May 20, 1943

THE ROYAL ASSENT

LIB

Thomas Vien (Speaker of the Senate)

Liberal

Mr. SPEAKER:

I have the honour to

inform the house that I have received the following communication: [DOT]

Ottawa, 20th May, 1943.

Sir:-I have the honour to inform you that the Right Hon. Sir Lyman Poore Duff, acting as deputy of His Excellency the Governor General, will proceed to the Senate chamber to-day, Thursday the 20th of May, at 5.45 p.m., for the purpose of giving the royal assent to certain bills.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your obedient servant,

F. L. C. Pereira,

Assistant Secretary to the Governor General.

Topic:   THE ROYAL ASSENT
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PRIVILEGE

MR. POULIOT-REQUEST FOR TRANSLATIONS OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS


Mr. JEAN-FRANGOIS POULIOT (Temis-couata): Mr. Speaker, as a private member of this honourable house I rise to a question of privilege. By virtue of section 133 of the British North America Act and of numerous orders in council, particularly P. C. 159 of January 31, 1928, members of parliament are entitled to an English and French copy of all official publications. I hold in my hand administrator's order, A-317, issued by Mr. A. H. Williamson, administrator of supplies, on July 30, 1942, approved by Mr. D. Gordon, chairman, wartime prices and trade board and concurred in by Mr. R. C. Berkinshaw, chairman, wartime industries control board. I am credibly informed that this document has never been translated into French because of orders that were issued not to translate it. For some time I have been receiving copies of another publication issued by Mr. John Grierson entitled " Nouvelles Catholiques." This comes from the wartime information board, and I am informed that it has never been translated into English. I believe that some issues are made up largely of translations of material appearing in English publications, but the English text has not been sent to us. I exercise my right as a member of the House of Commons to ask for a French translation of order A-317 and an English translation or the English text, as the case may be, of all numbers of " Nouvelles Catholiques." I protest strongly against the propaganda contained in order A-317 for the English speaking population exclusively, and against the issuing of "Nouvelles Catholiques" for the French speaking population exclusively. One is for the English and the other is for the French, and they are contradictory. mr. ross (st. Paul's)-reference to remarks


OF MR. RALSTON IN RESPECT TO QUESTION ALLOWED TO STAND


Mr. DOUGLAS G. ROSS (St. Paul's): Mr. Speaker, on a question of privilege, I regret that I was not in the house last Monday when a question which I had on the order paper came up. When this question came up on Thursday last the Minister of National Defence (Mr. Ralston) asked that it be dropped. I find that the minister is reported on page 2619 of Hansard as follows: I ask the hon. member to drop the third part of this question. Then he went on further to say: I would ask that the question be dropped. ' He said also: There can be only one reason for that question, namely to draw some inference that these men are not doing their duty. Further on he said: That reason applies doubly or trebly to men overseas. I do not think it lies in the mouth of any of us to question what the men are doing there, whether they happen to be in Canada or in England. The minister has no right to impute any motive to me or to any other member of the house. The thing farthest from my mind was that any of these men were not doing their duty. A soldier goes where he is sent and does what he has to do. My question deals with a matter of policy of the government and of the Department of National Defence. I have many reasons for asking the question, all of which I do not intend to give here but I might state one of them. My information is that there are in this category many officers and men of several years' experience who would like to get overseas in the fighting forces but who are now being held on this side of the water, various excuses being given, while junior inexperienced officers are sent overseas. There are also thousands of soldiers overseas- Public Accounts


?

Some hon. MEMBERS:

Order.

Topic:   OF MR. RALSTON IN RESPECT TO QUESTION ALLOWED TO STAND
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LIB

Thomas Vien (Speaker of the Senate)

Liberal

Mr. SPEAKER:

In speaking to a question of privilege the hon. member is entitled to make a statement but mot to enter into an argument.

Topic:   OF MR. RALSTON IN RESPECT TO QUESTION ALLOWED TO STAND
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NAT

Gordon Graydon (Leader of the Official Opposition)

National Government

Mr. GRAYDON:

He is explaining the basis for his question.

Topic:   OF MR. RALSTON IN RESPECT TO QUESTION ALLOWED TO STAND
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NAT

Douglas Gooderham Ross

National Government

Mr. ROSS (St. Paul's):

I have given one reason, and there are many others. I have risen to a question of privilege because the Minister of National Defence has no right to impute motives to me.

Topic:   OF MR. RALSTON IN RESPECT TO QUESTION ALLOWED TO STAND
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LIB

Charles Gavan Power (Associate Minister of National Defence; Minister of National Defence for Air; Minister of National Defence for Air and Associate Minister of National Defence)

Liberal

Hon. C. G. POWER:

(Minister of National Defence for Air): Mr. Speaker, on the

question of privilege, the Minister of National Defence (Mr. Ralston) is absent on important public duties. With respect to the point raised by my hon. friend, I was present in the house at the time and I was under the impression that my hon. friend said he would discuss the matter with the Minister of National Defence. I wish he would wait until the minister comes back instead of discussing the matter in his absence.

Topic:   OF MR. RALSTON IN RESPECT TO QUESTION ALLOWED TO STAND
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NAT

Douglas Gooderham Ross

National Government

Mr. ROSS (St. Paul's):

I was going on to say that so far as giving the names is concerned, I do not want to have the names given. I think the minister might have suggested at that time that there was a reason for not giving the names. Unfortunately I did not hear him say that the third part of the question might be dropped.

Topic:   OF MR. RALSTON IN RESPECT TO QUESTION ALLOWED TO STAND
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LIB

Charles Gavan Power (Associate Minister of National Defence; Minister of National Defence for Air; Minister of National Defence for Air and Associate Minister of National Defence)

Liberal

Mr. POWER:

Mr. Speaker, this is not a matter of privilege but a matter for debate when the appropriation bill is before us and the minister is present.

Topic:   OF MR. RALSTON IN RESPECT TO QUESTION ALLOWED TO STAND
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PRIVILEGES AND ELECTIONS


First report of standing committee on privileges and elections.-Mr. McCuaig.


PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

WARTIME INFORMATION BOARD


On the order: Resuming the adjourned debate on the motion of Mr. Fraser (Northumberland)-That the second report of the standing committee on public accounts, presented to the house on Tuesday, April 6, be now concurred in, and on the amendment of Mr. Black (Yukon).


LIB

Thomas Alexander Crerar (Minister of Mines and Resources)

Liberal

Hon. T. A. CRERAR (Minister of Mines and Resources):

Mr. Speaker, I understand

that the next item on the order paper is the resumption of the debate we hadi yesterday, and I would crave the indulgence of the house for a moment to clear up a misconception which I think exists in the minds of my hon. friends opposite.

Yesterday in discussing the matter then under debate I did not think it was necessary to indicate to the house that the war expenditures committee-

Topic:   PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
Subtopic:   WARTIME INFORMATION BOARD
Sub-subtopic:   STATEMENT OF MR. CRERAR
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May 20, 1943