1949-02-23

QUESTIONS

[Stage Direction]
(Questions answered orally are indicated by an asterisk).

Mr. Diefenbaker:: 1.	What is the total amount of prairie farm assistance payments that have been made or have been passed on favourably or accepted in each of the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba during the year 1948?
2.	In how many cases have requests or applications for payment been denied in each of the said provinces?


Mr. McCubbin:: 1.	Manitoba, $43,173.75; Saskatchewan, $11,112,671.50; Alberta, $1,637,306.25.
2.	Manitoba: 37 townships applied for; 19 found to be ineligible. Saskatchewan: 1592 townships applied for; 249 found to be ineligible. Alberta: 715 townships applied for; 337 found to be ineligible.



HOUSINC


Mr. Johnston:: 1.	When was the contract or contracts let for the construction of forty houses under N.H.A. to the Bow River Construction Company of Calgary, Alberta?
2.	Who approved the plans and specifications for this contract?
3.	Who approved the contractor or contractors for this project?
4.	What were the qualifications of these contractors as to building experience and as to financial ability to complete the job?


Mr. Winters:: 1.	No contract for the construction of houses in Calgary has been let to the Bow River Construction Company by Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The company planned to build houses for sale to prospective home owners. The houses were to be constructed on the company's own account and therefore no contract for the construction of houses was involved. However, as it was intended to finance the project under the National Housing Act, the company entered
into two agreements with the corporation pursuant to section 4B of the National Housing Act. These agreements provided that:-
(a)	The company would finance the construction of the houses it planned to build under the provisions of the National Housing Act.
(b)	The company would construct the houses for sale at a price not in excess of a price fixed in the agreement.
(c)	The corporation would purchase from the company on the expiration of a fixed period after the date of completion, and at a price fixed in the agreement, any house built pursuant to the agreement that remained unsold.
(d)	The houses were to be offered for sale in the first instance to veterans.
The agreements mentioned above were dated July 25th, 1947, and November 4th, 1947. All such agreements entered into pursuant to section 4B of the National Housing Act are known as integrated housing agreements and the plan as "The Integrated Housing Plan".
2.	The Bow River Construction Company of Calgary obtained mortgage financing in respect of the houses built under the above-mentioned agreements under the National Housing Act, see (a) above, through the Manufacturers Life Insurance Company. The plans and specifications were approved by the Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation as joint mortgagees.
3.	The Bow River Construction Company of Calgary was approved as a borrower under the National Housing Act by the Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation as joint mortgagees.
4.	Reports obtained on the Bow River Construction Company at the time the Integrated Housing agreements and the National Housing Act loans were approved indicated that the company was in a sound financial position and would be able to carry the project to a successful conclusion.

Questions



IRRIGATION


Mr. Probe:: 1.	What is the estimated number of acres of land in each of the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba that have been supplied with potential irrigation through water storage by P.F.R.A. since its inception?
2.	What estimated acreages in each of the above provinces have had irrigation facilities authorized to date which are not finally completed?


Mr. McCubbin:: 1.	Alberta, 123,097; Saskatchewan, 110,461; Manitoba, 656-5.
2.	Alberta, 527,500; Saskatchewan, 18,000; Manitoba, 120.
Includes 500,000 acres at the St. Mary-Milk river project where reservoir and main canal construction is now in progress.



MONTREAL-COCHRANE RAILWAY SERVICE

Mr. Caouette:: 1.	Have any requests been made to the Department of Transport concerning the improvement of the railroad, passenger trains and the railway service between Montreal and Cochrane, via Abitibi?
2.	If so, from whom and when?
3.	Has any action been taken by the department in this connection and what steps are being taken to make such improvements?


Mr. Chevrier:: 1.	No.
2.	Answered by No. 1.
3.	The board of transport commissioners advise that since early last year the board has been dealing with the C.N.R. regarding the conditions in this area, that certain improvements recommended have been effected, and that the situation is being given further study by the board with the object of bringing about satisfactory railway conditions to cope with the rapid development throughout this section of the country.



INCREASES IN FREIGHT RATES

Mrs. Strum:: 1.	On what date in 1948 were the first increases in freight rates officially authorized?
2.	What other increases have taken place since then?
3.	What categories do these increases cover?
4.	What items are included in express charge increases, and increases in passenger rates on Pullman sleeping car accommodation?
5.	What dates did these increases occur?
6.	What was the amount of increase in each case?
7.	On whose authority were these increases permitted?


Mr. Chevrier:: 1.	In 1948 the first and only general freight rate increase was authorized on March 30, 1948, by the board of transport commissioners. The tariffs affected were "standard" and "special."
2.	No other increases which required the prior authorization of the board of transport

commissioners. The railways, however, are constantly adjusting their tariffs filed with the board pursuant to the Railway Act to meet changing conditions.
3.	Answered by 2.
4.	(a) Some express rates to meet competition of highway transport were increased on September 15, 1948, and cover a large variety of commodities.
(b)	Sleeping and parlour car fares.
5.	(a) Answered by 4 (a).
(b)	January 15, 1949.
6.	(a) 15 per cent.
(b) Approximately 25 per cent.
7.	No authority was required. Such rates and fares are lower than the "standard" rates and fares and, therefore, were filed in accordance with the provisions of sections 332 and 335 of the Railway Act.



TAXATION, 1929-1948  COLLECTIONS AND PER- CENTAGE OF NATIONAL INCOME

Mr. Fair:: 1.	What amount has been collected in taxes each year 1929/30 to 1947/48?
2.	What percentage of the national income is represented each year by such taxes?


Mr. Mcllrailh:: 1.	Dominion government tax revenues for the fiscal years 1929-1930 to 1947-1948 were as follows:
Dominion
Government
Fiscal Year	Tax Revenues
(Millions of Dollars)
1929-	30
1930-	31
1931-	32
1932-	33
1933-	34
1934-	35
1935-	36
1936-	37
1937-	38
1938-	39
1939-	40
1940-	41
1941-	42
1942-	43
1943-	44
1944-	45
1945-	46
1946-	47
1947-	48
296-7
254-4
304-7
386-6
435-7
778-2
1,360-9
2,066-7
2,436-8
2,154-6
2,202-4
2,427-7
2,452-1
Source: 1929-30 to 1934-35-Royal commission on dominion provincial relations-public accounts inquiry.
1935-36 to	1947-48-Dominion	public
accounts.

Questions
2.	Dominion government tax revenues as a percentage of the national income for the years 1929-48 are given in the following table:
Dominion Government Taxes as a Percentage of National Income (Millions of dollars)
Dominion Taxes as a
Direct Personal	Direct Corporation	Indirect	Total Dominion	Net National	Percentage of NationalYear	Taxes	Taxes	Taxes	Taxes	Income	Income(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)1929 	
28-5	44-8	318-4	391-7	4,689-0	8-41930 	
27-7	37-3	231-5	296-5	4,190-0	7-11931 	
25-7	31-1	218-6	275-4	3,261-0	8-41932 	
27-7	26-5	196-7	250-9	2,582-0	9-71933 	
30-8	34-0	214-8	279-6	2,387-0	11-71934 	
26-9	50-3	242-0	319-2	2,820-0	11-31935 	
35-0	60-7	239-0	334-7	3,117-0	10-71936 	
37-7	76-0	289-1	402-8	3,446-0	11-71937 	
42-9	99-0	334-2	476-1	4,017-0	11-91938 	
49-5	86-4	301-9	437-8	3,986-0	11-01939 	
48-7	108-1	310-2	467-0	4,289-0	10-91940 	
76-4	304-2	453-4	834-0	5,255-0	15-91941 	
232-6	503-3	673-2	1,409-1	6,594-0	21-41942 	
452-0	652-5	750-4	1,854-9	8,382-0	22-11943 	
649-6	665-3	888-1	2,203-0	9,093-0	24-21944 	
793-3	625-9	922-4	2,341-6	9,712-0	24-11945 	
761-0	628-1	781-7	2,170-8	9,772-0	22-21946 	
737-0	697-1	956-6	2,390-7	9,765-0	24-51947 	
728-8	746-4	1,136-2	2,611-4	10,981-0	23-81948 	
752-0	662.2	1,085-3	2,499-5	12,802-0	19-5
Note: Adjustments have been made wherever possible to place the taxation figures on a calendar year basis and to make them consistent with other national income data. It should be noted that this comparison has limitations because national income does not include indirect taxes or government transfers to persons.



DEVALUATION OP THE CANADIAN DOLLAR

Mr. Cockeram:: Is the government prepared to give early consideration and decision to (a) allowing the Canadian dollar to find its own level in relation to other currencies; (b) devaluing the Canadian dollar in accordance with the Bretton Woods agreement?


Mr. Belzile:: It is not customary to forecast policy in giving answers to questions on the order paper.
The government's policy in regard to exchange and monetary matters has been stated from time to time in the House of Commons.



TORONTO DISTRICT


Mr. Church:: What has been done since the last session of the house to give the Toronto district a steam suburban service by both railways, similar to that afforded Montreal and suburbs?


Mr. Chevrier:: In so far as the Board of Transport Commissioners for Canada is concerned there have been no further developments regarding the Toronto suburban service situation since the last session.
An answer appearing in Hansard of February 18, 1948, pointed out that over the lines of the Canadian National Railways commutation fares were available as follows:
(a)	between Toronto and Oakville and intermediate points,
(b)	between Toronto and Weston and intermediate points,
(c)	between Toronto and Port Union and intermediate points,
(d)	between Toronto and Downsview and intermediate points.



NATIONAL HOUSING ACT


Mr. Nicholson:: 1.	How many applications for farm loans have been received under the National Housing Act?
2.	How many farm houses for which loans have been approved were completed by December 31, 1948?
3.	In what areas have grants for slum clearance been approved?
4.	How much money has been appropriated for slum clearing projects?
5.	In what centres have land assembly projects been approved under the N.H.A.?
6.	How many lots will be developed in each
project?

Questions
7.	What financial obligations have been made in connection with each project?
8.	How many limited dividend companies have applied for loans for the construction of low rental housing?
9.	How many units have been completed?
10.	What has been the average cost per unit?
11.	How many applications for housing loans to co-operatives have been approved?
12.	What is the average loan per unit?


Mr. Winters:: 1.	To date 12 applications for farm housing loans have been received by this corporation.
2.	One farm house financed under the National Housing Act, 1944, was completed by December 31, 1948.
3.	To date one grant for slum clearance has been approved under the provisions of section 12 of the National Housing Act, the project being Regent- Park (North) located in the city of Toronto.
4.	Section 12(4) provides for statutory appropriation in the amount of $20 million. The grant for slum clearance in connection with the Regent Park project mentioned above will be $1,150,000.
5.	Under the provisions of section 11B of the National Housing Act, land assembly projects have been approved in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Burlington, St. Boniface, Edmonton and Vancouver.
6.	No. of lots
Location	Name of project provided
Montreal-
Mount Royal Gardens	 147
Ottawa-
Nepean Township	 91
Toronto -
Yorkminster	 403
Bathurst-Lawrence	 650
Burlington-
Orchard Park	 154
St. Boniface-
Norwood Golf Club	 206
Edmonton-
Parkdale	 35
Vancouver-
Hastings Townsite	 96
Total	1,822
7. Under the provisions of section 11B of the National Housing Act, the corporation guarantees a lending institution sponsoring a land assembly project a return from the sale of lots equal to the lending institution's total investment plus 2 per cent interest. The estimated total investment by lending institutions now stands at $2,201,495. In the two projects completed to date the revenue from the sale of lots has been sufficient to provide the necessary return to the sponsor plus a small balance to the corporation.

8.	Seventeen limited dividend companies (or companies which were prepared to set up limited dividend companies) have applied for loans under section 9 of the National Housing Act.
9.	3,689 units have been completed under section 9 of the National Housing Act.
10.	This information is not available as loans made under the provisions of section 9 of the act are based on lending values and not on costs.
11.	None.
12.	See answer to number 11.



NATIONAL FILM BOARD


Mr. Fraser:: 1.	What expenses for traveling, hotel, meals, etc., were paid by the national film board during the year 1948?
2.	Were any expenses incurred by the national film board in countries outside of Canada?
3.	If so, in - what countries were these expenses incurred; how much was spent in each country and for what purpose?
4.	Were any such expenses referred to in the preceding question charged to Canada's contribution to XJNRRA?
5.	If so, how much?


Mr. Winters:: 1.	Hotels, meals, taxis, etc. . $ 89,809.01
Transportation	 10,283.79
Entertainment	 1,550.98
Moving Expenses	 1,840.20
2. Yes.
3.	(a) United States, United Kingdom, France and Australia.
(b) United States-$5,059.44-More than half this amount (approximately $3,000.00) was spent in conducting a survey of the United States to establish non-theatrical distribution outlets for the distribution of travel films. Sixty-two outlets were established and are now in operation. The balance of this sum was expended on normal travel incurred in the United States in connection with national film board theatrical, non-theatrical and television distribution.
United Kingdom-$934.96-Part of this amount was traveling expenses of a visit to the United Kingdom in May and June by the director of distribution on a liaison visit to inspect distribution services. The balance was traveling expenses of distribution officers in connection with servicing Canadian missions in the United Kingdom and maintaining distribution outlets.
France-$764.14-This amount was spent on visits of the director of distribution and London distribution officer in connection with contacting film representatives of the French government and developing commercial outlets for national film board productions.
4.	No.
5.	Nil.



LOAN OF $700 MILLION TO UNITED KINGDOM   BRITISH-HELD CANADIAN SECURITIES

Mr. Jackman:: 1.	What was the balance owing at the end of each calendar year to date on the $700 million interest-free loan granted by Canada to the United Kingdom?
2.	What is the balance now owing?
3.	What is the amount realized from British-held Canadian securities sold by the United Kingdom nationals which has not been applied in reduction of the loan?
4.	For what other purposes, in what amounts, and on what dates have proceeds from the sale of the British-held Canadian securities been applied?


Mr. Belzile:: 1.
December	31,	1942	
$700,000,000.00December	31,	1943	
682,291,685.40December	31,	1944	
625,140,877.30December	31,	1945	
561,279,709.22December	31,	1946	
471,910,126.06December	31,	1947	
367,929,816.36December	31,	1948	
304,086,025.902.	$304,086,025.90.3.	$ 15,969,965.00.4.	(1) For new direct investments including the development of new enterprises or companies in Canada or the expansion of United Kingdom owned enterprises in Canada.(2)	To finance an order for 22 Canadair "North Star" aircraft for British Overseas Airways Corporation.(3)	(a) For purposes as in subsection (1) above: March 1 to May 31, 1947, $563,100; June 1 to August 31, 1947, $1,139,455; September 1, 1947 to November 30, 1948, $9,267,410.(b)	For purposes as in subsection (2) above: July 30, 1948-First payment to Canadair, $5,000,000.



FOREIGN EXCHANGE CONTROL BOARD


Mr. Jackman:: What has been the profit or loss on operations of the foreign exchange control board in each of the years since its inception?


Gleason Belzile: Exchange Fund Account Excess of Revenue over Expenditure Sept. 15, 1939 to Dec. 31, 1940	$ 8,915,458.16
1941		 9,265,284.11
1942		 11,225,153.49
1943		 9,414,510.22
1944		 6,659,997.14
1945		 3,841,249.80
1946		 1,658,026.80
1947		 10,832,697.64
Fuller details regarding revenues and expenditures are available in the annual reports of the foreign exchange control board. The report for the year 1946 also gives details of the revaluation of assets consequent upon the change in exchange rates on July 5, 1946.
Questions



GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCTION


Mr. Coldwell:: 1.	In arriving at the forecast of the gross national production for 1949 given to the house by the Prime Minister on January 28, 1949, what percentage increase in the price levels was taken into account, and what percentage increase in productivity was taken into account?
2.	What is the government's estimate of investment income in Canada for 1948?
3.	What is the government's forecast of investment income in Canada for 1949?


Mr. Mcllrailh:: 1.	The estimate of gross national production for 1949 takes into account an over-all price level about 5 per cent higher on the average in 1949 than in 1948. At the end of 1948 prices were almost 4 per cent above the average level during 1948. Thus the estimate assumes a very slight further rise in the general price level.
Allowance was made for an over-all improvement in productivity of 2 per cent.
2.	The estimate of investment income in Canada for 1948 is $2-6 billion.
3.	The estimate of investment income in Canada for 1949 is $2-65 billion.



DELIVERIES UNDER UNITED KINGDOM


Mr. Ross (Souris):: How many bushels of 1948-49 wheat crop have been sold to date, for delivery to countries other than Britain, under the United Kingdom-Canada agreement?


Mr. Mcllrailh:: Country	Bushels
Malta	 871,105



NATIONAL FILM BOARD


Mr. Fraser:: 1.	What was the total amount paid the employees of the national film board still department during the year 1948?
2.	Was any amount paid to casual employees? If so, how much?
3.	(a) What was the total cost of all materials, etc.,
bought for the still department during 1948?	(b)
What was the value of materials carried over from 1947 and used by still department during 1948?
4.	What is the total number of square feet of floor space used by the still department of the national film board, and in what buildings is this space?
5.	How many telephones are used in the still department?
6.	Does the still department have use of any national film board trucks or cars?
7.	What was the total amount of (a) travel expenses; (b) hotel expense, if any, for the still department for 1948?
8.	If any hotel expense, what was total amount?


Mr. Winters:: 1.	$55,152.64, stills division of photo services.
2.	None.

Questions
3.	(a) $24,826.58; (b) $2,206.50.
4.	4,742 square feet in building at 225 Sparks street.
5.	Five telephones are listed for use of the stills division staff.
6.	No trucks or cars are assigned for the use of the stills division. Occasionally on local assignments photographers make use of national film board vehicles if such vehicles are available.
7.	(a) $4,287.17;	(b) $6,476.00, including
meals.
8.	See answer to No. 7.




Mr. Fraser:: 1.	Did the still department of the national film board or any other department of the government produce any blowup or composite pictures of men in public life (present or past members of parliament) , during the years 1947-1948?
2.	If so, what are the names of such men?
3.	What size were these blowups, or composites, and at what price were they sold?


Mr. Winters:: 1.	The term "blowups" is usually considered to mean photo murals which are produced by the national film board in sizes ranging from 24" x 36" up to 10' x 12'. Such photo murals are made for display exhibits or for decoration of large wall surfaces. No photo murals or composites in these sizes have been made by the national film board of men in public life.
2. Answered by No. 1.
3. Answered by No. 1.



