Regulation 17 has abrogated this provision with respect to French in all schools established after June, 1912, and with respect to German the matter remains as it was under regulation 15. Now, what is the case of the French Canadians of Ontario, on what do they rely, on what do they base their claim that French should be used in their schools? By the British North America Act it is provided that the rights and privileges enjoyed by Roman Catholics in the Province of Ontario at the time of Confederation, or by the Protestant minority in the Province of Quebec, shall not be interfered with by the provinces. Subject to these rights the provinces are given absolute power to legislate on school matters. There is the whole question so far as the legal and constitutional aspect is concerned. You have to see what in 1867 were the rights of the respective minorities in Ontario and Quebec. So far as Quebec is concerned, it is not and never was subject of misunderstanding. Everyone has agreed as to what the rights of the Protestant minority were and are, and no one has interfered with them. But it is different in Ontario. I have been there for thirty-two years, and it has always been more or less a subject of discussion and dispute. The rights of the Catholics in Ontario in 1867 were the rights given by the act of 1863. The first part of the act gave to the Roman Catholics the right to elect trustees to conduct the Catholic separate schools, in other words the right to fully administer the schools. Other provisions of the statute dealt with the right to determine the kind and description of the schools, in other words the right to have schools where both languages would be taught, as it had been previous to 1863. Then there was the right to appoint teachers and define their duties; also to appoint inspectors or superintendents. Every one of these essential things has been wiped out and taken away from the separate schools supporters of the city of Ottawa, not in part, but wholly and completely, and conferred upon Government appointed Commissioners. Let us see what this means. The questions involved in this controversy are in principle as essential and as important as any question that ever came before the British people. Why, it goes back to Runnymede, when this principle was settled forever--No taxation without representation. The French-Canadians of Ottawa are compelled to pay taxes and they have no representation. They are taxed and have to pay taxes for schools, and yet they have nothing to say regarding the expenditure of their taxes or the conduct of these schools.