Mr. JOSEPH ARCHAMBAULT (Chambly-Vercheres):

Mr. Speaker, I wish to call the attention of the Government to a most important and urgent matter. I am informed from reliable sources that the ice jam on the St. Lawrence is much deeper this year than ever before. At Cap Rouge, above Quebec, there is a gorge, and I am informed the ice has frozen 40 feet deep, and that the *water behind has risen 6 feet higher in some places. There is an ice barrage. If this barrage is not immediately broken up there will be serious floods from that point up to Montreal. We had ice-breakers that were built for that purpose. I understand that the "Earl Grey," the "Minto" and the "John D. Hazen" were sent to Russia in 1915-1916 and 1917.

Mr. SPEAKER:

Order. The hon. gentleman is beyond question bringing forward a subject of public importance, but he should not attempt to enter into any argument. If he will state the ground work and put his question, he will be quite in order.

Mr. ARCHAMBAULT:

The "Montcalm" is at Halifax and I understand the "Lady Grey" is not powerful enough to break the ice there. I am informed that unless dynamite is used to break the ice very serious floods will occur with resulting damage. What I wish to know is if the Minister of Marine and Fisheries (Mr. Ballantyne) is aware of the facts, and what steps he intends to take.

Hon. C. C. BALLANTYNE. The hon. member for Chambly-Verchferes (Mr. Ar chamhault) was good enough yesterday to give me notice of the question he has just asked. I am afraid that the information that has reached the hon. member is not accurate, and I shall be very glad indeed to give the information that the' hon. gentleman asks for. First of all I wish to say that the first part of the winter was, not very cold, and no ice bridge formed on the St. Lawrence up to Nicolet Traverse (a distance of 90 miles above Quebec), until the last week in January. The ice jammed several times during the winter at Cap Rouge-the Quebec Bridge site-which is considered the key of the ice situation, but was successfully broken up by the ice-breaker " Lady Grey." With no ice bridge formed at this point, there is no fear of disastrous floods occurring above. The channel is now clear of ice up to a point near Portneuf, 35 miles

above Quebec, where the "Lady Grey" is working to-day and is making good progress.

I will not take up the time of the House by going into further details except to say that the conditions this year, I am happy to inform the hon. gentleman, are not much different frqm those of former years. The "Lady Grey" hopes to reach Cap Charles, 50 miles above Quebec, very shortly. In regard to the "Montcalm," I think hon. members are aware that first of all she had to go to Belle Isle to take the place of the steamer "Arranmore" that was wrecked, and to relieve the lighthouse people there. She afterwards had to go to the assistance of the Canadian Government steamer "Canadian Spinner " that was stuck in the ice below Father Point. After releasing that steamer she proceeded to the Magdalen Islands carrying provisions for the distressed people upon those islands. Owing to the severity of the weather and the thickness of the ice she was delayed a month in making that voyage. She returned to the city of Halifax requiring repairs, especially propeller blades, but owing to the wreck of the steamer "Bohemian," she had to go to her assistance. The "Montcalm" is now in Halifax and will go on the-dry-dock as soon as possible. I do not anticipate any serious results from floods this spring-no one can accurately tell-but I am pleased to say that the "Lady Grey" is working so well and-that the ice bridge is broken.

Air. A. R. McMASTER (Brome):

I would

like to inquire from the Acting Prime Minister whether a state of Peace now exists between the Dominion of Canada and its former enemies? If not, I would ask what action is necessary on the part of the Government to bring about that consummation so devoutly to be wished, and, if it is necessary to have a Declaration, or an Order in Council passed for that purpose, how soon may we expect such customary action on the part of the Government.

Sir GEORGE FOSTER (Acting Prime Alinister):

In answer to my hon. friend

may I congratulate him on retaining his voice after his excursion to the far West. A state of Peace actually and presently exists between Canada and the Empire, and Germany. A state of Peace will be proclaimed between the Allies and former enemies as each Treaty of Peace comes to its final ratification and the Proclamation

is made. I cannot think of anything that will hurry this along, except that perhaps the hon. gentleman might introduce a resolution.

Mr. McMASTER:

May I explain to the

right hon. gentleman who leads the House that this is not a mere rhetorical matter or one of mere abstract interest, but I am informed that in one of the departments which my right hon. friend is in control of- I think the Patents Department is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Trade and Commerce-

Mr. SPEAKER:

I have to inform the

hon. gentleman that he is taking a course which he may not pursue on the Orders of the Day.

Hon. CHARLES MURPHY (Russell):

Mr. Speaker, at the outset I desire to associate myself with the congratulations that have been offered by hon. gentlemen who have preceded me in this debate to the mover and the seconder of the Address in reply to the speech from the Throne. If I do not dwell upon the speeches of these two hon. gentlemen, or upon those of other hon. gentlemen who have followed them in this discussion, it is because I have a good deal to say on other subjects and I do not want to occupy the time of the House at undue length.

Let me, then, Sir, at once begin by implementing a promise that I made to this House some four or five months ago. It will be. recalled that in September last, during the session that was then in progress and while I was absent from Canada, the President of the Privy Council (Hon. Mr. Rowell) delivered a speech which he and his kept press were pleased to describe as a reply to a speech that I had made about eighteen months previously. It will be further recalled that when I returned to the city I spoke in this House on a question *of privilege, and as the rules of the House prevented me from saying all that I wanted to say I gave the House an assurance that .1 would return to the subject at the next session of Parliament. That, Mr. Speaker,

it is my purpose to do in extenso this afternoon.

Before dealing with what the hon. gentleman (Mr. Rowell) said last session it is desirable that the sequence of facts leading up to his speech should he first presented to the House. Let me then state briefly what had occurred prior to September last. During the last general elections when the anti-Laurier, anti-Quebec and anti-Catholic madness was at its height, the President of the Privy Council fanned the flames of sectarian hate iand added fresh fuel to the fire by a speech which he made at North Bay on December 6, 1917. In the course of his inflammatory harangue the hon. gentlemen indicted the people of Quebec for their alleged lack of sacrifice, and he then made an attack on the members of the Religious Orders from France who had been in Canada and whom he falsely said had not gone back to help their Mother Country in the war. As reported in the "Toronto Globe" the hon. gentleman, after denouncing the attitude of the Quebec Nationalists towards the war, said:

In this attitude they were undoubtedly encouraged and abetted by the members of the Religious Orders from France who found an asylum in Canada and used that asylum to undermine Canada's strength in the struggle.

Believing this statement to be made with knowledge of the facts, and that it was true, many newspapers and speakers who were supporting Union Government used it throughout the country, and in this way spread the flames which the President of the Privy Council had deliberately kindled. A short time after the election the President of the Privy Council was written to and asked to give the proofs in support of his attacks on the French Religious. His reply was a brief letter in- which he said he was investigating the facts. In other words, Mr. Speaker, he admitted over his own signature that although he had made a wholesale charge of treason against a body of men several weeks previously, he did not know whether the charge was true or false; -but the elections being over, and his purpose accomplished, he was going to take time to inquire whether his statement was true or false. I do not pause here, Sir, to use the only terms that would fittingly describe the self-confessed turpitude of the hon. gentleman-in fact I need not do so in view of the judgment the public has already pronounced upon him. In addition to the written request that I have mentioned, the hon. gentleman was publicly challenged by two newspapers-the Catholic

Mr. SPEAKER:

The hon. member is exceeding the rules as well as the amenities of debate in attributing untruthfulness to another hon. member.