UNEMPLOYMENT


Mr. Coldwell:: 1.	Has the government any plans for public works projects or any other projects ready to put into operation if and when serious unemployment should develop in Canada?
2.	If so, how long would it take for such plans to be put into operation?
3.	What is the estimated number of workers who could be employed on such projects within (a) one month; (b) six months; (c) one year?
4.	What types of projects do these plans cover?
5.	What regions or provinces are included in these projects?


Mr. Winters:: 1.	Yes.
2.	The normal time to let contracts, about six weeks.
3.	For a construction year of 300 working days with summer peak employment:
(a)	At the site itself: one month, 1,500 skilled, 1,000 unskilled; six months, 10,000 skilled, 7,000 unskilled; one year, 3,000 skilled, 2,000 unskilled.
(b)	Off the site, in fabrication of materials and equipment, 15,700 industrial workers.

4.	(a) Highways, roads, streets.
(b)	Public buildings and grounds.
(c)	Residential construction.
(d)	Bridges, etc.
(e)	Docks, wharves, piers, etc.
(f)	Rivers, canals, dredging, etc.
5.	All provinces, the Yukon and Northwest Territories.



DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS


Mr. Coldwell:: 1.	Have any employees of the Department of Public Works in the city of Ottawa been temporarily suspended from work since January 1, 1948? If so, how many?
2.	For what different reasons have employees of the Department of Public Works in the city of Ottawa been temporarily suspended since January 1, 1948, and how many employees have been temporarily suspended during that time for each reason?


Mr. Fournier (Hull):: 1.	Since January 1, 1948, five employees were temporarily suspended from duty.
2.	Two were suspended for dereliction of duty resulting in damage to government property. Two were suspended for being under the influence of alcohol while on duty. One was suspended for using obscene language when addressing a female employee while on duty.



ACCIDENT STATISTICS

Mr. Church:: 1.	What method is used by the government in collecting statistics as to persons killed or injured by motor car accidents on the highways, drowning, level crossing accidents, fires in homes, and other causes?
2.	Is this information collected by the federal bureau of statistics or by the provinces and municipalities?


Mr. Mcllrailh:: 1.	(a) Statistics on fatal accidents are compiled by the dominion bureau of statistics, through the co-operation of the provincial vital statistics departments, from death registrations, on which the cause of death is certified by the coroner, attending physician, or other medical authority. All deaths where an accident was involved are classified according to the international list of causes of death and in addition to other cross-classifications are tabulated by sex and place of accident (whether in the home or in industry).
(b) In addition, each steam and electric railway reports annually to the dominion bureau of statistics, accidents in which the railway is involved and in which persons are killed or injured. The form on which these accidents are reported shows the number of persons killed or injured at (1) level crossings,
(2)	in which motor vehicles are involved, and
(3)	other headings not pertinent to this question. The dominion bureau of statistics also

collects motor vehicle accident statistics from the authorities in each province having jurisdiction over such statistics. These show the number of persons killed or injured in motor vehicle accidents.
(c)	As is evident, some of the data as to persons killed are collected from three sources, and of persons injured from two sources.
2.	Answered by No. 1.



AJAX, ONT.  PURCHASE OF LAND BY INDUSTRIAL FIRMS

Mr. Williams:: 1.	How many industrial firms have taken locations in Ajax since 1945?
2.	What are their names?
Questions
3.	In what country is the head office of each located?
4.	What is the nature of production of each?
5.	What is the anticipated number of employees in each?
6.	Have these firms made an outright purchase of the location? If so, how much did each firm pay for (a) land; (b) buildings; (c) equipment?
7.	What was the original cost to the federal treasury for the following purchased by these firms (a) land; (b) buildings; (c) equipment?
8.	How many industrial firms are in negotiation for location space in Ajax additional to those contained in number 1 hereof?


Mr. Winters:: 

PENITENTIARIES-REPORT OF ROYAL COMMISSION

Mr. McKay:: 1.	How many inmates are confined in each of the federal penitentiaries at present?
2.	What steps have been taken by the government to implement the recommendations of the 1938 report of the royal commission to investigate the penal system?


Mr. Garson:: 1.	Dorchester, 507; St. Vincent de Paul, 1,131; Kingston, 750 (males), 75 (females); Collin's Bay, 293; Manitoba, 388; Saskatchewan, 408; British Columbia, 431.
2.	Steps taken between 1938 and 1947 to implement the recommendations of the royal commission to investigate the penal system of Canada are set forth in detail at pages 48 to
56 of the annual report of the superintendent of penitentiaries for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1947. Subsequent steps taken are set forth in the annual report of the commissioner of penitentiaries tabled in the House of Commons.



OTTO STRASSER

Mr. Thatcher:: 1.	Is Otto Strasser at present living near Bridgetown, Nova Scotia?
2.	If so, are his activities in any way under the supervision of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police?
3.	Has he at any time applied for Canadian citizenship papers?
4.	Has he recently asked Canadian authorities for a ''Certificate of Identity" or other document, which would permit his exit from the country?
5.	If so, have Canadian authorities issued such a certificate?

Questions
6.	If the department was asked for such a certificate and refused it, what were their grounds?
7.	Has the Canadian government received any recent representations from the United States occupation authorities in Germany regarding Otto Strasser?
8.	If so, of what nature?


Mr. Lapointe:: 1.	Yes.
2.	No.
3.	No.
4.	Yes.
5.	No.
6.	It has been refused because the countries concerned refused to admit him.
7.	No.
8.	Answered by No. 7.
Wheat-grain elevator at saskatoon


Mr. Knight:: 1.	What is the total capacity of the dominion government grain elevator at Saskatoon?
2.	What amount of wheat and other grains is in store there as of this date?
3.	What was the monthly average amount of wheat in storage in (a) 1947, and (b) 1948?
4.	How much wheat was (a) received, and (b) shipped out of this elevator in 1948?
5.	How much wheat was routed from the elevator to Churchill, Manitoba, in 1948?
6.	Of how many people does the permanent staff consist and what was the total payroll in 1948?


Mr. Mcllraiih:: 1.	5,500,000 bushels.
2.	February 15,	1949: Wheat, 1,832-40
bushels; oats, 3,046-06 bushels; barley, 134-08 bushels; flax, 18,022-49 bushels; rapeseed, 6,923,031 pounds.
3.	(a) 1947, 24,136-00 bushels; (b) 1948, 34,367-00 bushels.
4.	(a) 52,971-50 bushels; (b)	58,711-40
bushels.
5.	Nil.
6.	26, $52,755-63.



EXPENDITURES BY CANADIANS ON VARIOUS COMMODITIES

Mr. Nicholson:: How much has been spent by Canadians in each of the last five years for the following commodities (a) milk; (b) bread; (c) soft drinks; (d) beer; (e) wine; (f) spirits; (g) tobacco?


George James McIlraith: Note: Retail values are not available. All 1947 figures are preliminary, subject to revision.
1943	1944	1945	1946	1947Ca)	Total value of fluid milk and cream	$ 000's	$ 000's	$ 000's	$ 000's	$ 000'sf.o.b. at plant (includes pasteurizing and bottling costs)	Total value of milk and cream otherwise used 	142,756	155,977	164,930	187,943	219,937Value of farm home consumed and fed to livestock 	
Value of fluid milk and cream at	39,468	42,426	44,832	50,504	56,602plant 	103,288	113,551	120,098	137,439	163,335(b)	Production of bread Selling value at bakery 	68,899	70,252	73,769	79,656	79,139(c)	Production of carbonated beverages Selling value at works 	36,785	40,738	34,598	37,057	46,000(d), (e) and (f)	Personal expenditure (taken from gross national expenditure estimates, prepared by national income section D.B.S.) Alcoholic beverages (Beer, spirits and wine) 	306,749	337,755	418,229	500,361	536,000(g) Tobacco 	227,058	227,441	280,913	327,919	333,959
ACTS RESCINDED BY ORDER IN COUNCIL, 1947-48 Mr. Isnor:
How many, if any, acts passed by parliament during the session of 1947-48 were rescinded by order in council?


Mr.   Si. Laureni@: None.



CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION


Mr. Henderson:: 1.	What was the purchase price paid by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the Ford Hotel. Montreal?

Questions
2.	At the time of such purchase, what was the assessed value of the land and buildings?
3.	How much has been paid and is payable for renovation and repair?
4.	With respect to structural alterations (a) What is the estimated cost of such alterations; (b) what is the name of the engineer or general contractor executing them; (c) was the contract for structural alterations let by competitive tender or private notification; (d) was the estimate for such alterations made before or after the signing of the purchase agreement?
5.	Through what agent was the building purchased?
6.	Was such property, to the knowledge of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, previously offered for sale?
7.	What was the amount of such offer and was the faulty condition of the building structure a factor in such offer being refused?


Mr. McCann:: 1.	$2,050,000 for hotel building together with adjacent building, plus $150,000 to compensate leaseholders in order to take possession of the space they occupied as required.
2.	Land, $92,950; buildings, $613,050; total, $706,000.
3 and 4 (a). Cost of transformation and installations for broadcasting purposes, including all studios, but not including electronic equipment, $1,162,050. The building structure is in very good condition, not faulty, and therefore requires no repairs.
4.	(b) Albert Deschamps, contracting engineer.
(c)	On a fixed fee basis to contractor with upset price. All subcontracts by competitive tender.
(d)	Before.
5.	No agent.
6.	No information.
7.	See above.



ASSISTANT POSTMASTERS


Mr. Robinson (Bruce):: 1.	Are assistant postmasters appointed by or through the civil service commission?
2.	If not, how are such appointments made?
3.	Is length of service as helper and/or assistant postmaster taken into consideration when salary or grade is determined?
4.	How are salary rates for assistant postmasters arrived at?
5.	Are assistant postmasters given statutory increases?
5.	If so, on what basis?
7.	Is overtime pay or bonus allowed assistant postmasters when compelled to put in extra hours owing to (a) trains being late; (b) rush seasons?


Mr. Bertrand (Laurier):: 1.	In staff post offices, postmasters are given supervisors to assist them and they are promoted to these positions through open competitions held by the civil service commission. At other offices, assistants are appointed by the Post Office Department.
2.	Answered by No. 1.
3.	Yes.
4.	For staff offices, according to salary scales fixed by the civil service commission. For other offices, according to the revenue of the office.
5.	Yes, until they reach the maximum of their class.
6.	For meritorious services, either $120 or $60 per annum as the case may be, according to class of supervisors or assistants.
7.	Overtime payments are made only to supervisory postal clerks, postal supervisors grade 1 and postal supervisors grade 2. Postal supervisors grade 1 attached to letter carrier staffs are paid only for time worked on statutory holidays and for overtime performed during the Christmas rush.
Other postal supervisors grade 1, supervisory postal clerks and postal supervisors grade 2 are compensated only for overtime performed during the Christmas rush.
Supervisory officers in ranks higher than postal supervisor grade 2 receive no compensation for overtime.



SOLDIER SETTLERS


Mr. Fair:: 1.	As at December 31, 1948, how many soldier settlers were in debt to the soldier settlement board?
2.	What was the amount of the indebtedness at that date?


Mr. Mulch:: 1.	2,545.
2.	$2,668,611.



FORT WILLIAM ARMOURY

Mr. Mclvor:: 1.	What price was paid by the government for the Prince of Wales rink in the city of Fort William?
2.	What did it cost the Department of National Defence or the government to convert the said rink into an armoury?


Mr. Baker:: 1.	$15,000.
2.	$85,750.



HOUSING ENTERPRISES OF CANADA LIMITED

Mr. Murphy:: 1.	Did Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation take over or acquire all or part of Housing Enterprises of Canada Limited. If so, what was the consideration?
2.	Was the stock or ownership of Housing Enterprises of Canada Limited partly or wholly owned or held by loaning institutions? If so, give particulars including stock or holdings of each loan institution, and the amount paid in by such loan institution for such stock and/or ownership?
3.	Are these houses now available to veterans on purchase agreements? If not, when will they be available?


Mr. Winters:: 1. Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation purchased at par all the outstanding shares of Housing Enterprises of Canada Limited, and redeemed all the debentures

Questions
issued by this company. The cost of the shares was $750.00, and the debentures were redeemed at their face value viz. $3,735,000.00 plus accrued interest at 2\ % per annum amounting to $7,781.17.
2. The whole of the share capital, and all debentures were held by lending institutions.
The holdings and the amounts paid in were as shown on the attached schedule.
3.	These houses are not available for sale at the present time. Preliminary arrangements towards their sale are in hand and it is anticipated that some of the projects will be available for sale within three months.
Schedule of shares and debentures of Housing Enterprises of Canada Limited held by
lending institutions
Shares
Life Insurance Company	No.	Value	Debentures	Aetna Assurance Company	$	$ 29,000,	.00Canada Life Assurance Company	67	67	.00	250,000.	.00Commercial Life Assurance Company	1	1	.00	4,000	.00Confederation Life Association	41	41	.00	150,000	.00Continental Life Insurance Company	6	6	.00	21,000	.00Crown Life Insurance Company	18	18	.00	63,000	.00Dominion Life Assurance Company	24	24	.00	85,000	.00Dominion Mortgage and Investments Corporation....	1	1	.00	Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company....	1	1	.00	4,000	.00T. Eaton Life Assurance Company	5	5	.00	19,000	.00Empire Life Insurance Company	5	5	.00	19,000	.00Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada	6	6	.00	21,000	.00Equitable Life of United States	11,000	.00Excelsior Life Insurance Company	14	14	.00	55,000	.00Fidelity Life Assurance Company	1	1,	.00	4,000,	.00Great-West Life Assurance Company	80	80	.00	300,000.	.00John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company	1	1,	.00	4,000.	.00Imperial Life Assurance Company of Canada	38	38	.00	145,000.	,00Industrial Life Insurance Company	2	2.	.00	7,000.	.00La Laurentienne Compagnie D'Assurance sur la Vie..	1	1.	.00	4,000.	.00London Life Insurance Company 	80	80.	.00	300,000.	,00Loyal Protective Life Insurance Company	1	1	.00	4,000.	.00Manufacturers Life Insurance Company 	47	47	.00	175,000.	.00Maritime Life Assurance Company	1	1.	.00	4,000.	.00Metropolitan Life	435,000	.00Monarch Life Assurance Company	8	8	.00	29,000	.00Montreal Life Insurance Company	5	5	.00	19,000	.00Mutual Life Assurance Company of Canada	106	106	.00	400,000	.00Mutual of New York 	36,000	.00National Life Assurance Company	7	7,	.00	27,000.	.00New York Life 	100,000	.00North American Life Assurance Company	33	33	.00	125,000.	.00North British & Mercantile Insurance Company Limited	1	1	.00	4,000	.00Occidental Life Insurance Company of California	1	1.	.00	4,000	.00Phoenix Assurance Company Limited	1	1.	.00	4,000.	.00Les Prevoyants du Canada 	1	1,	.00	4,000	.00Prudential Insurance Company of America	1	1	.00	270,000	.00Prudential Assurance Company of England Limited...	4	4	.00	15,000.	.00Royal Insurance Company Limited	4	4	.00	15,000,	.00The Royal Guardians 	1	1	.00	4,000	.00La Sauvegarde Compagnie D'Assurance sur la Vie....	4	4.	00	15,000.	00Sovereign Life Insurance Company	5	5	.00	19,000	.00Standard Life Assurance Company 	8	8	.00	27,000	.00Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada	116	116.	.00	435,000.	00La Survivance Compagnie Mutuelle D'Assurance Vie..	1	1.	.00	4,000.	00Toronto Mutual Life Insurance Company 	1	1	.00	4,000	.00Travelers Assurance Company 	58,000	.00Western Life Assurance Company	i	1	.00	4,000	.00Total 	750	$750	.00	$3,735,000	.00



PUBLIC DEBT

Mr. Thatcher:: 1.	During the calendar year 1948, by what amount was the over-all Canadian federal debt reduced?
2.	As of December 31, 1948, what was the total Canadian debt?


Gleason Belzile: Total liabilities
31, 1947	 $17,358,565,971
31, 1948	 17,278,514,917
-	80,051,054
Active assets
31, 1947	 $ 4,998,800,667
31,	1948	 5,519,834,475
+ 521,033,808 Net debt
31,	1947	
$12,359,765,30431,	1948	
11,758,680,442
601,084,862



CHARTERED BANKS


Mr. McCuaig:: 1.	What were the amounts of savings deposits in the chartered banks of Canada as at December 31, 1948, of (a) $1,000 or less; (b) $1,000 to $5,000; (c) $5,000 to $25,000; (d) $25,000 to $100,000; (e) in excess of $100,000?
2.	What was the number of deposits in each category?
3.	What was the aggregate amount in each category?
4.	What was the average deposit in each category?


Gleason Belzile: The latest return of the chartered banks of Canada as at September 30, 1948, shows deposits payable after notice, as follows:
1.	(a) $953,101,895;	(b) $1,605,141,694;	(c)
$867,993,253; (d) $228,122,714; (e) $387,117,418.
2.	(a) 5,718,549; (b) 777,650; (c) 103,426; (d) 5,297; (e) 1,030.
3.	Answered by No. 1.
4.	(a) $166.67; (b) $2,064.09; (c) $8,392.41;
(d)	$43,066.40; (e) $375,842.15.



IMMIGRATION, 1946-48  NUMBERS OF ROMAN CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS

Mr. McCuaig:: 1.	How many (a) males; (b) females, migrated to Canada in each of the years 1946, 1947 and 1948?
2.	How many from each country?
3.	How many of these were (a) Roman Catholic; (b) Protestant?


