Mackenzie King died in 1950, by which time Canada was again going to war, this time in Korea; on the train returning from the former prime minister's funeral, St. Laurent and his External Relations minister, Lester Pearson, began planning troop movements. Howe saw it as the wrong war in the wrong place, and thought that Canadian troops should not be sent. Nevertheless, he spent the summer of 1950 at his desk, making plans to implement government controls on the booming economy. In September 1950, Howe tabled a bill allowing him to reallocate scarce materials such as steel from the civilian sector to military use. The bill passed, but not before the Opposition had charged that Howe had "an enormous appetite for power". Late in the year, the Government decided on a massive rearmament program. As the Canadian Commercial Corporation, the Crown Corporation which handled government purchases, was felt to be inadequate for the task, the Cabinet decided on a new department to handle procurement. St. Laurent introduced a bill in February 1951 creating a Department of Defence Production, and announced that on passage, Howe would add that responsibility to his portfolio. The opposition parties objected to the Defence Production Act, stating that there was no emergency justifying the powers Howe wanted. According to Roberts, Howe sought to implement rearmament by getting "full power for himself and running rights over everyone and everything to get an urgent job done". Backed by the overwhelming Liberal majority, the bill passed and the Department was established on 1 April 1951.