Mr. GRAHAM:
I think they lift the passes in order to avoid arousing the passengers when a new conductor comes on.
Mr. CRUISE:
Why would it not -be sufficient to simply take the number?
Mr. GRAHAM:
They make an Arrangement between themselves by which conductor No. 1 hands the transportation on to conductor No-. 2, so that the new conductor does not disturb the passengers.
Mr. COCHRANE:
They do it for your
comfort. It is the 'fault absolutely of the new conductor if you do not get back your pass. The object of taking the pass is to make it unnecessary to arouse the passenger from his sleep.
Mr. NESBITT:
There is only one road
in Canada that insists on taking up your card when you go to bed at night.
Mr. COCHRANE:
There is not a road
that does not do it.
Mr. NESBITT:
There is only one road
that does it-the Canadian Northern. Every other conductor takes the number of your pass and hands it -back. That is the way they do on the Canadian Pacific and the Grand Trunk everywhere in Canada. The Canadian Northern only have coloured men on their cars and they insist on taking up your card, It is absurd. They could take your number just as well as they do on the trains of other companies. The Canadian Northern ought to correct their instructions because they are a nuisance. They are liable to leave you in the lurch in the morning and not give you back your card because the porter is off duty and some other fellow is in his place. While this includes the Clerk of the House of Commons, it does not include the assistant clerk. I see no reason why it should not.
The CHAIRMAN (Mr. Rainville):
It
does not include the Clerk.
Mr. NESBITT:
No, it does not; I read that wrongly.
The CHAIRMAN:
They should be included.
Mr. NESBITT:
I should think that the
Clerk of the House of Commons and his assistants might be included.
Mr. COCHRANE:
It has. never been done;
I do not object to doing it.
Mr. NESBITT:
I do not see why they
should not be included, Mr. Minister. Will you make a note of that?
Mr. COCHRANE:
All right.
Mr. McCRANEY:
Will the minister hold up this clause? I do not want to be unreasonable with the officials on the trains or to say that because a man says, he is a member of Parliament he should be allowed to travel free. My hon. friend from Dauphin (Mr. Cruise) claims that the porter on the train holds the transportation of a member of Parliament, and if the member gets on another train without his card, under this section he has no. redress. I think that ought to be changed.
Mr. SINCLAIR:
I have no sympathy
with the position of my hon. friend from Saskatoon (Mr. McCraney). I think a member ought to carry his pass in his pocket, and if he is too careless to keep it in his pocket he should pay. If he does not get it back it will not do very much harm. It would be a very good thing if he did pay something to. the railways now and then. I do not see any reason why this section should not be adopted.
Mr. MARCIL:
I remember that the late Mr. Bergeron, then member for Beauhar-nois, raised this question before the opening of the doors because it was a question of privilege and he wanted it discussed before tne galleries were occupied. He made the suggestion that there should be one card issued to the members for the whole of Canada so that members would not have to carry about twenty-five or thirty different passes, and the suggestion was accepted by the late Mr.. Blair, then Minister of Railways. I think it is only reasonable that a member should carry his one rass; in the old days a member had to carry a whole pack of cards.
Mr. CRUISE:
I would like to know
whether the railway conductor has a right to lift transportation or not.
Mr. COCHRANE:
I do not think he has a right to do it. He only does it for your comfort. If the conductor changes in the night it saves you from being awakened.
Mr. CRUISE:
There is something wrong about the situation. They have a habit of lifting my transportation and not giving it back. On the train from Dau'phin to Winnipeg there is only a porter, and there is no change of porters during the trip.