Mr. MacKinnon:: 1.	(a) Males (b) Females
1946	
20,483	51,2361947	
33,435	30,6921948	
67,090	58,324
Dec.
Dec.
Dec.
Dec.
Dec.
Dec.
Questions
2.	See statement below.
3.	No statistical record is kept of religious denominations of immigrants.
No. 2-Country of Last Permanent Residence:	1946	1947	1948Africa (Br.)	115	90	119Africa (not Br.) ..	69	45	92Australia 	233	319	453Austria	132	25	614Belgium 	850	988	1,247Bermuda 	53	54	45Bulgaria	1	8	81Central America ..	17	22	18China 	118	160	338Czechoslovakia ....	168	309	1,898Denmark 	30	170	657Eire	468	406	1,044England 	40,812	27,261	30,450Esthonia 	4	257	1,752Finland 	4	38	137France 	354	539	1,326Germany 	486	267	2,475Greece 	40	635	669Holland 	2,234	2,738	6,997Hungary	24	116	1,374India 	123	327	258Ireland, Northern . .	643	955	1,576Italy 	49	78	3,204Japan 	12	24	9Jugoslavia 	12	147	3,419Latvia	3	429	2,987Lesser British Isles ....	34	65	85Lithuania 	2	1,225	4,217Malta 	723Mexico 	38	58	58Newfoundland .. . .	2,592	2,973	3,016New Zealand 	96	198	257Norway 	175	181	354Palestine 	11	59	151Poland 	398	4,655	27,741Portugal	50	9	17Roumania 	7	59	1,368Russia	10	550	4,414St. Pierre and Miquelon 	11	9	22Scotland 	. 7,954	6,668	9,886South America	143	181	351Spain 	65	5	20Sweden 	17	100	362Switzerland 	15	162	349Syria 	2	24	49Ukraine 	1	19	75United States 	. 11,474	9,444	7,393Wales 	. 1,073	602	683West Indies (Br.) . .	394	352	389West Indies (not Br.)	, 46	54	86Others	. 57	68	109Totals	71,719	64,127	125,414
Questions



INDICTMENT OF NAZI LEADERS FOR WAR CRIMES

Mr. McCullough (Assiniboia):: 1.	How many German nazi leaders were taken Into custody under Indictment of war crimes?
2.	How many of these were sentenced?
3.	What was the sentence in each case?
4.	How many countries participated at these trials?
5.	Under what authority were these courts set up?
6.	Were any nations barred?
7.	If so, what nations?


M. Lapointe:: 1.	Twenty-four.
2.	Nineteen.
3.	Hermann Wilhelm Goering, death by hanging; Rudolf Hess, imprisonment for life; Joachim von Ribbentrop, death -by hanging; Wilhelm Keitel, death by hanging; Ernst Kaltenbrunner, death by hanging; Alfred Rosenberg, death by hanging; Hans Frank, death by hanging; Wilhelm Frick, death by hanging; Julius Streicher, death by hanging; Walter Funk, imprisonment for life; Karl Doenitz, ten years' imprisonment; Erich Raeder, imprisonment for life; Baldur von Schirach, twenty years' imprisonment; Fritz Sauckel, death by hanging; Alfred Jodi, death by hanging; Arthur Seyss-Inquart, death by hanging; Albert Speer, twenty years' imprisonment; Constantin von Neurath, fifteen years' imprisonment; Martin Bormann, death by hanging.
4.	Four. (The governments of France, the U.S.S.R., the United Kingdom and the United States of America).
5.	The London agreement of 8th August 1945, signed by the governments of France, the U.S.S.R., the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
6.	Article 5 of the London agreement provides that "Any government of the United Nations may adhere to this agreement by notice given through the diplomatic channel to the government of the United Kingdom,..."
7.	Answered by No. 6.



NATIONAL REVENUE


Mr. Desmond:: 1.	What is the annual rental paid for the building occupied by the income tax branch of the Department of National Revenue at 311 Front Street North, Belleville, Ontario?
2.	What services are supplied under this lease?
3.	What is the term length of said lease?
4.	How does this price compare with that paid in similar centres?


Mr. Fournier (Hull):: 1.	$18,300 per annum.
2.	Lessor attends to all repairs, pays taxes and provides heating, cleaning, janitor service and toilet accommodation.
3.	Ten years.
4.	Price for this space is $1.50 a square foot per annum, while space leased for income tax

purposes at Kingston and St. Catharines, where similar services are supplied by the lessor, costs $1.75 a square foot per annum.



IMMIGRATION


Mr. Winkler:: During the past year, how many applications to the Department of Immigration by Canadians for admission of relatives as immigrants from Europe have been refused because the proposed immigrants are German nationals?


Mr. MacKinnon:: Information not available. No statistical record is kept of rejected applications made in Canada.



POLYMER CORPORATION AND IMPERIAL OIL


Mr. Murphy:: What is the difference between the compensation paid by Polymer Corporation of Canada Limited and the Imperial Oil Company Limited, by way of (a) rates of pay; (b) hospitalization, superannuation, pension and other security benefits?


George James McIlraith: Imperial Oil Limited is a privately-owned company and we have no information with respect to it; therefore, it will be impossible to answer the question.



QUESTIONS PASSED AS ORDERS FOR RETURNS


HOUSING


Mr. Probe:: 1.	How many occupied units of wartime rental housing are owned by the Canadian government or Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation in each city of Canada, as of December 31, 1948?
2.	What are the rental rates charged in each centre for each type of house?
3.	What is the formula by which the amount of rent is decided for rented units of wartime housing?


Mr. Winters:: Return tabled.




Mr. Lockhart:: 1.	Has the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation advanced money on second mortgage security to private contractors engaged in the construction of homes in the Niagara peninsula?
2.	If so, what is the maximum mortgage authorized on each home constructed?
3.	What rate of interest is charged?
4.	What are the names of private contractors in the Niagara peninsula who have been assisted financially by Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation?
5.	Are homes so financed built according to National Housing Act specifications?
6.	When offered for sale, are these homes advertised as being built under National Housing Act specifications?
7.	Is a careful inspection made before'the mortgage moneys are advanced by the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation?

8.	Have there been any instances where mortgage moneys have been withheld because of faulty workmanship?
9.	If so, from what contractor or contractors has payment been withheld?


Robert Henry Winters: Return tabled.



NATIONAL HEALTH


Mr. Coldwell:: 1.	How much of the thirty million dollars in health grants announced on May 14, 1948, have been approved by the dominion government for expenditure by each of the provinces for each of the various types of grants?
2.	How much of the thirty million dollars in health grants has been spent to date by each of the provinces on each of the various types of health grants.


Mr. Reid:: To be tabled later this day.



FIRE FIGHTING EQUIPMENT

Mr. Knight:: 1.	Are there any fire engines presently being manufactured in Canada?
2.	What amount of fire equipment was imported in 1948 from the United States?
3.	What is the rate of tariff on such imported fire engines?



LEGAL SERVICES

Mr. Argue:: 1.	What sum of money was paid by the government of Canada in 1948 in fees for legal services?
2.	Who were the recipients and what were the amounts of such payments?
3.	What was the nature of services rendered in each case?



OLEOMARGARINE

Mr. Argue:: 1.	What companies are presently manufacturing oleomargarine in Canada?
2.	In what localities is the manufacturing being carried on?
3.	In what provinces is margarine being sold?
4.	What has been the total production to date?
5.	Under what brand names is oleomargarine being sold?
6.	What are the constituents presently being used in the manufacture of margarine?
7.	What quantities, if any, have been (a) imported; (b) exported?
8.	What precautions are being taken to guarantee against the fraudulent sale of margarine as butter?
PUBLIC RELATIONS AND PUBLIC INFORMATION SERVICES Mr. McGregor:
What is the number of persons employed in public relations or public information services, at the rate of remuneration in excess of $2,500 per annum, including writing, broadcasting and films, in each of the departments of government and the boards and agencies of government excepting the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation?
CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION- RESIGNATIONS AND DISMISSALS Mr. McGregor:
1. How many officers and/or employees, paid $3,100 per annum or more, resigned or were dismissed from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Orders for Returns
(including the international service) during the period January 1, 1946 to December 31, 1948, including those who were subsequently reinstated?
2.	What are the names of each such person?
3.	What was the reson for resignation or dismissal of each such person?
4.	What was the position and duties of each such person?
5.	What was the salary of each such person at date of resignation or dismissal?
6.	What was the period of service of each such person in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in years and months?


Mr. McCann:: Return tabled.



EDUCATION-ESKIMOS-CHURCHILL, MAN.

Mr. Knight:: 1.	Are there any government schools for Eskimo children in the Northwest Territories?
2.	Does the dominion government pay any grant towards the education of the children of its military personnel at Churchill, Manitoba, and what educational facilities are available to such children?
3.	Who owns the town site of Churchill, Manitoba?
4.	Can sites be purchased by those wishing to set up in business or to build residences?
5.	Are leases granted for 12 months only? If so, why are they so restricted?
6.	Is most of the property in the town of Churchill which is available for the assessment of taxes owned by the dominion government?
7.	What proportion of the property assessable for taxation is assessable for purposes of education?
8.	Does the dominion government make any grant to the upkeep of the school in the town?



CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION


Mr. Ross (St. Paul's):: 1.	Have any applications been received, and on what dates, by (a) the Department of Transport; (b) the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for the broadcasting of (i) facsimile; (ii) television?
2.	If so, what was the disposition of each and the reasons therefor?



RADIO BROADCASTING


Mr. Ross (St. Paul's):: 1.	Have any applications been received since July 31, 1947 to date, by the (a) Department of Transport; (b) Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for licences to broadcast by (i) A. M. transmission; (ii) F.M. transmission?
2.	If so (a) from whom; (b) on what dates; (c) what disposition was made of each application, and on what grounds?
3.	What applications have been granted; to whom, and what is the date of each?
4.	What frequencies have been allotted; what power permitted each, and what class, under the Havana agreements?



CANADIAN EXPORTS TO ECA COUNTRIES

Mr. Bentley:: What is the total volume of Canadian products, in quantity and in dollar value, exported to ECA countries and paid for by ECA funds:
1.	By countries.
2.	By principal categories of goods: (a) agricultural: (i) field products; (ii) fruit; (iii) vegetables; (iv) meat products; (v) dairy; (b) fish; (c>
lumber;

Orders for Returns
(d)	manufactured goods: (i) heavy industrial machinery, i.e., locomotives, factory, mill, mining and marine equipment, etc.; (ii) agricultural machinery;
(e)	military machinery, equipment and supplies;
(f)	consumer goods other than foods?
3.	Relating to the items, separately, in the above question 2, what is the volume, in quantity and in dollar value, of the offshore purchases of Canadian goods by the U.S.A.?


George James McIlraith: Return tabled.



UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE-TRAINING ALLOWANCES FOR APPRENTICES

Mr. Probe:: 1.	Are apprentices in receipt of training allowances under the dominion-provincial agreements eligible for unemployment insurance benefits during periods When these apprentices are receiving training allowances?
2.	How many cases, by provinces, have there been in which both unemployment insurance and training grants were collected by apprentices?
3.	In how many such cases have the unemployment insurance payments been returned to the unemployment insurance commission?


Mr. Mitchell:: Return tabled.



LEGAL SERVICES


Mr. Stanfield:: 1.	What lawyers practising in the province of Nova Scotia have performed legal services or have been retained as solicitors or counsel by any department of government since the 1st of January, 1946?
2.	How much has been paid to each of said lawyers?



IMPORTS OF DANISH BUTTER

Mr. Henderson:: 1.	How much Danish butter has been imported into Canada by the Canadian government during each of the calendar years 1947 and 1948?
2.	Under what labels is such butter sold here?
3.	Was any of such butter imported by way of the United Kingdom and reprocessed there with the addition of other ingredients, and, if so, what ingredients?



EMERGENCY GOLD MINING ASSISTANCE ACT

Mr. Benidickson:: 1.	What mines have submitted claims under the Emergency Gold Mining Assistance Act?
2.	What has been paid to each and what period of operation does each settlement represent?



PRAIRIE FARM ASSISTANCE


Mr. McCuaig:: 1.	What are the names of the part-time field men who were employed by the P.F.A.A. in Saskatchewan during 1948?
2.	How many days was each employed?
3.	What amount in salary and expenses was paid to each of them?
4.	How many of them are veterans?



INCOME TAX


Mr. Gillis:: 1.	Is the building occupied by the income tax department in Sydney, Nova Scotia, owned by the government?
2.	If not (a) from whom is it rented; (b) for what period; (c) at what rental?
3.	Who is in charge of the Sydney office?
4.	How many employees are there in this office?
5.	Is there any classification of employees?
6.	If so, what salaries are paid in the various classifications?
7.	Is there an efficiency test required for employment?



LEGAL SERVICES


Mr. Gillis:: 1.	What amounts have been paid for legal services in the respective constituencies of Cape Breton South, Cape Breton North, Inverness and Richmond from January 1, 1946, to December 31, 1948?
2.	To whom were these amounts paid and for what particular service?
3.	How many of the recipents were veterans?



CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION


Mr. Gillis:: 1.	Are the premises occupied by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Sydney, Nova Scotia, owned by the corporation?
2.	If not (a) from whom are they rented; (b) at what annual rental; (c) for what period?
3.	Has the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation any arrangements with the privately owned station CJCB Sydney, Nova Scotia?
4.	If so, what arrangements?
5.	Who is in charge of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation station known as CBI in Sydney?
6.	How many are employed there and what are their respective salaries?



MOTIONS FOR PAPERS


Joseph Warner Murphy: For a copy of all agreements for sale and all tenders made by prospective purchasers in respect of Veterans Land Act sales made in the township of Sarnia during the calendar years of 1948 and 1949, where such sales were made to veterans or to others upon special conditions.


Mr. Gregg:: As no sales under special conditions have been made to veterans or others during the calendar years 1948 and 1949, the return to this proposed order would be nil. We have explained to the hon. member for Lambton West (Mr. Murphy) the position with regard to pending sales, and perhaps he would agree to withdraw his motion and reword it.



FRASER RIVER BOARD

Mr. Fulton:: For a copy of all reports submitted to any minister or agency of the federal government by the Fraser river board since its inception.



TRADE WITH BRITAIN


[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Mr. M. J. Coldwell (Roseiown-Biggar):: should like to direct a question to the government. In view of Sir Stafford Cripps' statement to the Canadian Press yesterday, that British purchases of agricultural and other products must be dependent upon Canada's willingness to purchase more goods in the United Kingdom and the sterling areas, will the government make an early statement of policy in regard to the lowering of tariffs, the abolition of excise taxes, the making of application by Canada to remove our obligations under the non-discriminatory clauses of the Geneva agreement, or any other means to improve our trading prospects with Great Britain? I realize that some of these questions may be considered to be budgetary in character, but there may be some other means which the government may adopt, including the removal of our obligations under the nondiscriminatory clauses.


Right Hon. L. S. St. Laurent (Prime Minister):: I shall bring the hon. member's question to the attention of my colleagues and endeavour to have an answer for him as soon as possible.



POSITION OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES


[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Mr. Gordon Graydon (Peel):: Mr. Speaker, in view of the growing concern over religious persecutions behind the iron curtain, I should like to direct a question to the Secretary of State for External Affairs. It is prompted by the anxiety which prevails in many parts of Canada with respect to the situation in China.


Mr. Gibson (Hamilton West):: Ask the
question.


Gordon Graydon: Mr. Speaker, perhaps-


An hon. Member:: Don't make a speech.


Gordon Graydon: If I am to seek advice on questions of procedure I will not seek it from the hon. member who interrupts. There is a great deal at stake, both spiritually and materially, affecting the Christian churches in China.


An hon. Member:: Question.


Gordon Graydon: I should like to ask whether, with the information it now possesses, the government feels that the work of Christian churches in China will be permitted to proceed, having regard to the internal changes which have occurred in that country.
Inquiries of the Ministry


Hon. L. B. Pearson (Secretary of State for External Affairs):: The hon. member for Peel was good enough to give me advance notice of his question. In reply all I can say is that it is very difficult in the circumstances that now exist in a large part of China to know whether missionary activities as they have been undertaken in the past will be permitted in the future under the new regime.
The government has had some reports, both official and non-official, from the communist-controlled areas in China concerning the treatment of missionaries there, and also as to the conditions under which they are being permitted to carry on their work. These reports are not conclusive; in fact in some respects they are contradictory. Therefore I think it will be some time before we know how effectively missionaries will be able to work in those parts of China now controlled by the communists.
It might be of some interest to the house if I went on to state in a few words the steps that we have been taking in the last few months to look after the interests of Canadians, including Canadian missionaries in China.
As hon. members may know, there are about 850 Canadians in China at the present time, more than half of whom are in areas outside communist control. As the scope of the civil war in China increased and moved south to the Yangtze river it became necessary in our opinion to get in touch with Canadian missionaries, and other Canadians in the areas north of the Yangtze, to see what we could do to assist them in the emergency which had developed.
For that purpose, as early as January, 1948, Canadian missionaries were advised by the Canadian ambassador that it might become increasingly difficult for them to work in the areas north of the Yangtze and east of the western border of Hupeh, and that consequently they might think it best to withdraw, at least temporarily, from these areas. On November 1 the warning, if you like to call it a warning, was repeated by British consular authorities, and the Canadian embassy associated itself with it. Similarly towards the end of November advice was again given to Canadians in that area to withdraw. Many of them followed the advice and returned to Canada.
Eighty Canadians, who were anxious to return and who had not other available means of transport at the time, were assisted by the Canadian government by the provision of air transport. Apparently about 600 Canadians remain in the areas of China not under communist control, there being about 300 in west China and 150 in south China. This number

Inquiries of the Ministry includes a great many missionaries, and the embassy has kept in touch with them in order to render all possible assistance should they find it necessary to leave. The wives and children of our own Canadian officials, and the female staff, have already been evacuated from Nanking where conditions are not very satisfactory at the moment. The ambassador and the male staff, however, have remained at their posts in Nanking, and will remain there as long as it is possible for them to work there, so as to protect the interests of Canadians to the best of their ability.



IMMIGRATION AND MEDICAL INSPECTION

[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Mr. G. K. Fraser (Peterborough West):: Following the statement made by the Secretary of State for External Affairs, I should like to direct a question to the Minister of Mines and Resources. Has the immigration department more than one immigration inspection and medical inspection office in China. It has one in Hong Kong, but is there any other?


James Angus MacKinnon: I am not fully informed, but I believe there is only one at the present time.



IMPORT RESTRICTIONS


[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Mr. E. G. Hansell (Macleod):: I should like to direct a question to the Minister of Finance. It is based upon letters which I have received in the last day or two from automobile dealers. Can the government give any indication as to the easing of the prohibited list of imports from the United States, particularly American-made automobiles, refrigerators and other such manufactured goods?


Hon. Douglas Abbott (Minister of Finance):: I have said on numerous occasions that the import restrictions which were imposed a little over a year ago will be relaxed from time to time as our exchange position justifies such action. It is not the sort of thing, however, as to which it would ever be desirable or appropriate for me to give advance notice.



SHIPBUILDING


[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Mr. Howard C. Green (Vancouver South):: I should like to direct a question to the Minister of Transport. Press dispatches today from Vancouver indicate that the mayor of

that city announced, after an interview with the Minister of Fisheries (Mr. Mayhew), that the dominion government would preserve shipbuilding on the west coast even if it had to subsidize. Can the minister tell us whether that is a correct statement of the ' policy of the government?


