Mr. Frank OʻByrne is, by profession, a business man. In politics he is a Conservative, belonging to the Association of Progressive-Conservatives of Agincourt, Ont.
Last Fall this group held an assembly for the purpose of hearing an address delivered by a Conservative member of parliament, Mr. Frank McGee. The matter of the restriction of credit came up along with the hardship it was imposing upon business men. Someone remarked that Prime Minister Diefenbaker, when questioned about credit restriction, replied: "Credit restriction? I don't know what you mean."
Frank OʻByrne, hearing this story, made the following remark — which was very much to the point:
"Mr. Diefenbaker should disguise himself as the owner of a small business and present himself at any bank at all for the purpose of getting a loan."
Unfortunately, there is not the slightest probability that the Prime Minister will have reccourse to such a method in order to find out for himself just what restriction of credit is.
Nor is he any more likely to follow the suggestion which we most respectfully submit below:
"In order to have an accurate knowledge of the degree of prosperity existant in Canada, let the Prime Minister go and live for a couple of months, between sessions, in some of the homes in the County of Gloucester in New Brunswick. We'll gladly furnish him with a number of addresses. Let him live there making use of no other means than those at the disposal of the family. These will be, without any doubt, the most profitable vacations he has ever spent."
We cordially extend the same invitation to all men engaged in political affairs and who are accustomed to sing, wherever they go, the glorious prosperity of Canada — being sure always to attribute this prosperity to their good administration.
"... the collective prices of the goods available for sale at any moment in a given community, if they have been produced by ordinary commercial methods, cannot be met by the money available through the channels of wages, salaries, and dividends, at one and the same moment. They can be exported in return for purchasing power, or they can be destroyed or they can be bought by purchasing-power which is created and distributed in respect of a separate cycle of production."
Douglas – Social Credit, p. 94
"The only freedom that deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it." — John Stuart Mills.