Canada. Royal Commission on Customs and Excise : The Royal Commission on Customs and Excise was established under Order in Council, P.C. 1161, 20 July 1926, under Part I of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C., 1906, c.104), and on the recommendation of the Minister of Justice. By Order in Council P.C. 67, 14 January 1927, a supplementary Commission was issued to the Commissioners extending their powers of investigation. The Commission was mandated to continue and complete the investigation of the Special Committee of the House of Commons into the administration of the Department of Customs and Excise. Further, to inquire into and report upon all matters coming under the administration of the Minister of Customs and Excise which affect the public revenue of Canada or relate to the operations of any persons or corporation owning, operating or employed in connection with any business carried on under the provisions of the Excise Act (11-12 Geo V, c.26, 1921) or the Customs Act (R.S.C., 1906, c.48) or any regulations made thereunder. The original Commissioner was François Xavier Lemieux. Subsequently, James Thomas Brown and William Henry Wright were appointed Commissioners to assist Lemieux (Order in Council, P.C. 1467, 28 September 1926). When Lemieux resigned from the Commission, James T. Brown was appointed chairman and Ernest Roy became a Commissioner (Order in Council, P.C. 1844 and Order in Council, P.C. 1845, 11 November 1926). The secretary was P. D'Auteuil Leduc.
Early in 1925, the Government of Canada became aware that inefficiency and corruption existed in the Department of Customs and Excise and undertook an informal investigation of it.
In March 1925, Prime Minister King wanted to appoint a royal commission providing that the Commercial Protective Association, which had complained of irregularities in the department, would make charges against some customs officials, but the association did not act.
The issue became wider known, in February 1926, when H.H. Stevens, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre, charged that the government was aware of flagrant violations of customs regulations and that officials of the department were involved in wrongdoing. His attack forced the House of Commons to create a special committee to investigate the administration of the department.
According to the final report of the parliamentary committee, of 18 June 1926, some issues Stevens had raised were of substance:
"The evidence submitted to the Committee leads to the general conclusion that for a long time the Department of Customs and Excise has been slowly degenerating in efficiency, and that the process was greatly accelerated in the last few years. Apparently the Hon. Jacques Bureau, then Minister of Customs, failed to appreciate and properly discharge the responsibilities of his office, and as a result there was a lack of efficient, continuous and vigorous control of subordinates by the headquarters staff at Ottawa."
In addition, the committee confirmed the following: widespread inefficiency and laxity was in evidence in the department; liquor was smuggled into the United States where prohibition existed; stolen automobiles were smuggled into Canada; and some senior employees of the department were so delinquent in their duties that the report recommended the dismissal of nine of them. The report also showed that Senator Jacques Bureau, while serving as Minister of Customs, had received gifts of liquor from Montreal customs officials, and a smuggled automobile had been sold to his chauffeur. Beyond that, George H. Boivin, the new Minister of Customs and Excise, intervened to delay the imprisonment of Moses Aziz, a convicted smuggler.
Because of the uproar caused by the report, the minority King government feared that it might be defeated on a vote of censure over the irregularities. King avoided a vote of censure by asking Governor General Byng for a dissolution of Parliament. But, the Governor General refused to grant one. On the 28 June 1926 King resigned and the Governor General called on Arthur Meighen, the Leader of the Opposition, to form a government.
On 29 June, the Meighen administration ensured the passage of a censure resolution against the former King government by having the following statement added to the report of the parliamentary committee:
"Since the enquiry indicates that the smuggling evils are so extensive and their ramifications so far reaching that only a portion of the illegal practices have been brought to light, your committee recommends the appointment of a judicial commission with full powers to continue and complete investigating the administration of the Department of Customs and Excise and to prosecute all offenders."
On 20 July 1926, shortly after the dissolution of Parliament, therefore, the Government of Canada appointed a royal commission, to investigate and report on the administration of the Department of Customs and Excise. (See Journals of the House of Commons, 1925 Session, Ottawa: King's Printer, 1926, pp. 444-449 and pp. 493-497; Canadian Annual Review, 1925-26, pp. 53-55, 64-65 and 79-83; H. Blair Neatby, William Lyon Mackenzie King, 1924-1932, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963, pp. 63-64, 114-116 and 130-157 and Bruce Hutchison, The Incredible Canadian, Toronto: Longmans, Green & Co., 1952, pp. 104-108).
Hearings of the commission were held in Saint John, Halifax, Charlottetown, Quebec City, Montreal, Niagara Falls, Windsor, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria from 17 November 1926 to 14 September 1927. RG33-88 General Inventory
