Mr. KING (Kootenay):

It is a very important place, I think. Important steamers call there, and many people are moving back and forth-an important structure.

Mr. HANSON:

It is an important structure. Is there any revenue there?

Mr. KING (Kootenay) :

I have not any

knowledge of the revenue. There is no revenue to the department.

Mr. HANSON:

The Canada Steamship lines land at the wharf every day in the summer and sometimes twice a day. Does the government run a boat across the river?

Mr. CASGRAIN:

There used to be a steamboat crossing from the north shore to the south shore. Murray Bay is a very important point, I would say the most important on the north shore, outside of Quebec, and in the summer months from May to November it is open to all boats, not only the Canada Steamship boats, but any kind of boats. It is the leading summer resort in the province of Quebec, and I do not think there should be objection to the vote.

Mr. MANION:

We are not objecting, but

I happen to know something about the steamship service across. At the present time to get across the river one has to go up to Quebec. You have first to go from Riviere du Loup to Levis and then cross over to Quebec. Some pressure ought to be put as far as possible by the government upon the steamship company to make calls on the south shore wherever they have good docks, because I remember a few years ago one could get across-I have crossed there myself -but at the present time no one can. I shall be glad to support the Minister of Justice (Mr. Lapointe) in an effort to prevail upon them to call on the south shore.

Mr. CASGRAIN:

My hon. friend is preaching economy very often. In order to bring about what he suggests, we should have to insert another item in the estimates, perhaps in the steamship subsidies, and as hon. members of the opposition are always criticising new expenditures, I do not think it would be profitable and advantageous to do that at the present time. The steamboat service from the north shore to the south shore was removed in order, as it was said, to practise

economy. That was the reason advanced by the former administration a few years ago. They said: Now there is a railway being

operated from Quebec to Murray Bay and you do not need the ferry boat from Murray Bay to the south shore which was established to provide facilities for the people of the north shore. Because we have suppressed that service, we will also suppress the service of the seven miles of railway operated by the Intercolonial from Riviere Ouelle to St. Denis in the county of Kamouraska. I do not think at the present time the people suffer so much. The time taken to go from Murray Bay to Quebec is about 34 hours at the outside and they have sufficient facilities to reach the south shore. The people of the south shore have equal facilities to reach Quebec. I have never heard that people were complaining so much as regards crossing from the north to the south shore. What the people complain about at the present time is that in the winter after the Canada Steamship line ceases its operations until it resumes in the spring, the people below Murray Bay, where there is no railway being operated have no communication between these different places and Quebec. That is the only reason why they are complaining, and why I have urged upon the present administration and the previous one that in the winter months there should be a boat service from Murray Bay to Tadoussac.

Mr. MANION:

I am sorry that it is

necessary for a member from western Ontario to rise and speak in support of the people on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, and I am sorry to hear the hon. member for Charlevoix-Montmorency taking the attitude that the people on the south shore do not require some sort of a ferry to get across to the north shore.

Mr. CASGRAIN:

They do not trade so

much with the north shore. They do not suffer at all.

Mr. MANION:

When the time comes I

am sure we shall make the best use of that we can and we will tell these people that their chief support came from members from western Ontario.

Mr. LAPOINTE:

I agree with the hon.

member for Fort William and Rainy River (Mr. Manion), but I do not disagree with the hon. member for Charlevoix-Montmorency. The only thing is to have the boats of the Canada Steamship Company going to Murray Bay, Tadoussac and Chicoutimi cross the river as they did formerly. I think that is the best scheme to adopt. The government can-

Supply-Harbours and Rivers

not do much along that line, but if my hon. friend and myself would join together and exert some pressure on the company, perhaps we might be successful.

Mr. MANION:

I am glad to find there is one member from the province of Quebec who is ready to rise and support me in the matter.

Mr. KING (Kootenay):

This is to complete a contract entered into in 1923 by Mr. Maltais for the construction of a wharf and approach at the southeastern end of the bay formed at the outlet of the river au Persil. The amount of the contract is $10,248.

Mr. KING (Kootenay):

This is a revote to carry on a contract amounting to $29,468. It is a reconstruction of the easterly wing of the wharf which was destroyed by storm during September, 1922.

Mr. KING (Kootenay):

This is to rebuild the upper portion of the whole construction upon a height of five feet by a width of thirty feet. This is the wharf that serves the town of Rimouski. It is not the deep water terminus.

Mr. STEVENS:

Will this be done by

contract and public tender?

Mr. KING (Kootenay):

Yes.