Mr. J. H. HARRIS (Danforth):

I wish to ask a question of the Minister of Finance (Mr. Dunning). I apologize for not sending it to him in advance, but it is a simple one. When will the tariff board reports be tabled, if they are to be tabled; and if so, on what subjects referred to the board? Perhaps the minister would rather not answer to-day, the next sitting will do.

Mr. DUNNING:

I shall look into the matter and advise my hon. friend.

Mr. D. A. McNIVEN (Regina City):

On

a question of privilege, Mr. Speaker, on my return to the city early last week I was twitted by a number of hon. members with

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regard to certain things I am alleged to have said during the progress of the Saskatchewan election. Although I searched diligently for it, I could not until Wednesday afternoon locate in Hansard what the right hon. leader of the opposition (Mr. Bennett) had charged me with saying. I would have brought it to your attention yesterday, but out of deference to the Minister of Finance (Mr. Dunning) who was presenting his budget I deferred doing so until to-day.

I find on reference to Hansard of June 7 last at page 3619 the following:

Mr. Chevrier: I am sure your government

would satisfy the hungry people.

Mr. Bennett: Do not let us talk about hunger. Just think of it! One hon. member, not here, saying that if you be hungry in Saskatchewan do not think of voting for this government. Do not think of voting for this government. If you be hungry think what will happen if you do not vote for the Patterson government. That is what the hon. member for Regina (Mr. McNiven) has been stating to the people of this country, according to the public press.

I want to assure you, Mr. Speaker, and other hon. members, that I never said anything, either directly or indirectly, which by any stretch of imagination could be so construed. What is more, I have diligently searched the Regina press, and I cannot find any reference therein that could be so construed.

Again on June 9, as reported in Hansard on page 3700, I find these statements in an address by the right hon. leader of the opposition:

And we have those who are responsible for providing the relief telling them that if they do not vote Liberal they will be hungry.

As a result of that statement the right hon. Prime Minister (Mr. Mackenzie King) asked the leader of the opposition this question:

Will the right hon. leader of the opposition give the committee the name of a single individual who stated to any one that unless he voted in a certain way he would go hungry?

Mr. Bennett: The hon. member for Regina

City is reported in the press to have said that the reason why the electors of Saskatchewan should return Liberal candidates in that province in yesterday's election was that they had obtained more money than they would have obtained if there had not been a Liberal government there and a Liberal government here.

Once again, Mr. Speaker, I deny absolutely that I made any suggestion that any money had been obtained by the people of Saskatchewan, either through the provincial or through the dominion government, other than that -which was necessary by reason of the disaster which had befallen that province.

Right Hon. R. B. BENNETT (Leader of the Opposition):

I was not in my place when this matter was first raised. Had I known that it was to be raised I should have brought the papers with me to which the references were made. If letters from various citizens of Saskatchewan have any merit I shall be glad, when the appropriate time comes, to read them into the record.

Mr. MACKENZIE (Vancouver):

He has

denied the whole thing.

Mr. BENNETT:

Yes, and I say I shall

produce the press reports and letters.

Mr. BENNETT:

Does that apply to all

the amendments?

Mr. DUNNING:

No, I will explain. The amendment to which exception is taken is an amendment to the last section of the bill as it left this house, section 8, an amendment which provided as follows:

On and after a date to be fixed by proclamation of the governor in council, no new proposal shall be made or filed by any farmer or accepted by any official receiver in any province in respect of which the said proclamation is issued.

That was as the bill left this house. But coming back from the senate a new section 9 is added which provides to the following effect:

The said act is further amended by adding to section eleven, as subsection three, the following:

No proposal shall be received in any province later than the thirty-first day of December, 1938, except in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.

That, Mr. Speaker, is the senate amendment. The effect of it, of course, is to end the operation of the Farmers' Creditors Arrangement Act at the end of this year in all provinces except Saskatchewan and Alberta.

The view of the government is that it is not at all certain at this time that in all the other provinces the Farmers' Creditors

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Arrangement Act should go out of business, so far as new applications are concerned, on the 31st of December of this year. The government, and I as Minister of Finance, have received representations from people in some of the other provinces that this would be unduly arbitrary so far as they are concerned, and I think that may be said particularly in respect of Manitoba. The discussion of this motion might serve to reveal the views of representatives of other provinces concerned, as to the desirability of arbitrarily terminating the operation of the Farmers' Creditors Arrangement Act at the end of the year in all provinces except Saskatchewan and Alberta. The view of the government is that we should disagree with the amendment.

Right Hon. R. B. BENNETT (Leader of the Opposition):

Mr. Speaker, I suggest that the motion that has just been placed in your hands should be amended so as to make it clear that this house disagrees with their honours with respect to the amendment they have made to section 11.

Mr. DUNNING:

That is, the new subsection.

Mr. BENNETT:

Yes. The senate have added as subsection 3 of section 11 the following:

No proposal shall be received in any province later than the thirty-first day of December, 1938, except in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.

We do not, I understand, disagree with the whole of their amendments, and as the motion of the minister reads, it would be an erroneous statement of the position of this house.

Mr. DUNNING:

Yes.

Mr. BENNETT:

So far as this particular amendment is concerned, it is a question purely for the government. They have indicated that they propose to deal with it by order in council, and the senate has dealt with it by fixing an arbitrary date in all the provinces but two. It is probable, as the minister has said, that the executive would be better able to exercise the discretion than would this parliament with respect to any particular province, and I would concur in the message to their honours if the motion be amended so as to make it clear that it applies only to section 9 of the bill.