahead demands your wartime resolution and your wartime unity.
When my Government came into power in 1930, the economic system of the world was rocking to its foundations. ”

“ As I say, the Government's emergency programme has not been excelled by any other in the world. To me, the clearest proof of the effectiveness of our recovery measures lies in the fact that they have carried us through the depression and today have brought about a degree of improvement in conditions, which alone makes possible the introduction of our programme of reform. ”

“ Nor is it necessary for us to pass judgment on the question of whether this current depression would have occurred had the capitalist system, in the last decade or two, been directed by supermen, compounded wholly of wisdom and saintliness. The truth is that in all times, faults in the system have been seized upon by the unscrupulous and greedy as vantage points in their battle for self-advancement. ”

“ To do that — to decide wisely — you must be in a position to judge those acts of Government which have palliated your hardships, which have preserved intact our industrial and financial structure, and which have prepared the way for the reforms which must now take place.
Canadians are not those from whom unpleasant facts should be concealed. The people of this country were born optimists, but they were born realists as well. They demand the truth, however disturbing it may be. ”

“ When one has been head of the government of this country for more than four years and has done his level best, and has worked with all his might to bring you security, it is with inexpressible regret that he speaks as I must now speak to you. ”

“ Then you will support the action which your judgment decrees to be imperative; you will strive for its success, for its success will determine the future of Canada.
In the last five years, great changes have taken place in the world. The old order is gone. It will not return. We are living amidst conditions which are new and strange to us. Your prosperity demands conditions in the old system, so that, in these new conditions, that old system may adequately serve you. ”

“ You would then see that for the old checks and balances which ensured the proper working of the original system, the system today has provided no counterpart within itself. You would agree that free competition and the open market place, as they were known in the old days, have lost their place in the system, and that the only substitute for them, in these modern times, is government regulation and control. ”

“ Out of the depths of this depression you have struggled. By any economic test you may employ, Canada is more prosperous today than it was two years ago. As I say, employment is increasing. Take our trade returns. They are indeed phenomenally better. Take the conditions of industry. Here you have substantial improvement. Agriculture, a double victim of economic and climatic conditions, is entering upon more promising days. ”

“ Now, you will understand that by recovery measures I mean measures which work no change in the economic system. They are emergency measures designed to support the system during the depression, but do not interfere with its operation, and do not, of course, contemplate any modification or correction in it. Recovery measures of the proper kind minimize the dangers and ameliorate the hardships incident to the depression. They also stimulate the movement toward recovery. ”

“ It seems to me that the party which supports laissez faire, which demands that Government do not interfere with business, which says that the State has no such part to play in these critical times — it seems to me that that party may have a change of heart when it sees how the rest of us feel about the matter, and may decide to come along with you and me. ”

“ It is a tragedy of these times that men and women, boys and girls, whose minds should be given to constructive pursuits, find themselves handicapped and harassed by the uncertainties of life, and prevented, by the anxieties of this present situation, from giving their best to the things which are most worth while. ”

“ There is no conceivable justification for maintaining in its old form any agency designed to promote the happiness and welfare of the people when change in it will more surely achieve that essential purpose. ”

“ We then can do away with relief measures. We then can put behind us the danger of the dole. I am against the dole. It mocks our claim to progress. Canada on the dole is like a young and vigorous man in the poorhouse. The dole is a condemnation, final and complete, of our economic system. If we cannot abolish the dole, we should abolish the system.
In my next speech I shall deal more specifically with the unemployment question.
Canada Is More Prosperous When my Government came into office, our trade had already fallen off. As the depression deepened, our trade further diminished. ”

“ Other nations have also fought bravely and have done well. But no people with burdens comparable to yours have done better. You have reason to be proud of the past. You have reason to be confident of the future. ”

“ We have come part way. The rest of the journey is a hard one. Our greatest obstacles yet remain. Look at our burden of debt. It has not diminished. Look at the poverty of many of our people. It is very real. ”

“ Its solution is a condition precedent, I earnestly believe, to prosperity.
Our taxes are high. Our national income is not what it should be. Our trade, domestic and foreign, though vastly improved, must be much greater yet. We have worked hard to secure markets for our natural products. The result of our labours has been remarkable, but we must keep on working, for we need more markets still.
Time for Reform Is Now In the beginning of its term of office, the policy of the Government was determined by the critical nature of the times. The economic system had broken down. ”