Lionel Chevrier: I have not seen the statement made by the mayor of Vancouver, but I doubt very much whether my colleague, the Minister of Fisheries, had conveyed information to him that it was the intention of the government to subsidize shipbuilding. I can say that I know of no proposal to subsidize directly the shipbuilding or ship-operating industries, and I have no intention of so recommending to the government. As the hon. member knows, the speech from the throne contains a reference to the government's intention to assist the shipbuilding, and ship-operating industries, and legislation to that end is now under consideration.



SALE OF SHIPS UNDER AGREEMENT BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND SHIP OPERATORS

[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Mr. Angus Maclnnis (Vancouver East):: I should like to direct a supplementary question to the Minister of Transport. A certain amount of money has been put in escrow from the sale of ships that were sold under agreement. Is it the intention of the government to use that money in the immediate future for the replacement of some of the ships that were sold?


Lionel Chevrier: The agreement entered into between the government and the ship operators disposing of their ships provides that they must build within a period of five years. There is a further provision in the agreement by which an extension may be obtained, but the understanding is that when the money is paid in escrow it remains in the hands of the government, and it is for the express purpose of building in Canadian yards, and providing work in the shipyards for Canadian labour.


Mr. Rodney Young (Vancouver Centre):: In view of the answer given by the Minister of Transport to the question of the member for Vancouver East, will the minister assure the house that everything will be done to expedite the building of the ships rather than allowing the period of five years to elapse that is provided for in the agreement? I ask the question because of the unemployment situation in Vancouver.


Lionel Chevrier: The question seems to be one which might well be put on the order paper. In any event the agreement is there,

and it stipulates the time. I can assure my hon. friend that it is the policy of the government to assist to the fullest possible extent the shipbuilding industry, the ship-operating industry, and the Canadian mercantile fleet.



LABOUR CONDITIONS


[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Howard Charles Green: There is a further question, arising out of the press dispatch to which I referred earlier, that I should like to direct to the Minister of Labour. The Minister of Fisheries (Mr. Mayhew) is quoted as having disclosed in Vancouver that there are between 35,000 and 40,000 unemployed in Vancouver, 7,000 in New Westminster, 3,500 in Victoria and 2,000 more in Nanaimo. Can the Minister of Labour tell us whether his department is taking any steps to meet the situation?


Humphrey Mitchell: Like my hon. friend the Minister of Transport (Mr. Chevrier), I have not read the newspaper report. A check is being made by my department at the moment in connection with the situation in Vancouver.


Howard Charles Green: Will the minister make an announcement before the end of the week?


Humphrey Mitchell: The hon. member may rest assured that as soon as I get a report I will make an announcement.



UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE


[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Mr. Stanley Knowles (Winnipeg North Centre):: I should like to direct a question to the Minister of Labour. Is consideration being given to the taking of steps to make it possible for skilled tradesmen, such as carpenters and bricklayers, employed at their trades by the federal Department of Agriculture, to retain their insurability under the Unemployment Insurance Act?


Humphrey Mitchell: I wish to thank the hon. member for giving me notice of his question. The answer is yes; the matter is under study.


Mr. Irvine:: I should like to ask the minister a supplementary question. Is he in a position to indicate the procedure to be followed by tradesmen working for the Department of Agriculture to protect their unemployment insurance?
Inquiries of the Ministry


Humphrey Mitchell: I do not think I can add anything to the reply I gave the hon. member for Winnipeg North Centre, that at present this matter is under what I might call serious consideration.


Stanley Howard Knowles: That is good.



COARSE GRAINS


[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Mr. W. Ross Thatcher (Moose Jaw):: I should like to direct a question to the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Trade and Commerce-I notice that the minister is not in his seat. In view of the conclusion last Monday of the conference on coarse grains between the federal government, provincial governments, and the Canadian federation of agriculture, can the minister indicate when he will give a statement to the house as to what was accomplished, and what decisions were reached?


George James McIlraith: Perhaps I might take the question as notice, and treat it as a request to the minister to make a statement.



VETERANS AFFAIRS


[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Gordon Knapman Fraser: On
February 16 I asked the Minister of Veterans Affairs a question as to a veteran being allowed to sell part of his small holding. At that time the minister said the matter had not been decided. Can he say now whether further consideration has been given this question?
Hon. Milton F. Gregg (Minister of Veterans
Affairs): I cannot add anything to what I said the other day.



TORONTO


[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Thomas Langton Church: I want to refer the minister of reconstruction to the question I asked about steam suburban service for the Toronto district. The answer given today to my question as I placed it on the order paper does not deal with the matter at all, because it refers to last year and is not relevant. Has the minister anything further to say on this matter? How can anyone get cheap land in the country nearby without transportation by steam suburban services?
830	HOUSE OF
Inquiries of the Ministry Hon. Robert H. Winters (Minister of Reconstruction and Supply): The answer given today by my colleague the Minister of Transport (Mr. Chevrier) had to do with the question of steam service for suburban Toronto, but I shall be glad to look further into the matter with him.



MICHEL LUCIEN SEIGNEUR

[Stage Direction]
reference to report in he Canada OF FEBRUARY 23 On the orders of the day:
Mr. Alistair Stewart (Winnipeg North):: Has
the attention of the Minister of Mines and Resources been directed to a statement by Michel Lucien Seigneur appearing in today's issue of he Canada, to the effect that he reported to the immigration authorities last year, and received his final papers last November, and that all his affairs were cleared by the government? Perhaps the minister would like to comment on this tomorrow, since I was not able to give him notice of the question.


James Angus MacKinnon: I have not seen or heard of the article in question.



JAPANESE


[Stage Direction]
SINCE 1945 On the orders of the day:
Wilbert Ross Thatcher: I want to direct to the Minister of Mines and Resources a question of which I have given notice. Are Canadians of Japanese origin who were repatriated to Japan since 1945 being allowed to return to this country upon request? If so, to what extent and under what circumstances?


James Angus MacKinnon: Just before coming into the chamber I received notice of the intention of the hon. member to ask this question. Before answering it I should like to look into just what is involved in the question, but I shall do so and bring down an answer as soon as possible.



NATIONAL DEFENCE


[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Mr. L. E. Baker (Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of National Defence):: I should like to answer a question asked on February 

11 by the hon. member for Portage la Prairie (Mr. Miller) about the airport south of Portage la Prairie.
This former R.C.A.F. unit was turned over to the Department of Transport in June, 1948. The property is now surplus to Department of Transport requirements and is in the process of being returned to the Department of National Defence. On completion of the proceedings of transfer the station will be placed on a caretaker basis as an inactive reserve R.C.A.F. base.



HOUSING


[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Mr. Donald M. Fleming (Eglinton):: I
should like to ask the Minister of Reconstruction and Supply whether it is correct that the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation are now engaged in building up a stockpile of lumber amounting to some 11 million feet, and that they are making or intend to make purchases direct from producers without seeking tenders. from retailers?


Robert Henry Winters: I have no knowledge of that arrangement.


Donald Methuen Fleming: Will the minister look into it and make a statement?



CONTRACT TO BOW RIVER CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, CALGARY

[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
Mr. C. E. Johnston (Bow River):: In looking over the answers, tabled today, to questions on the order paper I find that the first part of question No. 4 was not answered at all. In it I asked what were the qualifications of these contractors as far as building experience went. Will the Minister of Reconstruction and Supply answer that part of the question at his convenience?


Robert Henry Winters: I do not think I can add anything to the answer tabled today. Each contractor is investigated, and the question of his ability is dealt with on its merits.


Charles Edward Johnston: But my point is that the part of the question having to do with the experience of the contractor was not answered. Will the minister look into the matter and give me an answer tomorrow?



PROCEDURE IN QUESTIONS ON THE ORDERS OF THE DAY

[Stage Direction]
On the orders of the day:
['Oh, oh.', 'The Address-Mr. Rowe Mr. Rowe: The hon. member may laugh, but the laugh was the other way; and he who laughs last laughs best. I have seen this country divided and I have seen the olive branch of unity tossed hither and yon. But now at last we find that we have a common purpose in this country, and that no longer can there be raised those issues that should not be raised. If anyone here doubts me when I say that we must restore enterprise, safeguard our individual freedom and revive the national character, in view of the fact that we are one of the last outposts in the world, may I say that I know there are those to your right, Mr. Speaker, who believe the same thing. I will quote only some of the statements that have been made. The Hon. Angus L. Macdonald said:\n. . . the present government has no life-lease on power: that the war psychology should be over; that unelected bureaucracy should no longer govern Canada; that provincial rights should be restored; that we should have nine happy provinces, instead of nine different countries.\nThen that congenial, lovable character who has represented Quebec South for so many years and who is an ex-minister of the crown, the Hon. C. G. Power, said this:\nMinisters of the crown must abandon the practice of abdicating their functions, their duties, and shouldering their responsibilities on the shoulders of those irresponsible boards, committees and commissions.\nIt is because we have departed from that doctrine that a large part of the unrest in our ranks has developed. Without the existence of an almost allpowerful bureaucracy it is unlikely we would have had budget by radio, restraint of trade by embargoes and prohibitions, bungling of freight rates, and a snarling of interprovincial affairs.\nOf his party he said:\n. . . they should be provincial-righters instead of dominion centralizers.\nHe did not say that they were, but he said that they should be. Then he went on to say also:\nOur party has gone down to defeat in three provinces. This should be testimony enough without further comment.\nThe further comment, I would say, is in the loss since that time of three ridings in which that type of party muddling has gone down to defeat.\nI wish to thank the house for the courtesy extended to me. Before it is too late, Mr. Speaker, I hope the party to your right will return to the ways they intended to take; because even in opposition in the future they will be better off if they act in such a way as to be truer to their former selves.\nOn motion of Mr. Matthews (Kootenay East) the debate was adjourned.']
Louis Stephen St-Laurent: Before we proceed to the orders of the day might I express the hope that in future the standing orders of the house with respect to questions will be followed. We have now gone back to the regular procedure of answering questions three times a week, and it would seem to me that in the interests of all it is desirable that the rules be adhered to, and that oral questions be asked on the orders of the day only when their urgency would justify avoidance of the delay involved in placing a question on the order paper.



[Stage Direction]
The house resumed from Tuesday, February 22, consideration of the motion of Mr. D. F. Brown for an' address to His Excellency the Governor General in reply to his speech at the opening of the session, and the amendment thereto of Mr. Drew, and the amendment to the amendment of Mr. Coldwell.
Mr. W. D. Wylie (Medicine Hat):: When the house rose last evening, Mr. Speaker, I was dealing with the problems of the Medicine Hat area, and was discussing the development of the Bow river extension. I gave several reasons why this project should be completed with the least possible delay. One of those reasons was the cost involved. While that area must be more or less resettled, there are many farmers in it who have been waiting for years to be re-established on irrigated farms. In addition, many young men who moved to the towns and cities during the war years now find employment not so easy to obtain, and they are anxious to get back on good productive land. The government should complete the main canals as soon as possible, on both the Bow river extension and the St. Mary-Milk river project. When that is done the people of the area will believe that the government really means business.
The completion of this work will greatly benefit many ranchers and farmers in that area who are interested in the production of livestock. It will provide water, which they do not have at the present time. Some of the farmers west of Medicine Hat have been in that area for fifty years. I might mention two in particular-Mr. C. D. Ronan and Mr. Nils Stenby. These two farmers were among the
The Address-Mr. Wylie first to settle in that area, and for all these years they have been waiting for irrigation. It is about time the government showed that it really means business, by constructing these canals and dams.
I might mention the work done by Mr. A. P. Burns in connection with the Bow river extension. This man, who has been a resident of Medicine Hat for years, has taken an active interest in the development of irrigation in that area. It is now the duty of the dominion government to make its stand clear and to supply the financial assistance necessary to complete this project. It might mean a big saving to the dominion government in the long run, as well as the establishment of many farmers on a selfsustaining basis.
In this connection let me indicate what it cost the dominion government for relief in that area from 1931 to 1938. I shall refer to the Meek report, published in 1942, with which most hon. members are well acquainted. This is what the Meek report has to say:
During the severe drought years from 1931 to 1938, the relief expenditures in Alberta amounted to $51,968,585, including relief works, direct relief administration and medical aid. The total relief expenditures in Saskatchewan amounted to $134,230,046 during this seven-year period, making a total of $186,198,631 for the two provinces.
Food, seed, feed and fodder, including freight, were main items of expense. During the winter of 1937-38 some 488,000 tons of feed were supplied in the drought area of Saskatchewan, and 44,000 tons in Alberta. Much greater quantities would have been required had not more than 474,000 cattle been removed from the drought area.
After listening, Mr. Speaker, to the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Gardiner) extol the virtues of the Liberal party in his speech yesterday, I wondered what party was in power in 1937. Was it the Liberal government, or just what government was it? One thing we must remember, even after listening to the minister's speech yesterday, and that is that the farmers of western Canada in the drought area still remember the price they received for the 474,000 head of cattle. The amount which the dominion government paid was one cent a pound. I am not surprised at the reference of the Minister of Agriculture yesterday to the increased income of the farmer of this country. His speech, Mr. Speaker, was what I would term a good election speech. It referred to only one side of the case.
We all realize that the income of the farmers is higher today than it was in 1938, 1939 or 1944, but we also know that their costs are considerably higher. Unless you

The Address-Mr. Wylie compare the income with the cost, you do not get a proper result.


Mr. Gardiner:: I did that yesterday.


William Duncan McKay Wylie: I did not read that in the minister's speech. I have not seen it, and I certainly did not hear it. I do not read between the lines, so it might have been there.


James Garfield Gardiner: The net returns were all
given.


William Duncan McKay Wylie: Perhaps they were, but it must be realized that the farmers in this country today are called upon to pay greatly increased prices for tractors as well as all the other things they have to buy.
Since the Prairie Farm Assistance Act was brought into force, it has applied in every township in Alberta east of our irrigation district. The exception to this rule was in 1942 when the average yield of wheat in that area was approximately fourteen bushels per acre. In every other year the Prairie Farm Assistance Act has applied, and this presents a still more cogent reason for an irrigation project in that area. Irrigation will mean much to the people there. I believe there is a possibility that irrigation would even change the climatic conditions. Farming is our basic industry, and farmers must be kept prosperous.
I have mentioned not only the increased cost of living, but also what the farmers have had to pay in the way of increased costs of operation. Taxation has much to do with these increased costs. This matter was dealt with fully and fairly by the leader of this group, the member for Peace River (Mr. Low). For this reason I shall not dwell on that subject. It is about time the government realized that some of these taxes should be discontinued. There is a sales tax, a luxury tax of 25 per cent and many other nuisance taxes.
As has been mentioned in the course of this debate, we also have a two-cent tax on soft drinks. This is another matter which should receive serious consideration. The other day I received a letter from the Shamrock Bottling Works, Medicine Hat, Alberta, explaining that the soft drink is traditionally a five-cent product. When you consider that a two-cent tax is levied on a five-cent drink, you realize that this impost is just what the member for Red Deer (Mr. Shaw) labeled it, an iniquitous tax. It is time it was removed.
There is one other matter to which I should like to refer, and that is the amount paid to the older citizens of this country by way of old age pension. This also was referred to by the member for Red Deer. The time has

come when the government should give serious consideration to increasing the old age pension. It is unreasonable to expect anyone to live on $30 a month today. I know that this side of the house will at least have the support of one member sitting on the other side; I refer of course to the hon. member for New Westminster (Mr. Reid). I am sure he will do what he can not only to increase the pension but to lower the age of eligibility.
Another group of persons who are really up against it today are the incurables. I should like to refer to a letter which I received the other day, part of which reads as follows:
I am a member of the Canadian Association of Incurables and am writing you to help us unfortunate incurables and try to get legislation passed to cover a pension for us.
I am forty years old, with a family of five children, unable to work, and without means of supporting my family, because of the fact five years ago I was stricken with progressive muscular atrophy. Medical men of Canada and Rochester cannot help me.
That is only one of the many letters of the kind that we receive. I think the time has arrived when something should be done for these people. I see that the Minister of National Health and Welfare (Mr. Martin) is in his seat. I know he has a big heart, and I hope that when he brings down his estimates this year they will contain provision for assistance not only for incurables, but for our older people, and many others who are in need of help.
I should also like to refer to another matter that affects the southern part of our province, namely, the transcontinental highway. The speech from the throne contained a reference to this highway, but it was extremely vague. As a matter of fact, this is all that the speech says on the subject:
A measure for assistance in the provision of a transcontinental highway will also be laid before you.
That was the extent of the statement. Before the provincial election in Alberta, the Minister of Mines and Resources (Mr. MacKinnon) was out there doing a little bit of campaigning.


An hon. Member:: Very little.


William Duncan McKay Wylie: Yes, it was very little. It did not help a great deal; we admit that. But he was there just the same, and in Edmonton, on August 12, according to a press report, he had this to say:
Hon. J. A. MacKinnon said today that a trans-Canada highway is "an absolute necessity from the standpoint of the country's economy."
The Minister of Mines and Resources has just returned home from the Liberal convention in Ottawa and he will participate in the August 17 Alberta general election.

Mr. MacKinnon said an independent commission to select a route should be set up without "undue delay", and that the highway need not be near the United States border, even though it would help promote the tourist trade.
I realize the significance of that last paragraph. The minister was campaigning in Edmonton, and naturally was working to have the trans-Canada highway go through that city, whereas we in the south of course believe it should go through the southern part of the province. I must say this to the minister, however. After the conference with the provincial premiers and provincial ministers of public works that was held here in Ottawa, the minister suggested that perhaps the government would pay fifty per cent of the cost of the trans-Canada highway. My opinion is that unless the dominion government contributes much more than fifty per cent, we shall be discussing this subject for years to come. I think it is realized by all provincial governments that the dominion government must accept a greater responsibility for the construction of that highway, which would mean a great deal to this country, not only now but in the years to come.
There were some other matters, Mr. Speaker, to which I wished to refer, but I see that my time has almost expired. In closing may I appeal to the government to provide irrigation in the drought areas with as little delay as possible. I urge upon them that they not merely talk about the matter this year, in the event of a federal election coming along, but that they show us they mean business by making a start on the project.
I appeal to the government for an increase in the income tax exemption applicable to individuals. The present exemption is altogether too low, in view of the increased cost of living. I sometimes wonder how the working people can get along on what they are allowed to keep of their earnings.
Last, but not least, may I appeal to the government to give a substantial increase in the pensions to our older citizens, those who pioneered and prepared the way for Canada's development. I appeal to the government to do these things, not only for the benefit of the people of my constituency, but for all the people from one end of Canada to the other.


