Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/776

 760 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE or to pass a resolution in favor of this extension and send it to the Government. The letters were followed by a successful cam- paign in the municipalities by the society. As a result 33 refer- enda were held, all giving favorable majorities, and about 160 other municipal governments memorialized the Ontario Legisla- ture in favor. Dr. Gullen published an open letter describing these efforts. They had no effect on the Legislature nor did it make any concessions to the women even in the way of much needed better laws, for which they petitioned. At the annual meeting of the Canadian Suffrage Association, October 30 Mrs. Denison resigned the presidency and Dr. Gordon was elected. On the 3ist the members put on record the work of its beloved founder and one of the originators of the National Council of Women by presenting a bronze bust of Dr. Emily Howard Stowe to the city of Toronto. It was officially received by the Mayor and placed in the main corridor of Municipal Hall, the first memorial of this kind to any woman in ( 'unada. This year the National Council of Women took a firm stand and urged that each Province fully enfranchise its women and asked the Dominion Parliament to grant the Federal vote to women. In 1915 the Ontario society sent another deputation to the Legislature to ask for the Municipal franchise and reminded the Premier, Sir William Hearst, of the favorable verdict that had been given by the voters. He answered that "it had not been proved that the influence of women for good would be increased by the possession of the franchise." When asked if he would submit the question of their full suffrage to the voters of the Province he replied that this would mean only a vote by the men and he was most desirous to ascertain the wishes of the women! No attention was paid to either request. In 1916 the association again went to the Legislature with a petition but Mr. Studholme's bill was defeated. This year came the complete enfranchisement of women in all the Provinces between Ontario and the Pacific Ocean. The women of Canada had given their full share of the work and sacrifices demanded by the war for two years but in the Province of Ontario not the slightest recognition had been shown of their right to a voice in the Government. The franchise societies and the W. C. T. U. canvassed the