Mr. DIEFENBAKER:

No; the minister

does not.

Mr. RALSTON:

I am asking if my hon. friend suggests that I dictate where the men shall come from?

Mr. DIEFENBAKER:

I do not care who is dictating. I want an explanation from the responsible minister why this condition prevails.

Mr. RALSTON:

I am only saying my hon. friend cannot get it from me.

Mr. DIEFENBAKER:

All right.

Mr. RALSTON:

What we do is to make

a requisition or statement showing that we want so many men at such and such a depot.

The men may come to these depots from any place in the dominion. National War Services, and more lately the Department of Labour, through its registrars and boards, decide what men shall be requisitioned.

Mr. DIEFENBAKER:

The minister requisitions the men. The responsibility for the failure to apply equality of call must then rest upon the Minister of National War Services.

Mr. RALSTON:

Wait till you find whether there is a failure or not. All I say is that the decision as to where the men are to come from does not come from national defence.

Mr. DIEFENBAKER:

I am taking the

record as it appears. I do not know whether it comes under the jurisdiction of the minister, but I should like to know the number of defaulters who have failed to answer the call under N.R.M.A. I think we should have the record of them up to date.

Mr. RALSTON:

I cannot give my hon. friend that.

Mr. DIEFENBAKER:

Of the three divisions in Canada, would the minister be able to say whether they are up to strength; how many are volunteers available for service anywhere, and how many of them are men called1 up under the National Resources Mobilization Act? .

Mr. RALSTON:

I cannot give my hon. friend the strengths of the different divisions. The hon. member for York-Sunbury asked me last nigjjt the number of home defence men, which I intend to give. I can state that, but I am not in a position to give the number in each unit or each formation.

Mr. DIEFENBAKER:

Would the minister give the number of volunteers for service anywhere and those subject only to service in Canada composing the three divisions?

Mr. RALSTON:

I will put this number on the record now. The hon. member for York-Sunbury asked last night:

How many home defence men are there serving in the Canadian army; that is, men who are not available for service anywhere outside Canada?

As at May 15, 1943, the number of members (H.D.) and "R" recruits serving in the Canadian army was reported at 68,228. These men are of course available for service outside Canada if required under order in council from time to time; and of the number stated, some are actually serving outside Canada, namely, in Newfoundland and on other out* posts and islands.

War Appropriation-Army

I ask these questions at one time so that I shall not be rising too often. What has been the cost of recruiting for the army during the past year? I think that is a figure we should have.

Finally, I should like to make a suggestion with regard to man-power, and to ascertain the attitude of the minister with regard thereto. At the end of January, 1943, there were in the United States 91,800 Canadians, males between eighteen and thirty-eight years of age who are not United States citizens and had not given any indication that they would apply for United States citizenship. There are some five thousand Canadian males serving in the American forces. Under the present arrangements, as I understand' them, between the governments, when a Canadian is called for compulsory service in the United States, an opportunity is given to him to decide whether he will serve in the United States army or in the Canadian army. Having regard to the fact that there are almost one hundred thousand Canadians over there, in the said age limits, and that the total number -who have joined the Canadian army up to the middle of January last was only 801, my question is this, what is being done to secure the availability for service in the Canadian army of those Canadians in the United States who are subject to the National Resources Mobilization Act?

Mr. RALSTON:

The 90.000 odd whom my hon. friend has mentioned are of all ages, I suppose?

Mr. DIEFENBAKER:

They are males from eighteen to thirty-eight. What has been done to secure these men for the Canadian army? The records I have are that all the enlistments of Canadians in the United States for the Canadian army up to the end of January numbered only 801. Canada established a number of recruiting agencies in the United States and sent Canadian army officers and non-commissioned officers to undertake recruiting, and in the period from the entry of the United States into the war, secured only so few men in that country. I suggest there is a potentially productive field for enlistment there; there must be a large number of men available. I wish to know what is being done to assure their availability, and also what has been and is being done to secure the transfer of Canadians serving in the United States army into the Canadian army for active service.

Mr. HANSON (York-Sunbury):

On this question of the quotas, I quite understand

the procedure. The minister requisitions to the appropriate department-up to a certain period of time the national war service department, now the Department of Labour-for a given number of men. The allotment of these men is the task of, in the first place, the national war service department, and now the labour department.

Mr. RALSTON:

I do not wish to mislead my hon. friend. I requisitioned for so many men to report at different depots. I do not care where they are drawn from.

Mr. HANSON (York-Sunbury):

I know; the minister assumes no responsibility for that, and I am not finding any fault with that. I am trying to state what I understand the modus operandi to be. That requisition went to the national war service department in the first instance and for a good many months after the National Resources Mobilization Act was in effect. I made inquiry here as to the basis of the allocation of the quotas from each military district, and to my surprise I found that the allocation was based, not at all on the available man-power, but on the record of voluntary enlistments in those districts. That is to say, if New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had a record of thirty-five and thirty-seven per cent, and an adjoining district had a record of ten or thirteen per cent, Nova Scotia or New Brunswick was called upon to contribute two and a half times as many men under the call than the district alongside, whose voluntary enlistments were considerably less.