Hon. Paul Martin (Minister of National Health and Welfare):: This house, Mr. Speaker, will expect me to report on the progress made during the past few months under the national health program inaugurated last year in a memorable statement made by the then Prime Minister. The announcement of this program, with all of its significance for the health and well-being of the people of this country, was made on May 14 last. This house approved that program 29087-53
The Address-Mr. Martin on June 30. The first provincial request for federal assistance was received on August 25.
I believe, Mr. Speaker, that what I have to say to the house this afternoon is a powerful story. It will not be a complete story. That will come at a later date when time alone will afford final appraisal of the great projects that are under way. But the humanitarian effects of the story are now sufficiently before us to indicate the scope of the achievements to date-achievements that, I think, reveal the true perspective of government in a free society, as few other measures in our history have done. I am reporting on a measure that seeks to improve the facilities to relieve human suffering caused by disease and ill health. What I have to say today will show what this government has done so that the provinces-so largely charged with the responsibility of health policy and administration-will be enabled to give the men, women and children of this country, regardless of financial position, the opportunity to share more fully in the advantages of modern health services.
Since the first project was received amazing progress has been made. Projects under the national health program are now flowing into Ottawa at the rate of $200,000 a day! Let us look at the record of monthly totals of projects approved:
August	 $ 196,000
September	 375,000
October	 997,000
November	 1,721,000
December	 1,112,000
January	 4,082,000
The January total was no less than 60 per cent beyond the monthly rate required for our target of $30 million a year. The total for the first three weeks of February-$4,-893,000-suggests that this month will exceed $6 million. Already, only seven months since the first project was received, we have approved the expenditure to the provinces of more than $13 million.
The house will recall the broad outline of the national health program:
(1)	Federal grants totalling $625,000 have been provided to enable the provinces to make comprehensive surveys of the Canadian health scene.
(2)	To strengthen and extend provincial health services, federal grants starting at $16,495,000 will be available each year for public health research and public health projects; to train professional health workers, to help crippled children, to fight venereal disease, to control tuberculosis, to strengthen cancer control campaigns, and to promote mental health.

The Address-Mr. Martin
(3)	Great increases in hospital accommodation are being encouraged by annual grants to the provinces, totalling $13 million a year.
These grants make possible an additional expenditure of $30 million or more each year on Canada's hospitals and health services. This is almost as much money as was spent on health by all governments in Canada- federal, provincial and municipal-as recently as 1933. This program of federal health grants is twice as much on a per capita basis as the federal health grants program in the United States.
In recognition of the importance of the national health program, the American Public Health Association-the most authoritative body in this field in North America -paid formal tribute to it when that body resolved as follows-
-that the American Public Health Association extend its hearty congratulations to the government and the people of Canada for a step which makes the year 1948 memorable in the annals of public health on this continent.
Mr. Graham L. Davis, director of the division of hospitals for the Kellogg foundation, in a recent article in the Washington Post wrote:
Canada is outstripping the United States in its planning for an over-all national health program.
In Canada, as in this house, throughout the country, and everywhere I have gone since the end of the last session, the action taken by parliament, by the government, has everywhere received an enthusiastic reception. Provincial governments, Canadian health leaders, the average Canadian citizen -all recognize this as an historic advance towards good health. The chairman of the Saskatchewan Health Services Planning Commission called it a fine and courageous program. Dr. W. A. Magner, president of the Canadian Medical Association, called it the most important event in Canada's health history.
Apart from a few important federal activities, health administration in Canada is centred in the provinces. The national health program, being worked out in closest cooperation with the provinces, does not in any way disturb their primary responsibility for health services. The centralization of health services would badly serve the Canadian citizen. In working closely with provincial governments to raise public health levels, the federal government is careful not to disturb the proper dominion-provincial balance of health responsibilities.
Access to good health is a fundamental human right. It is a right that every government must guard. When it became evident that our provincial defences against disease


and ill health needed strengthening, the federal government backed by the house took determined action. But Canada's health services are a complex of responsibilities, sometimes exclusive, sometimes overlapping. Federal, provincial, municipal governments and voluntary health agencies-all are concerned with Canada's health. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to be able to say that all of the nine Canadian provinces are now collaborating in this plan for the nation's health, Quebec, being the last to come in, having agreed to participate on September 7. In acknowledging the speed with which this great enterprise has got into full operation, I should like-and I know I do this with the full concurrence of every hon. member-to pay tribute to my two deputy ministers; to Dr. Fred Jackson, former deputy minister of health in Manitoba, whose great experience and reputation in the provincial health field makes him one of the great figures on this continent in the work of public health, and who is the administrator of the federal grants; and to all the other officers of the Department of National Health and Welfare and all provincial organizations and agencies who have worked during the past several months with so much enthusiasm and effectiveness.
In my talks with the provincial ministers of health, in my conferences with their deputy ministers at the dominion council of health, and in public statements made in every province in this country, I have reiterated the desire of the government that these federal grants should be utilized as expeditiously and as efficiently as possible. In this connection, to indicate my recognition of the problems that the provinces have to face, I should like to quote from an address I made to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in November last:
It takes time to assess and strengthen provincial programs and this might prevent full and immediate use of the moneys available. When I asked parliament to approve the whole amount for this fiscal year I did so for a deliberate purpose-to indicate how anxious the government was to see its grants fully utilized this year if possible. This year's allotment of $30 million is our target figure-the amount of money that we believe should be expended to bring our health services up to desirable levels.
The provinces have done excellent work in planning and carrying out the health advances made possible by these federal grants to the extent that they were not prevented by the shortages of trained health personnel, of technical equipment, and of hospital construction facilities. I am happy to say that these problems are now being tackled energetically and with considerable success. The house and the country will be interested in knowing that 600 health projects have al-

ready been received from the provinces and approved by the federal government.
Mr. Speaker, when this program was announced last year by the then Prime Minister, it was emphasized that these federal grants "would have the added advantage of being fundamental prerequisites of a nationwide system of health insurance." Indeed, they represent the first stages. The new services being developed and the new hospitals being built with these federal grants are hastening the moment when in every province it will be possible to consider further action towards hospital and medical care insurance-for which, of course, the federal government stands ready to provide assistance, under satisfactory agreements for dominion-provincial co-operation. It is of interest to note that in a recent radio address the Prime Minister said:
It is up to the people and the government in each province to take the initiative in working out health insurance plans in line with their local conditions and their traditions.
This national health program was not merely the fulfilment of the proposals made by the dominion government to the provinces in 1945-46. We went much beyond them. The best proof of this is that $17,123,000 more money is available in federal health grants for the provinces this year than if the health grants contained in the proposals had been implemented. I shall list the major changes since 1945-46:
1.	A new annual grant of $3,500,000 has been added for cancer control.
2.	The professional training grant has been increased by $250,000 a year.
3.	Over a period of years the annual grant for public health research will increase to $500,000 in place of the $100,000 formerly proposed.
4.	The federal government has now offered -in place of low-cost loans previously proposed-to give annual grants totalling $65 million over a five-year period to help the provinces increase their hospital accommodation.
I now propose to give the house the highlights of what has been achieved so far under the new federal health plan. I cannot do more than outline what has been done, but with the agreement of the house I shall indicate in more detail some of the lines of achievement by tabling some of the main projects that have been approved. It may be helpful if I remind the house again that this program is divided into three sections. They are as follows:
1.	The health survey grant-$625,000 in outright grants.
The Address-Mr. Martin
2.	The hospital construction grant-$13 million in cumulative annual grants for a period of five years.
3.	National health grants-totalling $16,495,000 this year and later increasing to about $23 million.
All the provinces have well under way the health surveys made possible by the federal grants. The total amount approved by parliament for this purpose has now been allocated. The provinces have established survey teams which are taking inventories of their health facilities and services, as a result of which new programs are being shaped up for their extension and development. In these surveys the provincial health departments are receiving the fullest cooperation from medical associations and other professional and voluntary health bodies. From all sides the most enthusiastic support is forthcoming for Canada's health plans for the future.
One of the urgent reasons for these surveys is to determine provincial requirements for new hospitals. There are obvious difficulties and delays in the planning and building of hospitals, but the total amount of additional hospital accommodation now under construction or in the planning stage, with this federal stimulus, is greater than ever before. The hospital construction grant provided by the federal government is being extensively utilized, as I will briefly indicate. Quebec, for example, has already had projects approved up to one hundred per cent of this year's grant.
I am glad to announce to the house that in this fiscal year federal assistance will be authorized to help build hospitals totalling 13,000 additional beds. This is no mean achievement. This is nearly one-third of the total of 40,000 beds which in my conferences with the provincial governments, I suggested as the government's target for the current five-year period. To summarize, these projects cover new construction totalling 12,983 beds distributed as follows:
1.	Federal grants have been approved for construction representing 6,401 hospital beds of all kinds throughout all parts of Canada.
2.	Projects for 2,882 new beds are at present under review.
3.	Further projects will be submitted, I can now say, before March 31 totalling a further 3,700 beds.
With the permission of the house I should like to place on Hansard a table indicating the institutions that have received approval for beds in the amounts first mentioned.


Mr. Deputy Speaker:: Has the minister the permission of the house?


Some hon. Members:: Agreed.

The Address-Mr. Martin Mr. Martin: The table is as follows:
Hospital construction projects approved for assistance under the Hospital Construction Grant, 1948-49
Location
Charlottetown, P.E.I	
Sheet Harbour, N.S	
Liverpool, N.S	
Lunenburg, N.S	
Musquodoboit Harbour, N.S	
Guysboro, N.S	
Grandmere, Que	
Three Rivers, Que	
Montreal, Que	
Montreal, Que	
St. Thomas de Montmagny, Que	
Three Rivers, Que	
Ste. Germaine du Lac Etchemin, Que...
Joliette, Que	
Macamic, Que	
Drummondville, Que	
St. Georges de Beauce, Que	
Mont Joli, Que	
Val D'Or, Que	
Lourdes de Blanc Sablon, Que	
Noranda, Que	
Sudbury, Ont	
Grimsby, Ont	
Hamilton, Ont	
Hamilton, Ont	
Leamington, Ont	
Cobourg, Ont	
Peterborough, Ont	
Killarney, Man	
Gilbert Plains. Man	
Steinbach, Man	
Assiniboia, Sask	
Vulcan. Alta	
Olds, Alta	
Three Hills, Alta	
New Westminster, B.C	
New Westminster. B.C	
Vernon, B.C	
Murrayville, B.C	
Alert Bay, B.C	
Fernie, B.C	
North Vancouver, B.C	
Princeton, B.C	
Stettler, Alta	
Rimbey, Alta	
Benito, Man	
Boissevain, Man	
Altona, Man	
Carberry, Man	
Cartwright, Man	
Fisher Branch, Man	
Dunnville, Ont	
Trenton, Ont	
Ingersoll, Ont	
Oakville, Ont	
Oshawa, Ont	
Cornwall, Ont	
Amos, Que	
Chandler, Que	
Mont Providence	
Baddeck, N.S	
Additional
Hospital	beds provided
Beach Grove	 249
Eastern Shore Memorial	 29
Queen's	 42
Lunenburg	 55
Twin Oaks Memorial	 10
Guysboro Memorial	 13
Hopital Lafleche	 130
Hopital Ste. Marie	 123
St. Joseph des Convalescents	 120
St. Joseph Sanatorium	 451
Hotel Dieu de Montmagny	 118
Sanatorium Cooke	 174
Sanatorium Begin	 300
St. Eusebe	 144
Sanatorium de Macamic	 185
Ste. Croix	 228
Hotel Dieu Notre Dame de Beauce	 180
Sanatorium St. Georges	 298
Saint-Sauveur	 83
Notre Dame de Lourdes de Blanc Sablon	 23
Youville	 153
Sudbury General	 169
West Lincoln Memorial	 39
Hamilton General	 181
St. Peters Infirmary	 45
Leamington District Memorial	 57
Cobourg General	 4
St. Joseph's General	 65
Killarney General	 30
Gilbert Plains	  12
Steinbach General	 34
Assiniboia General	 15
Vulcan Municipal	  17
Olds Municipal	 12
Three Hills Municipal	 28
Provincial Mental	 100
Royal Columbian	 169
Vernon Jubilee	 117
Langley Memorial	 46
St. George's Hospital	 48
Fernie Memorial	 40
North Vancouver General Hospital	 10
Princeton General Hospital	 2
Stettler Municipal Hospital	 34
Rimbey Municipal Hospital	 22
Benito Hospital	 19
Boissevain Hospital	 10
Altona Hospital	 29
Carberry Hospital	 10
Cartwright District Hospital	 9
Fisher Branch Outpost Hospital	 12
Haldimand War Memorial Hospital	 53
Trenton Memorial Hospital	 68
Alexandra Hospital	 61
Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital	 50
Oshawa General Hospital	 18
Cornwall General Hospital	 89
l'Hotel-Dieu d'Amos	 215
Hopital de la Providence	 56
l'lnstitut Medico-Pedagogique du Mont Providence..	1,269
Victoria County Memorial Hospital	 35
Fractional (Bassinets)	 4
Total
6,401
To ensure that the progress now being made will be continued and that we will reach or surpass our target within the next four years, it is the intention of the government to ask in the coming year's estimates for the re-vote of any unexpended portion of this year's $13 million grant. The hospital construction 
grant is therefore cumulative, while the health survey grant is outright and the annual national health grants are on a continuing annual basis.
These hospital construction projects cover a wide range, from large general hospitals and hospitals for the mentally ill, down to small

rural hospitals and nursing stations. It is not easy to select from a great number of projects that are being approved under this grant more than a few typical examples. By March 31, at least four provinces-Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia -will have submitted projects covering all of their federal grants for hospital construction.
I might, however, make note of one outstanding project to illustrate the operation of this federal grant. In Quebec the federal government has approved the allocation of $1,498,000 to assist towards the cost of a magnificent structure now building at Riviere des Prairies to house 1,269 mentally deficient children. This hospital, modern both in its concept of early care and training and in its design, should be unsurpassed in North America.
The action that is being taken by the federal government to help build new hospitals in every province is far-reaching. At meetings of the Saskatchewan hospital council in Regina and the Ontario hospital association in Toronto, I was struck by the unanimity among executive members and delegates on the tremendous encouragement given them in their work by this federal grant. The extent of this assistance is perhaps best indicated by these two facts:
1.	On a per capita basis Canada's federal grant for hospital construction is twice the similar grant provided by the United States.
2.	By March 31 we will have paid out in eight months a higher proportion of our hospital construction grant than the United States paid in two years after passing its somewhat similar measure.
With regard to the third section of our federal health program, the national health grants, I should like to review for the house the way in which these grants are divided and the amount of money set aside for each purpose each year, and the results that have followed from their being made available to the provinces.
1.	Professional training grant-$500,000.
2.	Grant for public health research-$100,000 this year but increasing to $500,000 annually.
3.	General public health grant-$4,395,000 in the current fiscal year and rising to $6,500,000 by 1951.
4.	Venereal disease control grant-$500,000.
5.	Grant for crippled children-$500,000.
6.	Mental health grant-$4 million in the current fiscal year and rising to $7 million a year by 1954.
7.	Cancer control grant-$3,500,000.
8.	Tuberculosis control grant-$3 million in the current year, rising to $4 million by 1950-51.
The Address-Mr. Martin
I have reminded the house of these figures, Mr. Speaker, because from the mere recital of these grants it is clear that the provinces are being given an almost unlimited opportunity to exercise their ingenuity and initiative in moving forward on all sectors of the health front. Where the provinces already had certain well-established programs, such as those for the control of venereal disease, mental illness and tuberculosis, we have provided specially ear-marked grants. Where the provinces had their plans already made or in the formative stage, as for cancer or crippling conditions in children, we have enabled them to put their plans into operation for the first time on a comprehensive scale across Canada. Where, for other serious illnesses such as rheumatism and arthritis, the provinces had not yet devised their plans of attack, we have encouraged them to develop projects on a trial basis for the control and treatment of these illnesses, while urging them to explore the best means of developing allout attacks. With respect to health research, we have provided special financial assistance to increase the tempo and the scope of research efforts.
I know that this is a detailed statement, but the house has been thus far extremely patient, and if hon. members will follow me now until almost the end of what I have to say they will see the unfolding of a story which I think has been unsurpassed by any federal state in the world.
(i)	Grant for Professional	Training-
$500,000. We are also stepping up the training of health specialists, who are essential to the success of provincial health programs. This shortage of health workers is without question the main obstacle to health advances. I need not tell this house that the finest hospitals, the best medical equipment that money can buy-all these are useless unless we have an adequate body of highly trained and professionally qualified personnel to put these facilities into full service.
The professional training grant is already achieving results:	public health doctors,
dentists, nurses, laboratory technicians, mental hospital attendants, sanitarians, research workers, psychiatrists-these and many other categories of professional health workers are now being trained under it. In addition, specialists are being given training from funds provided under the grants for cancer control, tuberculosis control, mental health and general public health. Under all these federal grants, 537 professional health workers are receiving training at the expense of the federal government. As a result of the expenditure of almost $400,000 in the current fiscal year we can expect large reinforcements for Canada's army of health and hospital workers.

The Address-Mr. Martin
The most notable training project now underway is one submitted by the province of Ontario for the expenditure of almost $200,000 this year at the university of Toronto to train mental health personnel, such as psychiatrists, psychiatric social workers and psychologists.
If any member of the house does not think that is one of the most important problems on which we should be engaged, let him come with me any time and visit some of these institutions in our provinces and see how badly needed is the kind of assistance we are now giving.
Another project for post-graduate training in clinical psychology, bacteriology and preventive medicine, is going forward at the university of British Columbia, and, as a notable instance of action making for Canadian unity, at the suggestion of the Department of National Health and Welfare the maritime provinces have met together and agreed to back a joint program for mental health training at Dalhousie university.
(ii)	Research in Public Health-$100,000 to $500,000. Besides increasing the supply of professional health personnel, we must bring scientific research to support the health services of each province. That purpose is now notably being achieved through the public health research grant, which starts this year at $100,000 and increases-as research workers and research facilities become available-to $500,000 a year. The initial difficulties in getting new research projects under way are now being overcome and it is now certain that the full $200,000 grant for next year will be allocated.
The public health research grant is financing a number of useful investigations. For instance-and I can only give some examples -there is a community research project in preventive dentistry to find the value of the application of sodium fluoride to children's teeth. In British Columbia, a wide-scale study is under way of 8,000 school children to determine the value of a simplified system to gather health and welfare data for each child. In Saskatchewan, there is a study on the nutritive value of milk. Radioactive isotopes are being used to determine the efficiency of commercial detergents and to study the contamination of certain drinking water.
A three-year study is now beginning at Connaught laboratories in Toronto on methods by which the infection of the polio virus spreads. Other public health research projects include research into certain causes of maternal and infant deaths and the gathering of exact and detailed statistics on the extent
and nature of illness in a typical Canadian community.
Through this and other grants of the national health program, new impetus is being given to Canada's expanding medical research program. The national research council through its medical division is continuing its medical research projects totalling $350,000 a year; the Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society is preparing extensive plans for research, for treatment, and for education. A considerable program is going forward with the support of the medical schools, voluntary organizations, individual donors and private industry; a particularly notable program, about which I shall have something to say later, is also being carried on by the national cancer institute. Since the incorporation of this institute a little more than two years ago, an impressive total of fifty-eight individual fundamental research projects on cancer are under way in many of our universities throughout the country. I thought a list of those projects might be of interest to the house, and with the permission of the house I would ask leave to table a schedule.


