Mr. COCHRANE:
I do not know what railways they are used for-
Mr. PUGSLEY:
That is the statement made.
Mr. COCHRANE:
The statement made to us is that they want the same kind of rails that were sent before. The hon member for Edmonton (Mr. Oliver) tells the House, though he does not know anything about it, that the rails of the 300 miles already torn up have not been sent away. It is true they have not been sent across the ocean, but they are at Three Rivers, and the balance of them will go in a very short time. The authorities on the other side are urging us and cabling us day by day to get these rails ready at the seaboard, so that they may be got over as soon as transport can be furnished. The hon. member talks about the town of Edson. I have answered once before that I will look after the town of Edson.
Mr. PUGSLEY:
In what way?
Mr. COCHRANE:
I don't know. But I have two engineers out there who are laying out plans to that end, and they know more - about it than does my hon. friend from Edmonton. I have also said that the Jasper Coal Mines will be looked after. I cannot tell the House just, how, at this time, but I hope in a short time to have a map showing on paper exactly how the work will be carried on. I am not going to make a statement about something I do not know about. I am going to look after the different interests along that line, and I am going to carry out what the British Government want, no matter what it is.
Mr. OLIVER:
But you don't ask something from the Canadian Pacific Railway?
Mr. COCHRANE:
Because, I tell you, the Canadian Pacific Railway rails have different borings. I would like to send him to the front, by Heavens, to lay these rails.
Mr. OLIVER:
I want him to understand that I am represented at the front. Is he?
Mr. COCHRANE:
I know you are, but you don't talk as if you were. The hon. gentleman's talk is for pure politics, and nothing else. He thinks his chances for re-election are so bad that he will have to make use of everything, turning this whole war into a political game, instead of fighting it out as he ought.
Mr. TURRIFF:
That is what the Government has done from the start.
Mr. COCHRANE:
No, they have not.
We had a lot of second-hand rails on the Intercolonial and Transcontinental, but we want to send over rails of the same kind as we sent before. We propose to take
care of every interest along these different roads. If we cannot do it altogether, then the British Government have agreed that they will look after any damage that may occur.
Mr. PUGSLEY:
Have the Grand Trunk Pacific been consulted about this and have they consented? Have the bondholders consented as well?
Mr. COCHRANE:
The Grand Trunk
Pacific has been asked.
Mr. PUGSLEY:
The bondholders have a lien on these rails.
Mr. COCHRANE:
But the Government are behind the guarantee, I am sorry to say.
Mr. PUGSLEY:
I am afraid they will be behind it, if they take the bondholders' property without their consent.
Mr. COCHRANE:
I hope in a few days to be able to lay on the Table a map showing how we will be able to take care of the industries along the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern. This is going to cost some money but nothing like the * amount indicated in the extravagant statement of my hon. friend. He said we could buy rails in the United States if we paid for them. I say it can not be done; we have tried it. Nor can we buy rails in Canada unless we take the steel companies off the manufacturing of billets to make shells with; and it is necessary, by Heavens, to keep these going in order to win the war. It don't make any difference; anything they want for the war they. will get it, no matter what it is.
Mr. PUGSLEY:
I congratulate the House, and I congratulate the Government, upon the very admirable speech the Minister of Railways (Mr. Cochrane) has made. It is a delight to this side of the House to have the minister unbosom himself, to take the House into his confidence and let us really know what he has in his mind with regard to this matter.
The minister has done, I think, the very best he could, but in the end he tells us that he is going to look after Edson although he does not know how he he is going to do it. I wou,ld like to ask the House if it would not have been better for the minister to have asked for a day or two's delay before finally disposing of this matter so that he could have informed the House-[DOT]
Mr. COCHRANE:
Of course, nothing can be delayed on that side.
Mr. PUGSLEY:
The minister says that
he is going to tear up all the rails in Canada in order to win the war.