Page:Sutherland Commission report (hydro-electric railways).djvu/19

Rh would make available cheap light. In one of the pamphlets published by the Municipal Hydro Electric Radial Railways Association, appears the following statement: "The Government guarantees the bonds, and by so doing virtually guarantees the estimates of the Commission," and the further statement: "The Hydro Electric Railway Association, composed of some 300 municipalities, after careful consideration, have no hesitation in endorsing the railway proposition, and urging the electors to give it their earnest support, because," etc.

It is suggested, on the other hand, that the whole question of the construction of the railways had its initiation with the municipalities, and that the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario only took the steps they were invited to under the Legislation in existence; that it was in consequence of a request from the municipalities that they made investigation, surveys, reports, and ultimately estimates. The relationship between this unincorporated municipal organization and the Hydro Electric Power Commission appears to have been a somewhat intimate one.

Mr. C. C. Robinson said, in commencing his argument: "that the position of the Hydro Electric Power Commission in reference to its principals" was that "it acts in the matter not at all of its own motion or for any interest of its own, but solely at the instance and on behalf of the municipalities which interest themselves in the scheme. Its only interest in those projects is as representing those municipalities, and as desirous to carry out their wishes just so far as it appears economically sound and feasible to do so." He added that the case which had been presented to the Commission was "a case of the municipalities interested" and that the Hydro Electric Power Commission had "presented no independent case to this Commission, and it has called no witnesses before this Commission."

It appears to us that it is inadvisable for the officials of a Provincial Commission to take an active part in municipal elections and debates, with reference to the passing of by-laws, and particularly so where the schema is the proposed construction of a system of electric railways, which is expected to be built by bonds of the Hydro Electric Power Commission, an endorsement of which is desired to be obtained from the Province. The Commissioners in charge of the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario and their officials are apt to be thus drawn into controversial matters.

Certain of the witnesses, called pointed attention to the wide and enlarging scope of the powers entrusted to the Commission by the Hydro Electric Power Legislation, and the Electric Railway Legislation which has been passed. For example, by the Act of 1918, 8 George V, ch. 14, sec. 4: "The Power Commission Act is amended by adding thereto the following sections:

"6 (b) All special funds and the income and revenue thereon, and all moneys and revenue which now are or shall come into the hands of the Commission, whether as agent, trustee, owner or otherwise, shall form one fund to be called 'general fund,' and the Commission shall have power from time to time to make any and all expenditures out of the said fund for the purposes and objects of the Commission without regard to the special trust or purposes under which the same or any part thereof may come to its hands, and the Commission shall account for and from time to time pay out of the said funds, all moneys for which it shall be so accountable."

In the Hydro Electric Railway Act of 1916, ch. 37, there appears the following:

"Sec. 8. Notwithstanding anything in The Municipal Act contained, debentures issued or purporting to be issued by a municipal corporation under the authority of the Hydro Electric Railway Act, 1914, for the purpose of carrying out any contract entered into with the Commission under the authority of the said Act, shall not be included in ascertaining the limit of the borrowing powers of the corporation as prescribed by The Municipal Act."

By the Statute Law Amendment Act of 1917, ch. 27, sec. 32, said section 8 was amended by inserting after the words "The Municipal Act" in the first line, the words "or in any other general or special Act," by adding at the end of the said section "or by any other general or special Act."

These witnesses also directed the attention of the Commission to the terms of the agreements entered into between the municipalities who are interested in the construction of the proposed system of railways, and the Hydro Electric Power Commission.