The Hull congress was an unqualified success. It augurs well for the new system of regional congresses all over the country, in place of one grand congress. However, the great Labor Day congress will still be held annually to bring together as many representatives as possible from all over the land. This assembly at Hull on April 4-5 bids well to set the pattern for the rest of the 1959 series of congresses. And this in turn foreshadows a tremendous upsurge of the Crediter movement across Canada.
It was an exhilarating sight, the automobiles flying the white pennon of the Union of Electors, pouring into Ottawa that Saturday morning and crossing over into Hull. By two o'clock in the afternoon most of the members had arrived and were busy meeting old friends and making new in the big auditorium of Reboul school. The hall itself was artistically decorated with the flags and colors of the movement; the platform, the center of the congress, was decorated as can be seen in the photograph. The great inscription across the back of the stage which spells out the theme of the congress, was the work of Florent Fournier, an active Crediter from Ville Jacques Cartier, a suburb of Montreal.
During the afternoon session, ribbons of distinction, in the colors of the movement, were distributed to those who had distinguished themselves in the grand campaign for subscriptions during the preceding month of March. The ace of this campaign was Mr. S. Fradette who took 180's subscriptions to Vers Demain and The Union of Electors during the month. It was his honor to announce to the assembly the grand total of subscriptions taken during the month - 7,431. This accomplishment keynotes the tremendous vitality and dynamism of the movement here in the east. How can the light of Social Credit fail to reach the people when there are such men and women to spread it abroad!
At five-thirty all had supper together in the hall. This meal was hosted by the Crediters and local merchants of Hull who supplied all the good things and waited on the members of the congress. The courtesy of these people is something we shall long remember.
The evening session was devoted to the development and explanation of the congress theme: "Pour un peuple puissant, chacun à l'abonnement" This, freely translated, simply means, that if the people are to be made strong, then all must give themselves to spreading the principles of Social Credit through propagating the two publications, Vers Demain and The Union of Electors. The great means of spreading any idea, even in this age of radio and television, is still the printed word. And if men and women are to be impregnated with ideas, specifically the ideas of the Social Credit philosophy, then it must be through the French-language Social Credit publication, Vers Demain, and its English-language brother, The Union of Electors. For the Union of Electors, the movement, serves both the peoples who make up the nation in this Canada of ours...
Mr. Louis Even, director-general, developed the first line of the theme, "For a strong people..." economic democracy, exercised through the ballot which we call money, a ballot which is today restricted by the existing financial system, a system which Crediters denounce and are working to overthrow; then, political democracy, exercised by the full-time ballot (and not just the ballot of election-time) which is the pressure exerted by the people at all times on their representatives to get the results they want, a pressure which Crediters in particular become skilled at exercising and which they teach to others, a pressure which makes a man a truly democratic and free citizen.
After Mr. Even, Hervé Provencher, the director of The Institute of Political Action, took the floor to develop the second part of the theme; ".... each one to the work of subscription." The Institute of Political Action is that section of the movements directory which plans and directs the activities of the Union of Electors, the movement, in accordance with the exigencies of the time and the principles of Social Credit. Hence, Mr. Provencher, a most capable strategist, was well-endowed to develop this part of the theme, in calling to all to launch into the work of taking subscriptions, this work being vital to teaching the people; for only an enlightened people can be a strong (puissant) people.
Gerard Mercier, another director, then supervised the signing of pledges by the members of the congress, to take a certain number of subscriptions between then and the following congress in May at Roberval-Dolbeau. The total promised, just by the Crediters in the hall, for the month of April was more than 4,000 subscriptions.
Mrs Côté-Mercier, co-directress, then exhorted the members to renew their zeal in working for the movement, stressing that this work was very much in the nature of an apostleship, inasmuch as it required, an excess of zeal and willingless to do a lot for no material personal gain simply to bring a better civilization to mankind.
All of the out-of-town delegates were guests of members or supporters of the movement for the night. No Crediter had to pay for his night's lodgings. Such is the charity among those who labor to spread this movement.
The afternoon session was preceded by a grand parade through the streets of Hull in which all members joined. The parade was headed by the Gauvin school cadet band and featured a Crediter guard of honor bearing the flags of the movement. The cadet band was under the direction of Mr. Fontaine, and opened the sessions of the afternoon and evening. A not entirely unexpected development of this parade, as reported by our Hull members, was the large number of subscriptions later taken along the streets through which the parade passed. Obviously, it doesn't hurt to do a little advertising.
The afternoon session was supposed to have been devoted to public men. M.P.'s, both federal and provincial, had been invited to attend and meet the people. These public officials are only too ready to meet the people, no matter in what small numbers, when there is an election campaign under way and they are seeking votes. However, their absence did not dim in any degree the enthusiasm of the congress which went on to consider the theme of the great congress of St. Basile of 1958 "Financing by the Bank of Canada without interest".
This subject was developed with vigor and clarity by our director-general, Mr. Even, who, in the words of the representative from the daily Montreal paper, La Presse, "was in excellent form for a man of 74 years."
The provincial M.P. for Hull, Mr. Oswald Parent, was on the platform and he spoke after Mr. Even. He said that he did not agree with all the teachings of Social Credit, but the financing by the Bank of Canada without interest charges for municipalities and school commissions was not only desirable but necessary, for they were in an alarming situation. He also stated that he subscribed to and read Vers Demain, our French-language publication.
Mrs. Côté-Mercier then thanked the representative and made the appropriate comments. "Our mission", she said, "is to cry out our doctrine, to bear witness to it. And our twenty years of this work show fruit in the growth of the movement and in the good it has accomplished. Our movement is the march of an entire people towards financial liberation. Each day we take up anew our work in politics; for after all, politics, true politics, is a social and humane work and no man or woman can ignore it and still meet their responsibilities as citizens of the community and members of society. We propagate ideas; we originate a great stream of ideas whose currant will sweep up all men. All reforms begin with ideas. Legislation is only the crowning of her work."
During the evening session the assembly was addressed by Mr. Lionel Emond, a councillor of Hull: "For 14 years I have always backed up, at the city hall, the members of the Union of Electors here in Hull who work so unremittingly for the good of the population. I have brought forward and proposed your resolutions in the council. I have done so with pleasure because I have known that they were for the good of all. I proposed the motion for the doubling of family allocations; and more recently I proposed the motion asking for finance without interest by the Bank of Canada. I have intervened to get halls for your meetings, at no charge to you because I appreciate your work.... I have been reading your publication since it was founded. Councillor Robert Guertin donated $20.00 to help defray expenses.
Four resolutions were adopted during the congress; 1 for the doubling of family allo- cations; 2 financing of municipal and school works without interest by the Bank of Canada; 3 for free time on radio and television (the CBC) for the Union of Electors; 4 against obligatory state health insurance.
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THANKS!
... to Guy Jean and his squad of full-time workers who planned and carried out the pre- parations for the congress;
.. to those wonderful Crediters in Hull, Philip Lapensée, the Clements, the Leclercs, the Martels, the Boudreaus and all those others with- out whose help the congress would not have been the success it was;
to the local authorities who welcomed us with open arms and flew the Crediters'flag from.. the mast of the city hall during the congress;... to the local papers, Le Droit and the Ot- tawa Citizen for fine coverage and an excellent reporting.