Canada’s national debt an alarming state of affairs

Friday, 09 April 2010 00:00

One hundred years ago, clippings from the newspapers of April 9, 1910

Halifax Herald. “Big increase in public debt” is “an alarming state of affairs,” says the Herald. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 1909, the debt of the Government of Canada stood at $325,976,712, an increase of almost $18.8 million during the year. The public debt amounted to approximately $50 for each of Canada’s almost seven million people, or approximately $250 per person if measured in 2009 dollars. One hundred years later, the public debt, as of March 2009 amounted to $463 billion, or almost $15,000 per person. Much larger, however, is the debt of the U.S. government, at some $14 trillion Canadian dollars (and climbing fast), or more than $40,000 for every American. In 2011, the U.S. public debt is forecast to exceed, for the first time ever, 100 percent of the country’s annual production of goods and services, the gross national debt. The U.S. debt is forecast to double to $28 trillion within 12 years.

Painted lady
Montreal Star. “Owing rent, painted lady disappears,” headlines a page one story in the Star. Miss Lefebvre was sought as a witness in the case of police constable Elzear Pelletier, alleged to have conveyed women—“some of them said to be of immoral character—to impersonate voters in the [recent] election in St. Jean Baptiste ward.” The Star claimed to have uncovered a “significant clue”—her address in the telephone directory. But when a Star reporter arrived on the scene, “the house was found locked up, and all the rooms empty. The furniture was taken out late on Thursday night, about three weeks ago.” None of the neighbour expressed regret at her hurried departure. They said she had frequent callers at the house. The landlord “declares that if he can trace Miss Lefebvre he will have her arrested. He says she owes him a mater of sixty dollars for rent.”

Abducted daughter
Toronto World.“After three years’ search, Louis Behner, of Hartford, Connecticut, recovered his daughter, Anna,” in Montreal. Former U.S. Navy Lieutenant John Capehart has been charged with abduction. Hartford police are expected to also charge Capehart with forgery. “Anna was 16 years old when she ran away with Capehart, who was cutting a wide swatch in Hartford society at the time.” The couple, living in Montreal under the name of Shaw, was found by detectives. Anna has returned to Hartford with her father.

Train Baby
Canadian Press. When the CPR train arrived at Moosejaw, Saskatchewan, “a 20-year-old girl and a new-born infant were removed in an ambulance.” The baby was born between Regina and Moosejaw. The mother tried to conceal the birth but a porter heard wailing from the toilet room, where baby “was wrapped in a towel and placed in a cupboard. The girl at first denied all knowledge.”