The Canadian Jewish Chronicle, in an editorial entitled “Race Hatred From a Cabinet Minister,” comments upon the utterances made recently by the Minister of Labor of Quebec, which have aroused great indignation. The paper writes:
The Hon. C. J. Arcand, Minister of Labor in the Taschereau government of Quebec, stepped out of his role as minister of the Crown and assumed that unbelievable part of disseminator of race hatred by urging Fascist groups to adopt the slogan “make your purchases from our people only!” Mr. Arcand stepped into the by-paths of demagoguery by lampooning the “disloyal elements with whom they have to compete” and the “business control which rests in the hands of those who are not of us. “
The Minister of Labor regaled his audience with other juicy specimens of chauvinism much to the delight of his hearers, and his compatriots are assured of a new voice to champion their cause. We have nothing against Mr. Arcand the private citizen espousing the cause of French-Canadians, but it is altogether a different story when the Hon. C. J. Arcand, a member of the provincial cabinet and a minister of the Crown, as “L’Ordre” succinctly reminds him, becomes a popular “pinch hitter” and lays a fuse which can easily set up a mighty explosion in the province whose welfare he has been appointed to direct.
We could easily ask Mr. Arcand some pertinent questions as to who has the monopoly of the industries which he suggests have been filched from the hands of his people. We could request him to state what has deterred his compatriots from developing their individuality in the four centuries they are living here. Who has suddenly become their stumbling block? Who has destroyed their commerce, their finance, their art, their culture and their literature? We have often asked these questions, but the sweeping indictments which men of his ilk have brought against us before now have been of so general a nature, as not to admit of logic or common sense. It would therefore be more than could be expected to await the minister’s reply to these questions.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
