CHAP. 1] THE DOMINION OF CANADA 677 
was much divided in opinion ; three judges out of five held 
that the provinces had none of the powers suggested, but 
two thought that they had all except the power to prohibit 
manufacture and importation. The Judicial Committee ! 
held that the Act of Ontario was valid except in the parts of 
the province where the Canada Temperance Act might come 
into force. They doubted whether the province could ever 
prohibit the importation of liquor, but it might perhaps 
forbid the manufacture, if that could be treated as a pro- 
vincial matter. They laid down, however, a great principle 
as governing the case, viz. that while the Federal Parliament 
has a general legislative power over Canada in addition to 
the express authority given in s. 91 by specification, the 
general authority must not trespass on the subjects within 
the exclusive powers of the provinces under s. 92, while in 
the case of the powers given under s. 91 specifically they 
eould be exercised, though incidentally they interfered with 
the exclusive powers of the provinces : they thought such 
interference was due not to any direct collision of powers, 
but to the fact that a thing might be looked at from different 
points of view. The Canada Act was not a regulation of 
trade and commerce, for it aimed at destroying trade and 
commerce, but was valid under the general power given by 
8. 91. The result of the decision has certainly been to leave 
the subject in a profound state of confusion, and the petitions 
of the English provinces for prohibition by the Parliament 
have hitherto been neutralized by the obstinate objections 
of Quebec, which is the support of the Prime Minister.2 A 
Manitoba Act of 1900 (c. 22) regulating the traffic, which the 
Provincial Court of King’s Bench pronounced ultra vires, has 
been held intra vires, though interfering with the Dominion 
revenue and indirectly with business relations outside the 
province, as dealing with a local matter? A referendum 
*19L.N.139; [1896] A. C. 348 ; Wheeler, pp. 1042 seq., gives a verbatim 
account of the proceedings. 
* Canada House of Commons Debates, 1899, i. 95. 
® Attorney-General for Manitoba wv, Manitoba Licence Holders’ Association. 
[19021 A. C 72