Mr. DUFF:

When these 50,000 tons of

rails were ordered I stated that they were not necessary, and that was a fact. The minister should be the last person to complain because we are criticizing this vote for $2,500,000 because this bill provides for the expenditure of $8,000,000 for the Canadian National Railways.

Mr. MacDONALD (Cape Breton):

I know my hon. friend wants to be fair. Of the 50,000 ton rail order nearly 40,000 tons have delivered and are now being laid on the lines of the Canadian National Railways west of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Mr. DUFF:

Part of those rails came from

Saullt Ste. Marie.

Mr. MacDONALD (Cape Breton):

There were two orders.

Mr. DUFF:

That makes it all the worse.

There have been practically none of that 50,000-ton order used. The order was given simply to create employment ini the steel mills of Sydney and Sault Ste. Marie. I do not blame the government for that; I simply say that the Minister of Railways should not get up and criticize us when we ask for information in connection with expenditures. We passed an order for 50,000 tons of rails which were not required at the moment. If the Liberal party was in power there would be

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sufficient business to make these rails necessary. The Intercolonial and Canadian National railways would both be busy but at present because of the policies of the Tory government these railways have practically no traffic. What my hon. friend should do is to run as a Liberal candidate in the next elections.

Mr. M'acDONALD (Cape Breton): That is a compliment.

Mr. DUFF:

My hon. friend is a decent

fellow and I have no objection to him personally, outside of his adhering to the wrong party. I do not see why he should associate as a party man with the hon. member for York-Sunbury, the Minister of Trade and Commerce (Mr. Hanson).

The Minister of Railways has asserted that the Liberal party is holding up this legislation. Let me say to him that the people of this country know exactly who is holding up this and other legislation. If the minister has that red blooded Canadianism of which he has boasted so often let him go to-morrow to his leader and say, "Let us go to the country. The Liberal party is holding up this legislation for $33,000,000; they do not want to vote $8,000,000 for Canadian National railway shops and they do not want to vote $7,000,000 for Canadian Pacific railway shops. They do not want to vote $2,500,000 for harbours and rivers generally and they do not want to vote $4,000,000 for public works and repairs to public works. Let us dissolve parliament and go to the country and let the people decide whether the Liberal party are to blame for holding up this legislation." We are ready to call my hon. friends' bluff. The people of this country will decide who is to rule Canada for the next four or five years. We believe in trusting the people. They realize that this government has fallen down on the job. The people know that because of the policies of the present government trade in Canada is stagnant, making it necessary to vote SI,- 000,000 to build a tunnel in Toronto in order to provide employment. Is it any wonder that we have to vote $40,000,000 in order-[DOT] God save the mark-to provide work for the people? Is it any wonder that there is no work for the Canadian National or Canadian. Pacific shops? There is not sufficient business in the country because of the policies of this government; longshoremen, railway employees, labourers, wharfingers and everyone else are out of employment. Let the Minister of Railways go to the Prime Minister (Mr. Bennett) while he is in fairly good health and have him call an election on June 26. The

people of this country will then show the members of this government that they are not willing that the Minister of Public Works should sit in his seat and ask us to vote $2,250,000 for rivers and harbours generally without any explanation when we have already voted $1,400,000 for that purpose this year, and $2,500,000 last year.

Mr. MANION:

You boasted just as hard

in 1930 as you are boasting now.

Mr. DUFF:

As usual my hon. friend is

wrong. We did not boast in 1930; it was my hon. friend who boasted; that is the time he talked about red blooded Canadianism.

Mr. MANION:

It got us in power.

Mr. DUFF:

Yes, but you are going out

quicker than you came in. All I ask my hon. friend to do-is to call an election immediately. We are willing to be guided by the desires of the people of this country. My hon. friends are afraid to trust the people; they are hanging on until the last minute. They were elected in 1930 and they held a special session in September of that year in order to satisfy their big interest friends by raising the duty on a lot of items by almost 100 per cent.

Mr. SPENCE:

We did something else.

Mr. DUFF:

What did you do? Tell me

one thing you did.

Mr. MACDOUGALL:

We voted $20,000,-

000.

Mr. DUFF:

The hon. member for Inverness (Mr. Macdougall) says they voted $20,000,000, but let me say that was the greatest mistake the Tory government ever made. They put the people on the dole.

Mr. SPENCE:

You put them out of work.

Mr. DUFF:

That is exactly what you did. They were put on the dole by the Tory party in spite of the fact that the Prime Minister went all over the country in the election and said, "King promises you conferences but I promise you work." The statement was made that in three days they would stop unemployment, and my hon. friend was at the meeting and applauded that with all his might. Wihat is the position in Toronto to-day? After four years what have my hon. friends opposite done? Are there more people unemployed to-day in Toronto or less than there were in 1030? Five times as many. What influence has the hon. member for Parkdale (Mr. Spence) had on this government? None. He has done nothing to help to relieve unemployment. We are still paying the dole-why? Because, owing to the policies of this govern-

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meat, the business of the country has been restricted. Over two months ago I called the attention of the Minister of Trade and Commerce to the fact that the fishermen of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island had received, through the tariff duties of Santo Domingo, a slap in the face so that no business could be done with that country. What did the minister say yesterday in answer to my question? What does he say to-day? Did this government try to get business for the country? No; they do not want business; they are inside their shell and they do not know what it is all about. I say, let us go to the country and have the people decide whether they are satisfied with the policies which this government has carried out. Let the people decide whether they want to return to this parliament the member for Parkdale or the member for York-Sunbury. But the government have kept on for five years until the eleventh month and the eleventh day and the eleventh hour and the fifty-ninth minute. It is all right for the hon. member for Fort William to go about boasting about what the government has not done, but let him go to cabinet council to-morrow and say, "Mr. Bennett, we want an election; let the people decide who is to govern the country." No; they want to hang on to the last minute. They know that when the time comes and the people have a chance to vote, this government will be swept out of power. The Minister of Public Works sits there with all the reports from the different provinces-engineers' reports, and God knows they cost enough money. The engineers were told last November to go over the different districts and report to the minister, to the deputy minister, to the secretary and to all the officials as to what was required for this year.

Mr. POWER:

There are reports also from the members as to where they need work for votes.

Mr. DUFF:

Yes, Conservative members, and he does not even tell us about those. If he were fair to the people's representatives, if he would tell us something about the reports he has received either from the members or from the engineers, there would be something to go on. But the Minister of Public Works, in spite of the fact that we voted $2,500,000 for these harbours and rivers generally last year, cannot tell us what was done with that money. He cannot tell us what the department will do with the $1,140,000.

Mr. STEWART (Leeds):

I know that my hon. friend does not wish to have an inaccurate statement go on the record. I have

told the house what has been done in every province with this $2,500,000. I gave the commitments by provinces and showed the amount unencumbered, and it has been practically all spent. I gave the particulars.

Mr. POWER:

Of this vote?