Mr. SUTHERLAND:
Yes.
Mr. POWER:
Does it include underwear and that sort of thing?
Mr. SUTHERLAND:
Yes; they are very well provided with clothing, such as warm mackinaws, underwear, socks and rubber boots. At the present time lumbermen's boots are used.
Mr. STEWART (Edmonton):
I have
listened with a good deal of interest to the discussion which has taken place to-night, and being of a curious turn of mind I cannot help remembering 1930. It is most interesting to see the way in which hon. members opposite come to the rescue of the government in carrying out the policy which they promised in 1930 to put into effect if they were returned to power. I for one am greatly interested in seeing the development of that policy and the defence of it that hon. gentlemen opposite attempt to make. I am sorry the hon. member for North Renfrew (Mr. Cotnam) found it convenient to leave, also the hon. member for Marquette (Mr. Mullins), and the hon. member for Saskatoon (Mr. MacMillan) as well as other hon. gentlemen opposite who rushed to the defence of this policy of the government to cure unemployment. How comforting it must be to the people of Canada to realize that now we have the real policy of the Conservative party on unemployment expounded to us by these gentlemen to-night, together with the statement by the minister who is administering the relief camps for the single, homeless unemployed men! How comforting it must be to the electors who voted for these gentlemen! I look at the promises that were made by the leader of the government (Mr. Bennett) and by his followers in all parts of Canada not only to cure unemployment but to end it, and yet nineteen thousand young unmarried men are being taken care of by the government of Canada in the various camps to which reference has been made. I have no fault to find with the administration of these camps by the Department of National Defence or with the treatment of the men, but what must the men themselves think? A fair percentage of them voted to put this government in office to end unemployment, and what must they think when they find themselves employed in this manner? Surely the Conservative party ought to be proud of its record. And remember that in every town and village of any size in Canada married men are on direct relief, thirty per cent of which is contributed by this government. And yet hon. gentlemen opposite fly to the rescue of the minister because some criticism is offered by
Supply-Defence-Relief Camps
the hon. member for Winnipeg North Centre (Mr. Woodsworth) and by the lady member of this house (Miss Macphail) over this state of affairs. It is not good enough to say that these conditions are common to every country, because hon. gentlemen opposite said that if they were put into office they would cure unemployment and find work for all. But they did not say it would be at twenty cents a day. They never mentioned twenty cents a day, nor did they say they were going to put the single unemployed men into relief camps and give the dale to those who were married. The hon. member for Long Lake, for instance, tries to ridicule the hon. member for Winnipeg North' Centre for his attitude. It is a sorry spectacle to see hon. gentlemen opposite have to admit after four years of office that this is the best they can do for the unemployed in Canada. What a spectacle!
Mr. McINTOSH:
Deplorable!
Mr. GOTT:
Let us be serious for a moment.
Mr. STEWART (Edmonton):
I am quite serious, just as serious as the hon. gentleman's leader was when he was making those promises to the electors in 1930.
Mr. GOTT:
My hon. friend is not serious or he would not have said that the hon. member for Saskatoon ridiculed the hon. member for Winnipeg North Centre when actually he paid him a compliment by addressing him as the right hon. gentleman.
Mr. STEWART (Edmonton):
I never said anything of the kind, and if my hon. friend would only sit and listen he would know what I am saying.
Mr. GOTT:
You deliberately said that he ridiculed the hon. member for Winnipeg.
Mr. STEWART (Edmonton):
Will the
hon. gentleman kindly speak when he gets the opportunity? I do not wish to put on record again, as I had intended to do, the promises made by this government, not only by its leader but by his followers, to cure unemployment in this country. Had they said then that their method of curing it was to be the method that they are defending to-night, they would not be sitting where they are now, in the seats of the mighty.
Mr. BENNETT:
What would have happened the country then?
Mr. LAPOINTE:
No titles.
Mr. STEWART (Edmonton):
What would have happened? If my right hon. friend can 74726-98J
suggest anything worse than the present condition I should like to know it. If the right hon. gentleman is proud of the record of his government he is welcome to it.
Mr. BENNETT:
Well, he certainly is.
Mr. STEWART (Edmonton):
Then I say to him that I am very glad he makes that statement because the people of Canada are anything but proud of him.
Mr. BENNETT:
I would compare popular approval with the approval of the hon. gentleman.
Mr. STEWART (Edmonton):
No doubt you will have to give us the opportunity and we will let the public decide. When we have to take our medicine we take it, and you will take yours on the next occasion.
Mr. GOTT:
That is your supposition.
Mr. STEWART (Edmonton):
Is it? All right. I say again, Mr. Chairman, that I did not rise to criticize the administration of the relief camps.