and Alberta (1917). The Ontario law was not proclaimed in force until two years after its enactment and there were long delays in the appointment of inspectors in Quebec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba. Several union resolutions urged the necessity for more adequate inspection in Ontario and Quebec and a decade and a half later it was necessary to bring the same pressure upon the governments of Manitoba and Nova Scotia. The provinces now have 62 inspectors, of whom fourteen are women. The mines and factory acts accord to inspectors adequate powers of examination and enquiry and provide against obstruction and refusal to furnish necessary information. Inspectors are required to submit reports regularly. Mine inspection seems to have been much more effective than factory inspection. There have been some complaints of poor enforcement of the laws from the miners' organizations but they are decidedly few as compared with the demands for better inspection of factories. Indeed, in British Columbia in 1911, the unions gave credit to the provincial government for the enactment of "coal-mine regulation for the protection of life that will bear comparison with the best in operation in any part of the world,"1 and as early as 1896 the Provincial Workmen's Association referred to the Nova Scotia legislation in much the same terms. In contrast, several of the provinces were slow to enforce their factory legislation after its enactment and from the outset organized labor has been urging the appointment of more inspectors and stricter enforcement of the regulations. Inspection of factories is more general in Canada than in the United States. While great industrial states have extensive inspection services, only about half the states have factory inspectors and in general they are not well trained 1 Cf. supra, p. 421. 2 Cf. supra, p. 88. and are poorly paid.1 While the factory inspection in Canadian provinces is in some degree open to the same criticisms there is less political interference and greater continuity of service. On the other hand, factory inspection in Canada falls far below the standards established in Great Britain.. Ontario alone among the provinces enacted a special law for the regulation and inspection of workshops. This measure, passed in 1892, was consolidated with the Factories Act in 1913. In other provinces the regulation of workshops and supervision by the factory inspectors was effected under the factories acts. The Shops Regulation Acts, enacted in Manitoba (1888), Ontario (1892) and British Columbia (1900) for the regulation of hours of closing and the labor of young persons in retail establishments, included provision for inspection but for many years no proper inspection was established. Quebec in 1900 gave the factory inspectors powers of inspection over all shops and stores but in 1908 inspection was limited to stores employing at least ten clerks. Nova Scotia enacted legislation for the regulation of shops in 1895 but no provision for inspection was made. Inspection of bakeshops by the factory inspectors was established in Ontario by the Bake Shops Act of 1896. Manitoba vested the inspection of bakeshops in municipal inspectors (1898) and British Columbia in the department of police (1901). New Brunswick established inspection of bakeries by the Factories Act (1905) and Alberta by the Factories Act of 1917. The Building Trades Protection Acts of Quebec (1908), Ontario (1911), Manitoba (1912), Saskatchewan (1912) and Alberta (1913) authorized the appointment of inspectors to enforce regulations for the protection of workers employed in building construction. 'J. B. Andrews, Labor Problems and Labor Legislation (2nd ed., New York, 1922), p. 127. The Merchant Shipping Act of Great Britain, passed in 1854, applied as well to the British Dominions. This law authorized some inspection of ships and investigation of seamen's complaints with regard to water and provisions and from this beginning a number of Canadian regulations developed, inconsistent provisions of the Imperial act being repealed from time to time. Laws of 1873 regulated the lading of ships, authorized investigation of vessels complained of as unfit to proceed to sea, reenacted provisions of the British Merchant Shipping Act authorizing inspection of water and provisions, and required that accommodations for the crew should be inspected. At the session of 1891 laws were passed which established a system of inspection for all vessels registered in Canada and required the marking of load lines on vessels navigating salt water. All these provisions as amended from time to time were consolidated in the Canada Shipping Act. The employment of numbers of men on railroad and other construction works, in lumber and mining camps, in sawmills and in the threshing camps of the wheat-growing provinces has necessitated legal regulation of the living and working conditions in such places, especially those located in isolated districts without municipal government. In 1899 Parliament authorized the Governor-General in Council to provide for the inspection of the living quarters of employees on construction works and in lumber and mining camps within Dominion jurisdiction and provincial legislation has followed in Ontario (1901), Quebec (1901), Saskatchewan (1909), British Columbia (1911), Manitoba (1911), New Brunswick (1918) and Nova Scotia (1919). Legislation looking to the enforcement of regulations for the protection of electrical workers has been enacted in British Columbia (1910), Ontario (1912), Saskatchewan (1913), Alberta (1917) and Manitoba (1921). A Domin ion law authorizing the appointment of inspectors of explosives was passed in 1914. As to the measure of conformity with the recommendation of the International Labor Organization, the sphere of factory inspection and the functions and powers of inspectors in Canada conform in general. The inspectors are not burdened with additional duties and they are given ample powers to secure admission to factories, to question members of the staff in privacy and to examine registers and documents. They may order necessary alterations to plant within a fixed time and suspension of the execution of such orders may be had only on appeal to a higher authority. There is a definite trend in the legislation towards greater emphasis on the prevention of accidents and the better safeguarding of the health of the workers. Accidents that necessitate the absence of the worker from his place for a few days must be notified to the inspector. Many of the suggestions of the recommendation deal with matters which in Canada are entirely within the sphere of administration and their status is not revealed by the legislation. The organization of inspection on a district plan, for example, is a matter of administrative arrangement, feasible only in the larger industrial provinces with a considerable staff of inspectors. Most of the inspectorates include women as well as men, as the recommendation requires, and they are independent of changes of government; but the scale of salaries does not attract and retain persons with a high standard of technical training and experience, as recommended. Annual reports are published but they lack uniformity in method and do not permit of accurate comparison as between the provinces and frequently as between years in the same province. No special health services have been established for the workers but some provision for their welfare is made under the Dominion and provincial health acts.1 1 Cf. supra, pp. 41, 460-63. CHAPTER XIII CONCLUSION "There can be no equality of opportunity, the first essential in the body of politics, if men and women and children be not shielded in their lives, their very vitality, from the consequences of great industrial and social processes which they cannot alter, control or singly cope with." (From inaugural address of Woodrow Wilson, Washington, March 4, 1913.) We may now review Canada's position on the nine methods and principles of the Labor Section. The first, that labor should not be regarded merely as a commodity, has received important recognition in the exclusion of trade unions from the operation of the combination laws. On the second, freedom of association for employers and employed, employers' associations have been little used for purposes of industrial relations in Canada. There has been no interpretation of the principle by convention or recommendation but as compared with British standards Canadian workers have a very restricted right of association. Trade unions are open to charges of criminal and civil conspiracy and their funds are liable to seizure to satisfy damage actions. While the law grants the right to strike for certain stated objects, sympathetic strikes have been held illegal. Canadian unions do not enjoy the protection with regard to picketing and injunctions granted under the law of Great Britain but are more nearly in the precarious position of the unions of the United States. The Canadian legislation bearing on the third point, the payment of a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable stand |