Some hon. Members:: Agreed.


Paul Joseph James Martin: The schedule is as follows: Research Grants and Fellowship Awards Screened by the National Cancer Institute and Approved by the Medical Division of the National Research
Council
These are being carried out at: Dalhousie university, Halifax, N.S.; Acadia university, Wolfville, N.S.; university of Montreal, Montreal, Que.; McGill university, Montreal, Que.; Notre Dame hospital, Montreal, Que.; Montreal General Hospital Institute. Montreal, Que.; Queen's university, Kingston, Ont.; university of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.; university of Western Ontario, London, Ont.; university of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man.; university of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Sask.; university of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta.; university of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.
A study of the growth of metabolism in yeast cells.
An enzymatic, histochemical and cytochemical study of malignancy.
The dissociability of the fundamental process of ontogenesis.
The cytological study of modification in embryonic differentiation.
Differential sensitivity of cells and chromosomes to ex-radiation.
The precancerous cirrhotic liver and malignant hepatoma in the rat.
Studies of endocrine glands and hormones in tumorigenesis.
Research on Hodgkins disease.
Study of fundamental chemistry of cancer cells.
Maturation cycle of living cells.
The histological localization of radio-active elements of biological significance in normal and cancerous tissue.
Selective staining of tumours in the brain by vital dyes.
Cytological studies in diagnosis of malignant tumours of the lower respiratory tract.
[Mr. Martin.1

Clinical and metabolic effects of testoterone propionate administered to patients with carcinoma of the breast with skeletal metastases.
Study of fundamental chemistry of cancer cells.
Application of radioactive isotopes in the study of the relation of steroids to carcinogenesis.
A comparative study of methods of diagnosis of cellular sediment, from the lower respiratory tract.
Effect on spontaneous and induced tumours formation of dorsal nerve root section.
Study of the nature of the agent or factor responsible for malignant growth of mammary cancer in mice.
A comparative study of the respiratory metabolism of cells in the growing and resting conditions.
Studies to provide fixed facilities for animal experimentation in cancer research.
The influence of cosmic radiation on carcinogenesis.
The electrolytic pattern and permeability of growing cells.
The nutritional requirements of animal cells in tissue culture.
Biochemical methods for the separation and purification of virus proteins.
The enzyme systems and metabolism of normal and tumour-bearing chick embryos.
Study of connective tissue sarcoma in rats and its relationship to enzyme systems and metabolic processes.
Study of lipotropic factors in the prevention and treatment of tumours in rats.
Growth of metabolism in plant tissue.
The physiology of metamorphosis.
Irradiation studies on malignant differentiation.
Investigation into the nature and effects of intracellular components specific for malignant cells.
The development of a synthetic medium for animal eells grown in tissue culture.
A study of the relationship between virus and host cells.
Study of cytology of crown gall as related to cancer and effects of colchicine and related compounds on mitosis in plants and animals.
The metabolic and biochemical correlatives of growth and differentiation in plant tissues.
Study of metamorphosis in relation to carcinogenesis and the influence of cosmic radiation on carcinogenesis.
Investigation of changes in the lipid composition in cancerous and other tissues of animals undergoing increasing malignant change.
An experimental study of the growth and physiological activity of trophoblast.
Factors influencing the water content of the liver of tumour-bearing rats.
Synthesis of substitute bis (B-chloro-ethyl) amines and a study of their pharmacological properties.
Synthesis of tertiary amines containing steroid nucleus.
Determination of whether a bio-assay of a cancer patient can be obtained upon an insect and the susceptibility of insects to carcinogenic substances.
Investigation of Beard's work on cancer diagnosis.
Study of factors modifying rate of early development processes.
Cancerous responses of plants to chemical stimuli.
A study of the enzymes of white blood cells with special reference to the leukemic cell.
The dynamic action of carcinogenic compounds in vitro.
Electrostriction and charge penetration of monomolecular films and diagnostic studies of ultraviolet fluorescence of cancer serum extract.
Studies on the cultivation in vitro of human marrow in leukemia, leukemoid conditions, myeloma and metastatic carcinoma in bone.
The Address-Mr. Martin
Histologic study of rat spleen and gonads following injection of urine extracts of cancer patients.
Electro potential with the gastric mucosa and their modification by gastric lesions.
Investigation of the possible therapeutic applications of ultra-high energy x-rays.
Carcinogenetic properties of 1 ;2;9; 10 tetramethyl-anthracene and allied substances.
Preparation of radioactive sulphur-containing compounds.
A quantitative test for hemosiderin in the mammary tissues of mice.
A study in the chemistry of cancer.
Effects of radiation on biological material.
I feel I may say that the new energy put into research by the national cancer institute and the national health program brings the money available for health research this year to an all-time record of more than $1,250,000. I believe this represents an effort that is as fundamental and integral to our life as any that we discuss at any time in this national parliament.
(iii)	Extension of Public Health Programs -$4,395,000 to $6,500,000. Besides the grants to train professional health workers, and to support research in public health, there is a grant for general public health, which this year stands at $4,395,000 or 35 cents per capita. British Columbia has already been allocated 90 per cent of its public health grant. Here is what this federal grant makes possible:	many provinces are extending
laboratory facilities by the purchase of new, improved and much needed equipment; no fewer than five provinces are establishing branch laboratories at strategic points; all the provinces are improving local health services by the purchase of new equipment, and by the addition of staff such as public health doctors, sanitarians and public health nurses; Quebec, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia are strengthening their district health units.
We are assisting plans for Quebec to immunize children in the province against tuberculosis with B.C.G. vaccine, and to extend immunization for diphtheria to outlying districts in Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan is also being assisted in establishing a very extensive dental health program. A provincial division of dental hygiene is being formed; more dental service will be given to preschool children in Saskatoon; six dental clinic units will be provided, particularly for the rural areas; and four stationary and seven mobile dental units are being fully equipped to care for 40,000 school children, as a result of the grants made to that province by the federal government.
Dental health divisions are also being set up in New Brunswick and British Columbia. Other projects made possible by this federal aid include new public health engineering divisions in Prince Edward Island and British

The Address-Mr. Martin Columbia; a hospital inspection division in New Brunswick; extension of health education in Saskatchewan and British Columbia; and the strengthening of city health departments in Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Saint John.
(iii a) Campaign Against Arthritis and Rheumatism. Hon. members of the house will, I am sure, be particularly interested in the campaign developing in this country against arthritis and rheumatism, two of the great cripplers. I am glad to report progress to the house in this connection. The first results of recent intensive efforts are beginning to appear. The Canadian Arthritis- and Rheumatism Society, formed in 1948 as a result of a conference the government authorized me to call of the provincial governments and leading Canadian authorities, has now firmly established itself. From the federal health grants, funds have been made available to this society backed up, as I say, by the nine provinces. I am informed by this body that the moneys available from this and other sources are sufficient for its immediate needs. As soon as it has completed its planning and organization work the society will, of course, require much greater financial support. This association includes the Canadian counterparts of that great English specialist on arthritis and rheumatism, Lord Horder, who came to Canada last year to assist in planning our attack and who will return again shortly to give the benefit of his vast experience.
These are some of the objectives of the Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society to make 1949 a year of great advances:
1.	Provincial divisions are to be organized and local branches or campaign committees set up.
2.	Programs are to be shaped up for research, professional education and technical leadership for local committees.
3.	The first national campaign for public support, supplementing that being given by governments at all levels, is to be carried on later this year.
4.	The society's advisory medical board is preparing an over-all plan that will play a role in the Canadian health scheme similar to that of Lord Horder's plan in Great Britain.
I know this announcement will be received oy over six hundred thousand people in this country with great interest and acclaim, and I am sure that the house will follow with interest the work of this society and will endorse my determination to give it every necessary support beyond what appropriately, as a voluntary agency, it will ask from the people of Canada for whom arthritis and rheumatism are such major health problems. British Columbia is taking action against these diseases and Alberta, I presume with federal aid, will inaugurate a treatment program for sufferers from these diseases. The British Columbia division of the Canadian

Arthritis and Rheumatism Society has been allocated funds from the federal public health grant to purchase clinical and other equipment for diagnosis and treatment. I hope to see similar divisions established in every province and to see activity in this field on the part of every provincial health department. I have every confidence that this public campaign now beginning against arthritis and rheumatism will continue to gather momentum until it can match the magnitude of the challenge of these great crippling diseases.
(iv)	Grant for venereal disease control- $500,000. The house is already familiar with the federal grant for the control of venereal disease, which was instituted after the first world war and served as an example of dominion-provincial co-operative health action until it was abolished in 1932. The grant was restored in 1938; under the national health program the grant has been raised from $225,000 annually to $500,000. All of the provinces, of course, have programs to expend the original allocation; four provinces -Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan-have submitted projects to use all of the increased allotment; the other provinces are rapidly building expanded programs. Every citizen, regardless of ability to pay, can now secure treatment. Through this federal grant we are making penicillin available free in all the provinces and free treatment services are being greatly extended. From 1944 to 1948, the number of cases reported has decreased by 29 per cent. With the new measures being taken we can expect this decline to be accelerated.
(v)	Grant for crippled children-$500,000. The house will, I am sure, be interested in hearing what is being done with the $500,000 that was voted last year to assist the provinces in helping their crippled children. As a result of the federal grant there are encouraging signs that the provincial governments are giving more attention to the special needs of crippled children. Here are some of the developments fostered by the federal grant: New Brunswick is extending its provision for free examination and treatment; Quebec is establishing a new treatment centre at Cartierville; Ontario is converting the Woodeden Hospital for cerebral palsy into a year-round operation; in northern Ontario a new clinic will search out children suffering from crippling conditions and encourage treatment and preventive action; Manitoba is developing a rehabilitation program; Saskatchewan is setting up a new provincial health division for crippled children. All this-and this is important-

is being done as a result of the national health program announced in this house less than a year ago.
The federal grant makes possible the extension of services for polio victims in Alberta. It makes possible the purchase of new and modern equipment for three of the British Columbia hospitals that treat crippled children. In all the provinces an accelerated preventive and treatment program to help crippled children can now go forward in full vigour, largely due to the stimulus provided by this national health program.
(vi)	Grant for Mental Health-$4 million to $7 million. The problem of mental illness in Canada has become increasingly urgent over the past twenty years. It is a problem that challenges every political party and civilized man in this country, regardless of race or political affiliation, and it is in that spirit that I approach it.


Mr. Deputy Speaker:: I am sorry, but I must inform the hon. member that his time has expired.


Some hon. Members:: Go on.


Paul Joseph James Martin: I thank hon. members, because I think the house and the country will be interested in this statement. The fact that there are now 50,000 patients in mental hospitals in Canada is ample evidence of the magnitude of this problem and of its cost in loss of productivity and in human suffering. Mental illness is being countered in many ways. The mental health grant and, to a lesser extent, the professional training grant are helping to provide additional workers in the mental health field; the hospital construction grant is helping to remedy the pressing shortage of some 27,000 hospital beds for the mentally ill; and, finally, the mental health grant itself, which stands at $4 million for the current year but will rise to reach $7 million, is bringing invaluable aid to provincial programs for enlarging hospital staffs, for increasing treatment facilities and extending the work of prevention.
The impact of this grant on mental health programs already is evident. The latest scientific, diagnostic and treatment equipment is being provided in large quantities for mental hospitals, mental health clinics and psychiatric wards in general hospitals. Special X-ray, surgical and laboratory equipment, badly needed in many of the provincial mental hospitals, is now being furnished along with equipment for modern treatment techniques and for occupational therapy. In Saskatchewan, for example, this federal grant has already made possible the allocation of over $50,000 for equipment. In Quebec, the provincial program will be greatly assisted through the federal grant to the Mont Provi-
The Address-Mr. Martin dence hospital for mental defective, although plans have not yet been finalized to take advantage of this year's federal grant of $1,140,000 for mental health.
British Columbia has used a substantial portion of its mental health grant to equip the new Crease Clinic of Psychological Medicine, which will be when completed, among the most modern on this continent. Similar preventive and treatment services are being extended through the establishment, with the help of the federal grants, of fourteen new mental health clinics in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. In the wider extension of these clinics and of all preventive measures, we see the promise that mental illness will be brought under much more effective control in future years. With this federal assistance, as every one of the provinces readily acknowledges, because it is a co-operative effort, it now becomes possible to make a direct attack on this disease that will progressively shift emphasis from custodial hospital care to modern diagnostic, treatment and preventive services.
I have reserved to the last my comments on the progress that is being made under the national health program to bring tuberculosis under control and to combat the ravages of cancer. I link these diseases deliberately because from our victories-when I say "ours", I mean those of the provincial governments, voluntary bodies, tuberculosis associations, this parliament and the people of this country who work in this field-our victories, I say, in connection with tuberculosis, can inspire us to greater efforts to conquer cancer. Of course, final victory over cancer can only follow great research discoveries, but there is much ground that we can win back in the years immediately ahead.
The number of notable projects under the tuberculosis control grant is too great to be noted in the time at my disposal. With the indulgence of the house, I should like therefore to place on Hansard for its information a brief summary of the major activities sponsored so far by this grant.


Some hon. Members:: Agreed.


Paul Joseph James Martin: The statement follows:
Projects Approved Under Federal Tuberculosis Control Grant, 1948-49
Prince Edwards Island. Free diagnostic x-ray service, clinical laboratory services, and streptomycin and other drugs have been made available to patients. A medical director has been hired to organize a field tuberculosis service and the provincial tuberculosis control division has been expanded through the addition of new staff and equipment. A rehabilitation program has been commenced, and assistance has been given to the maintenance of a mobile x-ray unit and to the provincial educational program.
842	HOUSE OF
The Address-Mr. Martin
Nova Scotia X-ray equipment has been purchased for the Victoria General hospital in Halifax, to enable all admissions to be x-rayed. Equipment has been purchased for the Nova Scotia sanatorium at Kentville and the activities of the rehabilitation division of the sanatorium have been expanded.
New Brunswick. Provision for free streptomycin has been made in sanatoria and an x-ray developing centre has been established to assist traveling units. Equipment has been purchased for the Saint John tuberculosis hospital, the Jordan Memorial sanatorium, the Moncton tuberculosis hospital, Sanatorium Notre Dame de Lourdes and Saint Joseph's sanatorium; and for clinics at Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton. A physician has been added to the staff of the Jordan Memorial sanatorium.
Quebec. Four mobile diagnostic clinics and a permanent clinic at the Hopital Notre Dame have been established. Provision has been made for free streptomycin treatment to sanatoria patients. Equipment has been purchased for sanatoria at Montreal, Mont Joli, Gaspe, Three Rivers, Dorchester and Cartier-ville. Eighty-five physicians have been given lectures in the use of B.C.G. at the University of Montreal and aid has been given to the Anti-Tuberculosis League of Montreal.
Ontario. Free streptomycin treatment has been made available to sanatoria patients, provision is being made for all patients admitted to hospital to be given routine x-rays and the number of free chest clinics is being expanded. A mobile x-ray unit has been purchased. A rehabilitation scheme has been commenced. Laboratory investigations are being extended in scope and diagnostic procedures developed. The tuberculosis control staff of the province is being expanded and specialists from outside the province are being brought in for advisory services.
Manitoba. Provision has been made for streptomycin and other antibiotics or treatment not covered by ordinary sanatorium rates to be supplied without charge. Free post-sanatorium pneumothorax treatment has been extended. X-ray equipment is being installed in general hospitals. Rehabilitation services are being extended and facilities are being provided for the establishment, at the Manitoba sanatorium, of affiliation courses for nurses. Sanatorium, clinical and laboratory facilities are being extended by the purchase of new equipment.
Saskatchewan. Photofluorographic equipment is being purchased for hospitals and clinics. Hospitals and clinics are being assisted to take x-rays on all admissions and the mass miniature x-ray program is being expanded. Provision has been made for the extension and development of the use of streptomycin. The existing program whereby B.C.G. vaccination is given to persons exposed to tuberculosis is being assisted. Post-graduate training is being given to staff physicians and the present tuberculosis staff is being expanded.
Alberta. Free treatment has been extended to non-pulmonary tuberculosis cases and a free streptomycin service is being provided. Clinical x-ray equipment to extend diagnosis services to remote areas, and technical equipment for the sanatoria in Calgary and Edmonton have been purchased. A short training course for nurses has been established at Calgary and the provincial tuberculosis staff has been expanded.
British Columbia. The province has purchased x-ray survey equipment for general hospitals so that all admissions may be x-rayed. Provision has been made for free distribution of streptomycin. An occupational therapy scheme for outpatients has been set up under the Metropolitan Health Committee of Vancouver. Equipment has been purchased for the Vancouver unit of the provincial tuberculosis control division, refresher courses are being given


to various members of the division, and a study is being made of emotional and other factors related to the treatment of tuberculosis.
More than two-thirds of this year's grant for tuberculosis control has already been allocated for new or expanded provincial programs. Let me remind the house that in the last fifty years in this country the death rate from tuberculosis has been reduced by 80 per cent. In the past twenty years it has been reduced by 46 per cent. This is perhaps the greatest single achievement in our public health history. It is certainly a challenge and an inspiration to all of Canada's health workers. The objective of our tuberculosis program for the next generation is nothing less than the elimination of this disease as a major cause of death and illness among our population.
The provinces have shown great energy in moving forward to an all-out attack on tuberculosis under the stimulus of the federal grant, which starts at $3 million and rises to $4 million annually. Already four provinces -New Brunswick, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario-have applied for 90 per cent of their first year's allotment. The federal aid makes it possible for all the provinces to extend the reach of free diagnosis and treatment, and to provide free streptomycin, often effective against this disease. They make it possible for new equipment to be supplied in large quantities, and for new staff to be trained for the provincial sanatoria.
Because of the federal grant, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are now buying additional X-ray equipment so that general hospitals can examine all admissions. Ontario will be enabled to have every admission to hospital given a chest X-ray. Because of the federal grant, new mobile X-ray units are being established in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Quebec to help discover early cases. As a consequence of these federally-assisted measures, the number of chest X-ray examinations in Canada will be increased by one million a year! This vast increase in anti-tuberculosis activity means a larger number of cases isolated in time to prevent them from spreading their contagion to other members of their family and community. It means shorter stays in sanatorium, more cures, fewer deaths, and ultimately, I am confident, complete and final victory over an illness that at one time ranked very high among causes of death in this country.
What we have done and what we are now doing about tuberculosis, we can and we must do in the other phases of the public health field in Canada. Canada has good reason to be concerned over the steadily growing number of deaths from cancer. The house will recall that shortly after I became

