Although opposition to Prime Minister Mackenzie King's request for release from his 1940 pledge to refrain from conscription for overseas service was somewhat greater than expected, New Brunswick voted 'yes' by nearly three to one in the Apr. 27 plebiscite. The anti-conscription vote was particularly strong in the French-speaking Bay of Chaleur district and other areas bordering Quebec. Except for the plebiscite there were no political developments of note during the year.
New Brunswick fared relatively better than any of the other provinces in the province-Dominion agreement under which the provinces agreed to vacate the field of income and corporation taxes during the war in exchange for compensation from the Dominion Government. As a result of this agreement, the Dominion took over the entire service charge on New Brunswick's debt, amounting to $3,650,067. This amounted to 62.2 per cent of the province's total revenues, the greatest proportion assumed by the Dominion for any of the provinces. Nevertheless, the city of St. John asked the provincial legislature to impose a poll tax of $10 a year for males and $5 for employed females, including housewives and domestic servants, to offset the loss of revenue resulting from the taking over of the income tax of that city.
The 1941 decennial census shows the population of New Brunswick to be 453,377, exclusive of the men in the armed forces. In 1931 the population was listed as 408,219. The rate of increase was slightly higher than that of the Dominion as a whole.
No comments:
Post a Comment