Mr. Aberhart and the Constitution Mr. Aberhart, the Premier of
Alberta, this week refused the request of Mr. Mackenzie King, the Federal Prime Minister, that he should agree to refer his recent banking legislation to the Supreme Court. Its object is to bring provincial banking policy under the control of a Social Credit Board, and no expedient of Mr. Aberhart's can evade section 91 of the Canadian Constitution, which explicitly states that " banking, incorporation of banks, and the issue of paper money " are exclusively Federal subjects. On Tuesday therefore Mr. Mackenzie King announced that his Government had exercised the Federal right of disallowing Mr. Aberhart's three banking Acts ; it is to be noted that the right has fallen into disuse in recent times, and the Federal Government could have had recourse to it only with reluc- tance. What Mr. Aberhart's next step can be is difficult to say. From the text of his letter to Mr. Mackenzie King it seems clear that, if he intends to continue his fight, he will rest his case, not on law or on finance, where he is weak, but on an appeal to the " will of the Province " and on the claim to protect " a debt-ridden and poverty-stricken people " against the wickedness and tyranny of bankers.
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