Minister of National Health and Welfare, taking advantage of the preparatory work that had been done by my predecessor, the present Minister of National Defence, I called together representatives of the provincial governments, the medical colleges, the Canadian Medical Association, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, the representatives of public voluntary bodies, to determine what action on a national scale could be taken to co-ordinate activities designed to effect cancer control. As a result, this conference decided to establish the National Cancer Institute, with which the Canadian Cancer Society is now affiliated. The institute was provided with funds to sponsor a large research program of which I have already made mention. I want to pay my tribute today to men who deserve the undying thanks of this generation of Canadians for what they have done in the field of cancer.
History will record what the people of Canada owe to this institute and to those who brought it into being, particularly men like Dr. Blair of Saskatchewan, Dr. Richards and Dr. Boyd of Ontario, Dr. Simard of Quebec and others who joined with me and my officials in a determined all-out attack on cancer. This action was followed by my recommendation to my colleagues in the government that a special grant for cancer be included in the national health program- a grant not included, by the way, in the proposals originally made to the provinces in 1945-46.
I have not mentioned the names of all those who collaborated with us in this enterprise to form the National Cancer Institute, but I have spoken of Blair and Richards and Boyd. Dr. Blair died a few months ago in the prime of life from heart trouble, due to the energy put into his work on behalf of the institute and of cancer generally; Dr. Richards died likewise a few months ago of leukemia, due directly to his work in the treatment of cancer. Dr. Boyd, I am happy to say-and with his approval-has himself recovered from cancer because of early diagnosis and efficient treatment. He is an example of what can be done with an effective program for cancer control.
Mr. Speaker, we will not have fulfilled our obligation until every person suffering from cancer in Canada is assured of the same opportunities for a successful result as that achieved by Dr. Boyd.
Through the cancer control grant, provincial programs can now be strengthened immeasurably. Saskatchewan, with an extensive and excellent program initiated 14 years ago, already has been allocated its full cancer
29087-54J
The Address-Mr. Martin control grant, freeing provincial funds for other purposes, as, for example, to combat arthritis and rheumatism. In most of the provinces, great activity is now developing under the cancer control grant. For example, Prince Edward Island is establishing two free diagnostic clinics and providing free tissue service; New Brunswick is purchasing $50,000 worth of cancer therapy equipment; cancer control activities are being actively supported in Quebec; in Manitoba, the federal grant is partly financing free diagnostic and radiation treatment; Alberta's excellent program for free diagnosis and treatment is being supported. In most of the provinces, money is being set aside from this federal grant to support the research being carried on by the National Cancer Institute.
In every province plans are going forward to take full advantage of the federal grant for cancer control. Our objective should be to have available within reasonable distance of every Canadian citizen a detection and diagnostic service to discover cancer in its earliest stages and to direct the patient to a properly-equipped and well-staffed treatment centre. The establishment of such centres is already being encouraged by the federal grant and in this trend lies much of our hope for further advances.
I have made this summary, and taken advantage of the patience of the house, because I believe that the country is interested in this report. I believe it wants to know how this money is being spent, and with what results. But I would not want to leave in the minds of the members of this house the impression that these new developments in any way reflect on the efforts made in previous years by provincial heatlh authorities to cope with problems that are basically their responsibility. This is too important a matter for political criticism. I feel that I should tell the house that, whatever my disabilities may be, I have thrown all my energies and my offices into this plan because I think that no man in public life in the last quarter of a century has had as great an opportunity for public service as that given to me through my administration of this plan.
For many years the provinces have been struggling with the manifold difficulties that present themselves in the field of public health, and they have developed excellent health services. But rising costs, the increase in our population, the aging of our people- these and other factors have increased intolerably the weight of provincial health programs.
Because of this, the federal government, in view of its national concern for the health of the Canadian people, has provided

The Address-Mr. Martin financial assistance to enable provincial governments, within the framework of our constitution, to carry out better their health responsibilities. Behind our thinking in setting up this national health program was the conviction that the energy our people had shown in war could find full expression in peace through efforts such as this to open to every citizen new opportunities for good healh. On all sides there is evidence of unprecedented activity.
In all efforts to lead this country into an era of better health we can take encouragement from recent progress. Let us compare the period 1945-47 with 1921-25. What do we find in this quarter-century? General mortality has decreased 16 per cent, infant death rates are down by 51 per cent, and maternal death rates by 64 per cent. There are many other encouraging trends. There are also some disheartening figures, but the over-all picture is bright. This is strikingly indicated by the fact that life expectancy at birth for Canadians has increased by 5 years for boys and 7 years for girls in the brief period since 1931.	< t|
In all that I have been saying today I feel this house can discern, because of the constructive action it took last year, the true pattern of health progress. The national health program is the latest in an impressive series of major acts of the federal government, in co-operation with provincial and municipal governments and with voluntary health and welfare agencies, to widen in Canada the jurisdiction of social justice. In the working out of this program, the medical, dental and nursing professions, the associations of professional and voluntary health workers and-in particular-the ministers of health and the governments of the provinces have given invaluable assistance and encouragement, indicating their conviction that the federal program represents a major advance in the continuing evolution of better health services for the Canadian people. May I say by way of conclusion-and again I thank the house for its patience-


Some hon. Members:: Oh, oh.


Paul Joseph James Martin: My hon. friends clap. I want the country to know that I am dealing with the national health program which has been called the most important in Canada's health history.


Mr. Casselman:: Let us have it all.


Paul Joseph James Martin: This house has now heard my account of how-less than half a year since
[Mr. Martin.1
the first provincial request was received in Ottawa-this program is vastly strengthening the entire structure of provincial health services for the people of this country. Let me call the roll of achievement:
One hundred and sixty million dollars in the next five years in federal health grants to the provinces.
Nine province-wide health surveys underway.
Six hundred provincial health projects approved.
New projects coming in at rate of $200,000 a day.
Federal aid this year for building hospitals totalling 13,000 beds.
Five hundred and thirty-seven health workers already being trained.
One million more chest X-rays this year.
Health research raised beyond $1,250,000 a year.
Canada's federal health grant program twice per capita that of United States.
Support for provincial public health programs.
More action against venereal disease.
More care for crippled children.
Great extensions of free treatment for major health scourges.
Campaigns reinforced against cancer, tuberculosis and mental illness.
Campaigns encouraged against arthritis and rheumatism.
Great advances in preventive medicine.
Foundations being firmly laid for hospital and medical care insurance.
The house will remember that all that I have said is but the beginning-part only of what has been done in a few months.


Some hon. Members:: Oh, oh.


Paul Joseph James Martin: My hon. friends apparently do not appreciate the significance of this program to the people of Canada. The full potential of the national health program has yet to be realized. Our long advance towards good health, with the more rapid progress that this program makes possible, now brings us, for the first time, within sight of an age in which the Canadian citizen can be set free from many of the bonds of ill health that now restrict his creative and productive capacities. But there are many obstacles still to overcome. To every Canadian now goes the call to work with a good heart to lessen the dominion of disease so that the killers, the cripplers-all that withers and wastes human life, all that wars against happiness-will be made subject to science and human skill.
In our time we have seen governments increasingly concerned about conditions that

only governments can rectify. A transformation has taken place in our thinking: we now accept without question that there are ways to the future that only governments can open. There are hazards to human welfare that only the collective strength of the community of citizens can overcome. We have seen growing in this country the humanitarian conviction that no Canadian should be debarred from adequate health care for lack of money. For we have come to realize the truth that his nation's prosperity, and the welfare and happiness of its people, are inevitably inextricably bound up with this nation's health. This is no new discovery: this is the high concept of public service that has led governments, conscious of their responsibilities, to care for the health of their people. At this time, should we not recall to mind how well Disraeli, same 72 years ago, enshrined this truth in memorable words:
The health of the people is really the foundation upon which all their happiness and all their powers as a state depend. Take the most beautiful kingdom, give it intelligent and laborious citizens, prosperous manufacturers, productive agriculturists; let the arts flourish, let architecture cover the land with temples and palaces; and in order to defend all these riches, have well-trained armies and a powerful navy-if the population remains stationary, if it decreases yearly in vigour and in stature, the nation must perish. This is why I consider the first duty of statesmen is in the care of the public health.


Hon. W. Earl Rowe (Dufferin-Simcoe):: Mr. Speaker, I have listened with keen interest to the previous speaker, the Minister of National Health and Welfare (Mr. Martin). I trust he will pardon me if I do not follow his speech in detail. I am delighted to know that he is so keenly interested in his department, and that he is happily satisfied with its record, as he has given it to the house. I am glad to know, further, that, according to his report, the progress of his department is keeping pace with the general scientific progress this country is making.
May I first of all congratulate hon. members who have preceded me in the debate- whether I have been in agreement with them or not-upon the able presentation of the different points of view they have placed before the house. I would congratulate specially the hon. member for Essex West (Mr. Brown) and the hon. member for Laval-Two Mountains (Mr. Demers) upon having ably moved and seconded the address in reply.
As this is the first opportunity I have had, perhaps I might be permitted to extend congratulations to the new leader of the historic Liberal party (Mr. St. Laurent), who assumed the prime ministership a comparatively short time after the convention of the Liberal
The Address-Mr. Rowe party. I know he brings to the House of Commons a splendid background of Canadian culture, legal training and high character. I trust he may have the good health to permit him to carry the responsibilities which must go with his being head of the government and prime minister of this great dominion.
May I also extend my compliments to the leader of His Majesty's loyal opposition (Mr. Drew), the leader of this party. He, too, has a splendid background of similar qualifications, involving legal attainments, experience in municipal and provincial affairs, and high character. I am sure all hon. members hope that in his youthful years he may have the health and strength which will permit him to assume greater responsibilities, as years go by.
I know all will agree that these two cultured gentlemen have brought to their respective parties satisfactory leadership; and I believe they will bring to the House of Commons those qualities which will be an enrichment of our parliamentary life in Canada.
The speech from the throne is a procedure in each session clothed with dignity. It is a dignified presentation. However, there is nothing very mysterious about it. The speech is cautiously written by the government of the day and with exacting regularity it is graciously read to both houses of parliament by His Excellency the Governor General.
Sometimes in our discussion of it we treat it as if it were something quite different. The one now before us is much the same as many others I have heard read in the past. It is full of generalities and excuses for what has not been done. This speech from the throne is more remarkable for what is not in it than for what is in it. It tells about one royal commission which has not reported, and which has dealt with matters the government should have decided. Then it asks the house to adopt a plan to name another royal commission to consider other problems which, if the government were not so tired and weary, it would undertake itself. Therefore I say that I see nothing in it of great concern, and I repeat that it is more notable for its omissions than for what it contains.
In his speech the Minister of National Health and Welfare stuck entirely and solely to his own department-and I am not surprised at that. Had I been he I believe I would have done the same thing, because I would have been prouder of my department than of some of the others. I am surprised that in the speech from the throne we do not
846	HOUSE OF
The Address-Mr. Rowe find any sign that we might get away from some of the weaknesses the government has demonstrated.
All hon. members desire the prosperity, happiness and welfare of our people. But that is not achieved by legislation; it is not decreed by order in council. However, there are fundamental and basic enterprises in the country which are vitally affected by trade, by taxes, by centralization of power, and by a disregard of enterprise and thrift. And in the time left to me to speak in the debate I shall confine myself to these subjects.
May I point out at once that the crippling burden of taxation in Canada today threatens to stifle the thrift of our people, and is already showing signs of strangling domestic trade as well as hindering overseas trade. Despite what anyone says, that burden of taxation has raised the cost of living in the last year.
We are told that we have adopted a new form of budgeting. I am not just sure what it is called-cyclical, or-


An hon. Member:: Sickening.


William Earl Rowe: Yes, someone says "sickening". However, it is a new brain-trust type of budgeting which permits the government of the day to take from the people what it thinks it can spend or save better than the people can spend or save for themselves. The government is probably saving it up-although they spent a good bit of it down in Digby-Annapolis-Kings and Nicolet-Yamaska; and there may be a general election before long. Some say it will be in the fall, and others say it will be in June. The general public is not sure when it will be. I think the government is afraid to go, and afraid not to go.
I do know however that 250 more men were named the other day to go out to investigate people with small incomes. They are to find out if the labouring man has paid his tax. They must find out if he has made his return -the hired man on the farm, the blacksmith, the merchant, the retired school teacher, the retired clergyman. All these are men and women who are having difficulty because of the high cost of living brought about by high taxation. They are having difficulty finding the money to send their children to complete their university education. Now they are hounded by more inspectors-highly-paid inspectors-to find out if the government cannot get more taxes. Little girls and young men working as waitresses and waiters in the hotels are going to have their tips taxed. Probably the Minister of Finance (Mr. Abbott) tips more than many of us farmers can afford to tip. I do not know how they will strike an average because some must collect more than others. There is this continual effort to reduce what is left in the hands of the people by these devious methods of extracting money that the
tMr. Rowe.]

people have earned, in many cases money that they need. Last year the government took $670 million more than they needed, or $200 for every family from coast to coast.
When you stop to think of that, is it any wonder that business is falling? Is it any wonder that unemployment is increasing? Is it any wonder that our overseas markets are disappearing? I can remember how the party that now sits to your right shouted to high heaven when a sales tax of two per cent was put into force in 1920. I can still remember the tears that rolled down the face of the former Prime Minister (Mr. Mackenzie King), when the tax was raised to six per cent in 1935. The Minister of Justice of that time and the Minister of Finance said that the people could not stand that tax, that it would add to the cost of living, that it would add to the cost of a pair of baby's shoes or of the furniture needed in the home, that it would stop people from getting married. They thought that there would be thousands who would not get married because the tax was raised to six per cent. But now it is eight per cent. I am rather careful about making prophecies, even though some cabinet ministers are ready to prophesy when the next election will occur; but I venture to say that this government will reduce the sales tax before the next election, or perhaps in its present political desperation they will abolish it. They know that they do not need it. It will depend upon whether the election is to be in June or July or whether they will hang on to the last hour in the afternoon, knowing that they will never return.
Then we have the excise tax, which I believe was put into effect in 1942. I cannot say whether it will be abolished or not. I am not going to prophesy any more because one would have to be a wizard to prophesy what might happen when the brain-trust bureaucrats in the Department of Finance who direct the financial affairs of this country do not themselves know from one day to another. I would not be surprised if some day at eight o'clock the Minister of Finance came in and glibly, with a show of reckless assurance, told us that Canada's dollar is now worth only ninety cents. That would be just as much a shock to people in business as when it was placed at one dollar. Such tactics have strangled enterprise and have taken away our markets for agricultural and other primary products. That has been the result of maintaining our dollar at a dishonest value.
I do not know the inner workings of that department, but I know that many hon. members across the way do not know either. There are very few of those who sit on the front benches who know. I do not know yet why it

was done and I am sure that the brain trusters cannot give a clear explanation of why they recommended that it be done.
I am not going to enlarge upon the burden of taxation, because everyone in this country knows what it means. This country was not developed under high taxation and this country cannot expand under it. The people of this country cannot afford to pay the high rates of taxation in vogue. The government know that, whether they will admit it or not. It may not make much difference now because a few hundred million does not seem to be very much in the eyes of the present government. As they are going to be in office for only a short time now I suppose we can stand the inflationary tax structure that we have.
Canada is a strong and powerful country. No country in the world with the same-sized population has ever had the same resources that we have. During the war we showed what a virile people we were. Our people must be strong to have endured this type of administration as long as they have. I am satisfied that they can endure it for a short while longer. As someone said the other day, there is bound to happen what happened in the hungry nineties, in the emergency of 1911 and again in the emergency of the thirties. Each time the Liberal party got the country into a mess, the people called upon the party to which I have the honour to belong.
That is not just a glib political statement, although I heard a lot of statements last night which were quite glib. Last evening we heard a tirade from the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Gardiner), who I regret is not in the house at the moment. I have a high regard for him and I enjoy listening to him speak because over the years he has developed the rather happy faculty of being able by the use of a strong voice and experienced eloquence to convince himself and recklessly assure himself that all is well, whether that belief is based on fiction or on fact.
I listened last night with as keen interest as any fellow farmer of his could listen. I heard him tell us about the trade situation in Great Britain. I made some notes at the time but when I read his speech in Hansard I did not recognize my own notes. Knowing that Hansard never makes a mistake I shall not bother referring to them. However, I think I can remember the things that were worth remembering during the noise and bluster of a most eloquent effort.
Despite what the minister has said about our overseas markets I do know, as every hon. member in this house knows, that Great
The Address-Mr. Rowe Britain has drastically cut her imports of foodstuffs from Canada. She has drastically cut her importations of salmon. She has abandoned her importations of poultry and apples. She has reduced her timber imports to only a fraction of pre-war quantities. She has reduced her bacon imports to one-quarter what they were in 1943. She has reduced her egg importations from Canada to 62 per cent of what they were last year, and her cheese imports are the lowest in thirty years.
Not long ago the Minister of Trade and Commerce (Mr. Howe) said that that will not matter very much because we can sell to the United States. The Minister of Agriculture told us that in selling our wheat to Great Britain for hundreds of millions of dollars less than we could get for it on the world market we were building up a stable market. I think these men should get together. Last night the Minister of Agriculture said that we had not lost anything. About a year ago the Minister of Trade and Commerce (Mr. Howe) said that in 1946 Canada sold her wheat for $123 million less than she could have got in the world market, in 1947 for $229 million less, and in the first two months of the following year for $358 million less.
In a press release the Prime Minister (Mr. St. Laurent) is quoted as saying that the two governments have already agreed that their representatives shall meet again before the 31st July, 1950, to settle any obligation that the United Kingdom owes Canada under clause 2(b) in selling wheat for that much less. Whom are we to believe, Mr. Speaker? One minister says we are building up new markets in the United Kingdom. Another minister says that we have lost them but it does not matter because we have markets in the United States. One says it has made us money; the other says it has lost us money. I am not surprised that the Prime Minister found it necessary to take dancing lessons to keep step with the crowd around him.
Never in the history of the agricultural economy of Canada have we seen such a socialistic state-planning muddle. The situation is muddled and befuddled by one who claims to be a free enterpriser, but he is always looking over his shoulder to satisfy those who recently have been courting so closely that in the next few months, probably before the election, you will see the greatest political marriage Canada has ever seen. That is not by way of prophecy; that is only by way of warning. I want to say to my friends to the left, as I would say to any maiden who is looking at an old politician, "Be very careful whom you marry at the present time".

