Robert James Manion
Conservative (1867-1942)
Mr. MANION:
What are the imports of this item?
Subtopic: CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT
Item agreed to. Customs tariff-59. Rye flour, per barrel: British preferential tariff, free; intermediate tariff, 45 cents; general tariff, 50 cents.
Mr. MANION:
What are the imports of this item?
Mr. DUNNING:
The imports were valued at $24,000, all of which came from the United States.
Mr. LADNER:
None from the United
Kingdom?
Mr. DUNNING:
It will be noted that the old spread between Great Britain and the United States was quite small, amounting to only 17 cents per barrel. Under the new tariff there will be a spread of 50 cents per barrel in favour of Great Britain.
Ways and Means-Customs Tariff
Mr. ROSS (Moose Jaw):
What about the countervailing duties?
Mr. DUNNING:
They do not apply to this item.
Item agreed to. Customs tariff-60. Wheat, per bushel: British preferential tariff, free; intermediate tariff, 12 cents; general tariff, 12 cents. Provided that, if any country imposes upon wheat produced in, and imported from, Canada rates of duty higher than are enumerated in this item, equivalent rates of duty shall be imposed upon wheat entering Canada from such country.
Mr. LADNER:
Could we have the imports of this item?
Mr. DUNNING:
It may seem absurd, but we imported last year from the United States wheat to the value of $729,000.
Mr. LADNER:
And $12 worth from Great Britain.
Mr. DUNNING:
It is absurd to have a tariff of 8 cents per bushel against wheat coming in from Great Britain, and that is the reason it is being put on the free list. The proposed United States tariff is 42 cents per bushel, and the countervailing provision will apply in this instance.
Mr. WHITE (London):
Is not some of this wheat ground in bond and exported?
Mr. DUNNING:
This item does not cover wheat flour; it is wheat which is subject to duty.
Mr. WHITE (London):
It might have been ground in Canada and then exported and the duty refunded.
Mr. DUNNING:
Had it been treated in that fashion it would not appear as wheat *which had paid duty.
Mr. BROWN:
Did any wheat come in
which paid duty?
Mr. DUNNING:
The importations last year were valued at $729,000.
Mr. CAMPBELL:
Under the old tariff
this commodity was covered by two separate items. Under the one item, number 60, it came in free.
Mr. DUNNING:
There was in the old
wheat item a countervailing provision. One would think, to hear some of the speeches on the budget, I had invented countervailing duties. The old item was:
Wheat flour and semolina when imported from a country which imposes a customs duty on wheat flour or semolina, manufactured in Canada, per barrel: 30 cents; 50 cents; 50 cents.
That was the tariff brought into effect, by the way, on June 6, 1919. That was a countervailing tariff.