Hear, hear.

Mr. MANION:

I have not noticed any diminution in the number of parties. They still go on.

Oh, oh.

Mr. MANION:

The hon. member (Mr. Stevens) has seen the error of his ways and has come back to the party to which he always belonged. But other parties such as the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, the Aberhart social credit party and various others still go on. It does not look as though the number of parties were decreasing. As I read these references to human relations, big business, high finance and high pressure salesmanship, I can hear the right hon. gentleman rolling these phrases over his tongue. I repeat that the unrest and discontent which was to disappear, has not disappeared.

Turning over a few pages I find on page 19 the beginning of his second address, made on August 2, 1935. He said:

Ladies and gentlemen: The Liberal party does not stand before the electorate in this campaign with an armful of promises, nor upon a platform of assurances-

Hear, hear.

Mr. MANION:

Who said, "hear, hear?"

Everybody.

Mr. MANION:

Everybody! Well, it is

easily seen how forgetful are hon. members opposite. I am going to refer to a few of the promises the right hon. gentleman made. He said: .

The Liberal party does not stand before the electorate in this campaign with an armful of promises, nor upon a platform of assurances, constructed expressly for the purpose of a general electiou.

Oh, no, the Liberal party is too high-minded for that.

It believes the public is heartily sick of that kind of thing.

I shall deal with this later. I do not intend at this time to read the long list of promises which the right hon. gentleman made and which appear a little later in his book, but I shall name them just as I pass along. He advocated control of currency and credit. He was going to bring about social justice. He was going to wipe out trusts, combines, and mergers. He was going to bring about harmony and cooperation. He did not. He was going to appoint an investment control board. Where is it? He was going to cure unemployment. Where is that? He was going to bring about prosperity. He was going to wipe out third parties.

Mr. MACKENZIE KING:

Where does it say that he was going to cure unemployment?

Mr. MANION:

I shall quote it when it suits me. I am making a speech at the present time. The right hon. gentleman would not answer me this afternoon, and I shall treat him in the same way. I shall quote these things as I go along. He was going to wipe out third parties. He was going to have a more equitable distribution of wealth.

Mr. MACKENZIE KING:

Where does it say he was going to wipe out third parties?

Mr. MANION:

I just read it. The right

hon. gentleman is almost as much asleep in this house as he is about the affairs of this country.

Mr. MACKENZIE KING:

Well, now,

he is awake. ,

Mr. MANION:

I shall have to quote it

again. I did not want to repeat this, but apparently the right hon. gentleman likes his book. This is what he said at page eight:

Third parties, in Canada, have invariably had their rise during years of Conservative administration. These have been years of depression, due, in large part, to reactionary policies.

Then a little later on he says:

As Conservative administrations have given place to Liberal administrations, the country, through the substitution of Liberal for Conservative policies, has been brought out of depression into prosperity. With returning prosperity, discontent has vanished, and with it the third parties, which discontent had helped to bring into being.

What about all these parties?

Oh, oh.

Mr. MANION:

The hon. gentleman's

party was the fifth or sixth party. What about the third and fourth parties of which the right hon. gentleman speaks? I think, however, I have proved that I was right in quoting my right hon. friend. He promised that there would be a more equitable distribution of wealth. He even went so far, not in this book but in other places, as to say that proportional representation would apply.

I have quoted fifteen different promises, and I could quote many more. One promise was that the Liberal party would continue the Liberal policy of British preference. Well, the Liberal policy of British preference has been practically wiped out by this particular trade treaty or agreement.

No.

Mr. MANION:

Oh, yes. The British

preference has been practically wiped out.

The Address-Mr. Manion

If it has not been wiped out entirely, it is so close to being wiped out that there is really no difference. That preference was obtained by the Conservative party in 1932. and yet the right hon. gentleman and his party, by means of this trade agreement with the United States, has practically wiped it out. This afternoon I quoted different United States statements on that.

Then the right hon. gentleman said that he was going to control credit. This is what he said:

The Liberal party believes that credit is a public matter, not of interest to bankers only, but of direct concern to the average citizen. It stands for the immediate establishment of a properly constituted national central bank, to perform the functions of rediscount, and the control of currency issue, considered in terms of public need.

We established the central bank.

Mr. MACKENZIE KING:

No.

Mr. MANION:

We established the central bank.