Mr. DURANLEAU:
No, I say we can infer from the statement of the hon. member that no one but himself-
Mr. DUFF:
I can understand the minister inferring that, because he knows a good deal less than I do.
Canada Shipping Act
Mr. DURANLEAU:
There is no doubt about that, but I do not think it was necessary for my hon. friend to make the statement he has just made.
Mr. DUFF:
You should not have made the first one.
Mr. DURANLEAU:
I would remind my hon. friend that this bill has been studied by experts for over two years; in the Marine department we have the best experts who have been studying it for two years with the assistance of legal advisers. I do not know if my hon. friend has done the same with respect to the amendments he has suggested, but if he drafted them himself I think he will admit it is rather dangerous for a layman to attempt to draft the sections of a bill such as this.
Mr. DUFF:
I can assure my hon. friend I had no legal advice, it was purely a matter of common, horse sense.
Mr. DURANLEAU:
My hon. friend says he drafted those amendments himself?
Mr. DUFF:
Yes.
Mr. DURANLEAU:
Then I shall proceed with the clauses that stood last week, and I have some amendments to propose which have been studied, and which I think will cover some of the points raised by my hon. friend. I urge my hon. friend to be careful before suggesting amendments drafted without the help of legal advice, because it is a very difficult job even for a legal adviser who has some knowledge and experience in marine matters.
Mr. DUFF:
Might I ask my hon. friend what legal gentleman who had any knowledge of marine matters helped to prepare this bill?
Mr. DURANLEAU:
The first bill drafted was drafted by my assistant deputy minister and my officials under him with the help of Mr. Martin Griffin, K.C., of Vancouver, one of the outstanding lawyers of the west in marine matters.
Mr. DUFF:
But he says he used the paste pot and scissors.
Mr. DURANLEAU:
I was in the department and I know what Mr. Griffin did and I know what my officials have done for two years. My officials state that these amendments cannot be accepted, they would not fit the rest of the bill at all.
Mr. CASGRAIN:
Why?
{Mr. Duff.]
Mr. DURANLEAU:
For many reasons.
Mr. CASGRAIN:
Could the minister explain?
Mr. DURANLEAU:
We shall see as we come to the various sections.
Mr. VENIOT:
I have already stated that I did not intend to go any further in my opposition to this bill. I would like very well to have kept my promise in that respect but when I hear the minister say that this bill was prepared by experts with knowledge of legal terms connected with marine matters I must say that if those experts cannot give any better exhibition of their knowledge of marine conditions in different sections of Canada than this bill they never should have undertaken to prepare such a bill. I have no fault to find with the experts in the department over which the minister presides; they are competent in carrying out the duties they have to perform, but when anybody in the Department of Marine or the Department of Fisheries, especially the Department of Marine, will undertake to say that this bill does not do an injustice to the fishing industry of the maritime provinces he does not know what he is talking about.
Mr. DURANLEAU:
In what respect?
Mr. VENIOT:
That is the reason I am now rising-