The Address-Mr. Rowe


Stanley Howard Knowles: Do you think Duplessis is a maiden?


William Earl Rowe: You will recall, Mr. Speaker, that last night the right hon. Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Gardiner) went back to a time before the war. He went back before 1930, but his remarks were slightly different from the speech he made last year. He mentioned Bennett buggies last year and he did not mention them this year. I have never seen him make a more eloquent attempt; I have never heard him speak more loudly; I have never heard those behind him pound their desks more vigorously, particularly when they thought interruptions might threaten. There is not one within the sound of my voice, including yourself, Mr. Speaker, in your non-political position, who does not know that we have lost the British market. There is not a member in the house who can rise and tell me that we now have a market for as many farm products three years after the last war as we had in 1921, three years after the first great war, despite all the progress reports we have listened to this afternoon.
The Minister of Agriculture says he has been here for fourteen years, but so have I.
I know something about the policies of the party to which he belongs. I was amazed last night, despite the experience he has had, that he expected even you, Mr. Speaker, to believe that my party never believed in trade, that it never had respect for the provinces, that it never had trade overseas, that it was his party that championed the old, dusty, free-trade doctrine in the west and protection in the east until the radio came into being and the people of Canada knew that there could no longer be high protection in the east and free trade in the west.
We have the highest protective policy now that this country has ever had, an austerity program, not prohibitive protection but austerity prohibition. Thousands were put out of business. Ten per cent has been put on right across the board, not even in the form of the countervailing duty that the party to your right, Mr. Speaker, planned in 1930. At that time they planned a countervailing duty, and left the determining of our fiscal policies to Washington. I am not so sure that, when they planned to inflict a dishonest dollar on our economy, that was not planned in Washington also.
I should like to reply to the warnings of dangers that I heard in the house last night. Let me refer to 1921, as the Minister of Agriculture did last night. That was the time when the Liberal party assumed power. Three years after the first great war we were selling to the United Kingdom 255 million pounds of 

bacon. That was the market built up by those who never had any regard for trade. What do we find now? We find that, despite the fact that the Minister of Agriculture told the farmers of Canada that they could depend on Great Britain taking a stable amount of about 450 million pounds, he has recently announced that Great Britain will take only 160 million pounds this year. By all the signs of the times the deliveries will be less than that.


Mr. Bertrand (Prescott):: Is that Canada's responsibility?


William Earl Rowe: In 1921 we sold 77 million pounds of beef to Great Britain. In 1930, when the Liberal party went out of power and the Conservative party came into power, we were buying and selling Danish bacon over the counters in Regina and other cities throughout Canada. We were buying canned beef, 18,000 head of cattle in cans, to feed our own people.
Then let us take butter and cheese. In 1921, three years after the first great war, we sold over twice as much cheese as the right hon. Minister of Agriculture has been able to make arrangements to sell. Yet he is the great champion of trade, the great negotiator for agricultural products, the man who has taken unto himself more authority than any other minister has since confederation, the man who can tell you what to sow and who can tell you what to reap, the man who sum-merfallows the farms one year and summer-fallows the farmers the next, the man who has cost the western provinces $300 million to $500 million. If there should have been any cost to anybody in Canada by reason of such muddling because of inexperience, then the cost should have been spread over the whole dominion and not imposed on one class of our people. I know whereof I speak. I do not pretend to be able to say it with the force that was evidenced last night, but for anyone to stand up in this house, let alone a man who has been here for fourteen years, and say that the overseas markets are developed now, and that they were hindered in 1932 by the imperial trade agreements, is something which I could describe but not in parliamentary language.
Not only had we lost our overseas market for mixed farm products, but every elevator in Canada was filled with unsold grain. The Minister of Agriculture led us to believe that he could make these people pay whatever was asked for wheat, and that we would always find a market for our wheat. What happened? The Liberal party negotiated more trade treaties between 1926 and 1930 than any other party has in a similar number of years. They bragged about the number of treaties they negotiated, and yet we find our markets

are steadily slipping away. Now we have a repetition of the old song, "twenty-one years is a long, long time." It is a long time since 1921. Canada has made some progress. It is very fine to get up and say we sold ten million dollars' worth in 1928 and that we sell only four hundred million dollars' worth now. That does not mean anything more than a woman saying that in 1929 she bought a better hat for $1.98 than she bought last week for $19.70. You do not compare things that way. If you do, why is our dollar today worth only about fifty cents or one-half of its former value?
As I have said before, Mr. Speaker, we must now face the stark facts. It is no longer fiction as far as the apple growers of the Annapolis valley are concerned. It is no longer fiction as far as the mixed farmers are concerned; and when this government get through "margarining" the dairy industry it will no longer be fiction to them either, when they find they have lost their markets for cheese and other products. I say the hour has struck, and this government should stop, look and listen. I do not want to be unduly critical, and I am not easily alarmed, but never in all my experience have I seen such a fiasco as our negotiations with the United Kingdom. If anyone has any doubt of that, just look at what happened. If those negotiations had been successful the right hon. Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Gardiner) would have referred to them in very different terms, and would have told us what had happened.
As a kindness to the minister, and in order to help him out, I want to try to explain to the house where I think we have fallen down to a great extent. For many years, both before and after I entered this house, we had those who wanted us to think there was something mysterious about the party of which the minister was speaking last night. On one occasion the Right Hon. Mr. Bennett happened to say that we would blast our way into the markets of the world. That was just a figure of speech; I have heard worse many times from the other side of the house, from both the front and the back benches. What he meant, as he often explained, was that we would try to get those markets, by buying more of their goods, by making trade agreements, or in other ways. The old, historic Liberal party is the one that was in existence, Mr. Speaker, about the time you came into public life. It is not the one that is veering toward socialism, with all these novel doctrines of state planning. It is not the party we see today picking up all the tag ends of other groups who are beginning to lose their identity. It was the old party that believed in free trade, who said, "If we want to sell our products in foreign markets they
The Address-Mr. Rowe must be able to buy." In those days we who came from the province of Ontario were regarded almost as enemies of the state because we believed in a fiscal policy which would give reasonable protection, which would provide full dinner pails for the workmen who made agricultural implements for use by our own farmers. Why, those sitting on the government side in those days thought you had almost economic horns if you even mentioned protection. Yet within about three years they brought in what were called countervailing duties. I am not surprised that some hon. gentlemen to your right look astonished, and do not understand what that means. The government which brought them in did not understand them either, until it was pointed out by the then leader of this party that this was a new form of Liberal free trade which from that time on would be amended in Washington, so that whenever Washington put on a tariff of fifty per cent we would increase our tariff to fifty per cent also. As a result we had the highest form of protection ever known in this country.
These doctrines are old now, Mr. Speaker, and perhaps it is unnecessary to talk about them. Even the party to your right have forgotten about them, though by devious means they have maintained the highest protection policy this country has ever known. How my friends to my left can support and love them just the same is beyond the comprehension of those of us who used to be condemned for suggesting reasonable protection. We were asked, "How can you hope to build industries in Ontario and Quebec? How can you hope to make the implements the farmers use if we are to sell in the British market, the greatest market in the world? We must buy from the British market if we hope to sell in it." How many of us have heard that argument. I have heard it ever since I used to go with my father to political meetings. From a fiscal tariff point of view, Mr. Speaker, if the party to your right did not believe that, they did not believe anything.
But have they been consistent in that regard? Even though it was necessary, because of the financial folly of trying to maintain a dishonest dollar, to establish an austerity prohibition policy with respect to United States goods, there was no reason why we could not have bought more British goods. As everyone knows, we were short of iron and steel, to the point we expected to have steel rationing. We were short of implements and instruments. We were short of coal. We bought millions of dollars' worth of coal from the United States, and though the United Kingdom increased its coal production last year fifteen times, Canada imported only about one-seventh of her imports in 1938.
850	HOUSE OF
The Address-Mr. Rowe Even though we needed iron and steel hardware and implements, instruments and all the rest of it, we reduced our imports from Britain in 1948 as compared with 1947, despite the fact that the United Kingdom increased her exports to foreign countries by over twenty per cent. We took only one per cent of Britain's production. They greatly increased their exports to Finland, to Sweden, to Spain, to Denmark, to Czechoslovakia, to Poland and to the Netherlands.
Now that the party to your right, Mr. Speaker, seems to be losing confidence in its own policies, I am beginning to think they might have had something when they said that if you want to sell in a market you must enable those people to buy from you. What has happened in Britain? We find that Britain has made forty bilateral trade agreements with foreign countries, under which she has shipped her coal, iron and steel to Russia, the Netherlands, Poland and other countries, whether under the barter system or some other system. But we find that these great champions of trade promotion here, who have made one hundred and twenty-two trade agreements with the United Kingdom since the beginning of the war, are all washed up now except for three agreements other than that with respect to wheat. The one for bacon, as I say, was reduced to one quarter of what it was, and the other contract for eggs was reduced to 62 per cent of what it was. The quota for cheese has been reduced to the lowest amount we have shipped to Britain in over thirty years. We have followed this course after making one hundred and twenty-two agreements with Britain, but we were making them for one year, not for two years. Three or four of these agreements were made for two years.
I sometimes wonder, Mr. Speaker-


Thomas Langton Church: They hang their best customer on the sour apple tree.


William Earl Rowe: I do not know whether or not they do, but I know they are paying a lot of money to uproot a lot of trees because markets cannot be found for the products, even though the government tried to give Britain some help. It is not the fault of the apple grower, nor is it the fault of the packer. In view of the Minister of Agriculture's statement last night, I should like to draw to the attention of the house the fact that not only has Britain negotiated forty new bilateral agreements with foreign countries, but many of those agreements were made for ten years. Our three recent contracts were made for only one year, and even the wheat contract terminates in 1950.


Mr. Speaker:: I am sorry to interrupt the hon. member, but he has exhausted his time


and can only continue with the unanimous consent of the house.


Some hon. Members:: Continue.


Thomas Langton Church: The Minister of Agriculture spoke for nearly an hour and a half.


William Earl Rowe: I thank you for the courtesy extended to me, Mr. Speaker, although I do not want to copy the weaknesses of the cabinet ministers and speak too long. Since it is close to six o'clock it would spoil a speech to commence it now, so I will continue for a few minutes.
Like the previous speaker, I feel this is of prime importance and I say it with all the sincerity I possess. If this great agricultural country of Canada loses the United Kingdom market, which has been our best market since confederation, then I say it will be a calamity for the Canadian farmer, the fruit producer as well as the wheat producer. In his speech last night the Minister of Agriculture did not tell this house why he lost those markets. He did not tell this house that the markets for which he had been paying so much are now being given to foreign countries. He did say that when he was in England he saw the reason why we could not sell apples from the Annapolis valley. He should have told the people before the Digby-Annapolis-Kings by-election. It remained for the newly elected member for that riding to tell the truth about that. The minister told us that when he was in England he saw every tree loaded with apples. Every apple tree in Britain seemed to be bearing more apples than ever before. Everywhere the minister went, he saw apples. He tried to impress the house with the fact that he did not eat anything but applesauce while he was in Britain. It was for this reason he was unable to sell apples.
I thought this was rather strange. Everyone in this house believed Britain was not importing many apples because the apple trees in Britain were loaded with fruit. We believed the British people did not need to import apples. I wanted to make sure the source of my information was correit, so I secured a copy of the Trade and Navigation Report of the United Kingdom, tabled in the British House of Commons on January 22.
I believe this information, Mr. Speaker, more or less justifies the statement I have made about the noise and fiction of last night's speech replacing facts. Last year the United Kingdom imported 466,179 hundredweight more of apples than the year before. Great Britain imported more than a million hundredweight from Australia. Importations from New Zealand the year before had been nil, but in 1948 they imported 357,529 hundredweight. From other British countries, Great

Britain imported eighteen times as many apples in 1948 as she did in 1947. From other foreign countries, Mr. Speaker, Britain imported almost four times as many, 121,945 hundredweight in 1947 and 471,883 hundredweight in 1948. In other words, Great Britain imported 466,179 hundredweight more apples and yet Canada, who exported 663,145 hundredweight in 1947, is today spending several million dollars in uprooting the trees. We have not exported a single hundredweight.
When you realize that Great Britain imported 23-5 per cent more apples in 1948, it seems highly unfair to inflict this story on us. I have just mentioned a few of the things the minister should have told this house last night as to why we lost the United Kingdom market. It is because we did not buy from Britain some of the goods that were in short supply in Canada. At one time I was cruel enough to suggest that the Minister of Agriculture would make a better minister of politics. Since we are both interested in agriculture, however, I should like to suggest now that he would make a better minister of applesauce' than of agriculture.
I realize that the empire trade agreements have always been matters to which those gentlemen to your right, Mr. Speaker, like to refer. I remember being in the house at the time these agreements were being discussed. I can remember many of the speeches that were made. When I heard the Minister of Agriculture mention that as a reason why Canada could not get into the United Kingdom market-well, that is too fast for me. I do not need to even refer to such a ridiculous statement during the few minutes so courteously allotted to me. I should like to say, however, that at the time the empire trade agreements were being discussed the exMinister of Finance and former member for Digby-Annapolis-Kings was in this house. I well recall the Right Hon. R. B. Bennett challenging him to vote against the empire trade agreements. He knew what those trade agreements would mean to the apple growers of the Annapolis valley, and when the vote came he stood up courageously as the only Liberal in this house who voted for the empire trade agreements. Mr. Ilsley is gone, Mr. Speaker, and the preference for Annapolis valley apples is gone too. So far as the government is concerned, the party to your right, Mr. Speaker, is gone too. So we see, Mr. Speaker, that the truth will out in time. I have said that you cannot bring prosperity by legislation, nor can you obtain happiness by order in council. But I believe-and I am glad there are in this country many people who still believe-that by hard work, enter-
The Address-Mr. Rowe prise, initiative, genius and the skill of our people we can overcome these difficulties.
I shall not, as had been my intention, take further time of the house to deal with centralization as it affects individual enterprise and initiative. But I could not help thinking about what the minister said last night when he was speaking about provincial rights. He waxed eloquent, stood out near the mace so everyone would be impressed, and said that the party to your left, Mr. Speaker, were now provincial-righters, that they had never stood for provincial rights, that he had been here for fourteen years and had never heard that they cared for provincial governments or had any regard or respect for them. He did not say that those better men of his own party and of our party established provincial rights in this country together. He did not say that the speeches that were made by many all down through the years on both sides of the house indicated a belief in provincial rights.
I was somewhat amused when in the course of his speech he was critical of the leader of this party. I would ask the Minister of Public Works (Mr. Fournier) to make a note of this page.


Mr. Fournier (Hull):: What line?


William Earl Rowe: I will read the lines to the minister, and I think he will be able to And them on that page. I do not want to take undue advantage of the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Gardiner) in his absence, although he could not change the language today if he were here. He says, at page 785 of Hansard:
Under the system that is being followed now it is true that we centralize criticism upon the federal government, but when the leader of the opposition (Mr. Drew) gets up and says that is centralizing government in Canada, I say to him that what we are actually doing is allowing the provincial governments to spend enough money to make themselves popular and keep themselves in power.
That was when he was waxing eloquent about provincial rights. Now at this late day in our confederation in Canada we have a great Liberal champion who will allow the provincial governments to spend enough money to keep them in power. It may not matter to him now whether they are Liberal or Conservative or if by chance they are represented by socialists. But the incident recalls to me the days when I sat in the house and heard the ex-Prime Minister say, not a five-cent piece to any Tory government.
I had intended to speak about centralization, but I am satisfied after hearing the returns from Digby-Annapolis-Kings and, again, the louder and more vociferous returns from Nicolet-Yamaska.


An hon. Member:: Oh, oh.

The Address-Mr. Rowe Mr. Rowe: The hon. member may laugh, but the laugh was the other way; and he who laughs last laughs best. I have seen this country divided and I have seen the olive branch of unity tossed hither and yon. But now at last we find that we have a common purpose in this country, and that no longer can there be raised those issues that should not be raised. If anyone here doubts me when I say that we must restore enterprise, safeguard our individual freedom and revive the national character, in view of the fact that we are one of the last outposts in the world, may I say that I know there are those to your right, Mr. Speaker, who believe the same thing. I will quote only some of the statements that have been made. The Hon. Angus L. Macdonald said:
. . . the present government has no life-lease on power: that the war psychology should be over; that unelected bureaucracy should no longer govern Canada; that provincial rights should be restored; that we should have nine happy provinces, instead of nine different countries.
Then that congenial, lovable character who has represented Quebec South for so many years and who is an ex-minister of the crown, the Hon. C. G. Power, said this:
Ministers of the crown must abandon the practice of abdicating their functions, their duties, and shouldering their responsibilities on the shoulders of those irresponsible boards, committees and commissions.
It is because we have departed from that doctrine that a large part of the unrest in our ranks has developed. Without the existence of an almost allpowerful bureaucracy it is unlikely we would have had budget by radio, restraint of trade by embargoes and prohibitions, bungling of freight rates, and a snarling of interprovincial affairs.
Of his party he said:
. . . they should be provincial-righters instead of dominion centralizers.
He did not say that they were, but he said that they should be. Then he went on to say also:
Our party has gone down to defeat in three provinces. This should be testimony enough without further comment.
The further comment, I would say, is in the loss since that time of three ridings in which that type of party muddling has gone down to defeat.
I wish to thank the house for the courtesy extended to me. Before it is too late, Mr. Speaker, I hope the party to your right will return to the ways they intended to take; because even in opposition in the future they will be better off if they act in such a way as to be truer to their former selves.
On motion of Mr. Matthews (Kootenay East) the debate was adjourned.



BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

Alphonse Fournier: Tomorrow we shall continue this debate.


[Stage Direction]
At six o'clock the house adjourned, without question put, pursuant to standing order.
[Stage Direction]
Thursday, February 24, 1949