Seven Liberal Ministers have been defeated—Mr. Fielding, the Minister of
Finance and the author of the Reciprocity Agreement; Mr. Paterson, the Minister of Customs, who acted as Mr. Fielding's colleague in negotiating the Agree- ment ; Sir Frederick Borden, Minister of Militia; Mr. Graham, Minister of Railways; Mr. Fisher, Minister of Agriculture ; Mr. Templeman, Minister of Inland Revenue and Mines ; and Mr. Mackenzie King, Minister of Labour. The number of seats to be filled is 221, of which at the dissolution the Liberats held 132 and the Conservatives and Nationalists 89. As we go to press, we learn that the Opposition have secured 129 seats and the Liberals 79. The expectation was that the industrial centres would be opposed to Reciprocity and that the agricul- tural districts would be in favour of it, as the farmers want new markets for their grain. For the rest, much attention was turned to the Nationalist movement, which was bitterly opposed to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and thus formed a kind of voting alliance with the Conservatives. It was an odd com- bination, as the Conservatives find Sir Wilfrid Laurier insuffi- ciently Imperialistic and the Nationalists denounce him as a Jingo. Mr. Boarassa, the Leader of the Nationalists, had a very unpleasant experience on election day, being held prisoner in a hall at St. Hyacinthe for three hours and pelted With stones by angry Liberals.
