Mr. GORDON GRAYDON (Leader of the Opposition):

I should like to direct a question to the Minister of Justice and to call to his attention a comment made yesterday by the Chief Justice of Ontario in the appeal court of that province in which he stated that it did not seem to be in the interest of public security to keep men sentenced to penitentiary in local gaols. In view of the recent escape from the Don gaol in Toronto, will the minister give consideration to reviewing section 49, subsection 2, of the Penitentiary Act with a view to meeting the situation mentioned by the Chief Justice?

Hon. L. S. ST. LAURENT (Minister of Justice): I thank the leader of the opposition for calling my attention to this comment of the Chief Justice of Ontario. Of course, men sentenced to penitentiary are kept in local gaols only during the time when they are entitled to appeal from the sentence to penitentiary, but the question whether or not, even during that time, they should be left in the local gaols will be inquired into by the officers of the department. It must be realized that there would be inconvenience in moving to the penitentiary during that period prisoners whose sentence to penitentiary has not become definite. However, the advantages and disadvantages will be given careful consideration.

Hon. C. D. HOWE (Minister of Munitions and Supply):

Some weeks ago the hon. member for Waterloo South (Mr. Homuth) asked me to give the house a complete outline of the present fuel position. I undertook to do so,

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and accordingly, I will now give the statement on the position of petroleum products, both gasoline and fuels. I have delayed making this statement to observe the effect of the invasion of Europe, which was launched on June 6, and the effect on Canada as far as the supply and consumption of petroleum products are concerned. The Canadian position is affected chiefly in the matter of aviation and motor gasolines.

Our position at this moment may be summed up as follows: If the allies are able to win a reasonably quick overpowering victory, our position will probably not deteriorate to the point of further curtailment, due entirely to the conservation measures we have introduced and enforced. If, however, the invasion should develop into' a long bitter struggle, there is a probability that we may all have to do with less gasoline in Canada. Our only possible course is to continue to conserve every possible gallon of gasoline. Needless consumption of gasoline robs our fighting men of the fuel they will require for their planes and motorized equipment, and that we cannot permit.

I would ask you to note that the total consumption of gasoline in Canada includes aviation gasoline, the consumption of which has necessarily risen to staggering proportions. And it is this increase, with other war essentials, which has been responsible for any increased consumption shown. None of us can quarrel with any quantity of gasoline properly used for such purposes.

I will now state the position with regard to motor gasoline, and for purposes of comparison I will deal with the four yearly periods each ending on March 31, for the years 1941 to 1944 inclusive.

Motor gasoline consumption in Canada in these periods for all purposes including the armed services, the Alaska highway, agricultural, and other war essentials, was as follows: Year ended

March 31 Gallons

1941 882,216,930

1942 944,178,060

1943 787,710,630

1944 814,248,820

It must be borne in mind that in these four years we had the great growth in our war effort. We had to service the trucks and equipment for the construction of over one hundred and twenty additional airports for the R.A.F. and the R.C.A.F., many far removed from rail head. Also, the trucks and equipment for the construction of the Alaska highway and a greatly increased truck haulage of materials from our widely scattered war plants.

We had to meet ever increasing demands of the armed forces and other essential uses iden-

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tified with the war. We took care of all of these demands and at the same time reduced the consumption of motor gasoline slightly under the consumption for the year 1939 which totalled 824,997,390 gallons.

Motor gasoline consumption was increasing rapidly in the immediate pre-war years, and on the basis of the percentage increase which was current in those years, we estimate that motor gasoline consumption for the year ended March 31, 1942, would have exceeded 980,000,000 gallons had it not been for the voluntary conservation campaign which was launched in 1941.

In the year ended March 31, 1943-the first ration year-motor gasoline consumption

totalled 787,710,630 gallons, or 156,467,430 gallons less than the actual consumption of the previous twelve months, and 192,289,370 gallons less than the estimated consumption of 980,000,000 gallons to which I have just referred.

While motor gasoline consumption at the close of the second year of rationing showed an increase of 26,538,190 gallons over the year ended March 31, 1943, direct sales to the armed forces and sales of marked gasoline used chiefly in agricultural machinery increased by

10.640.000 gallons and 30,940,000 gallons respectively. There was, therefore, an actual decline in consumption of motor gasoline during the second complete year of gasoline rationing of 15,050,000 gallons.

If we assume that consumption for the years ended March 31, 1943, and March 31, 1944, would have reached at least 980,000,000 gallons-which is the actual indicated consumption for the year ended March 31, 1942- the voluntary appeal and two full years of gasoline rationing have effected a total saving of approximately 393,750,000 gallons of motor gasoline, which is about one-third of our total annual consumption at the present time. .

I point out that inventories as of March 31, 1944, were 55,000,000 gallons less than at the commencement of rationing, at which time the stocks on hand were uncomfortably low.

Before I deal with aviation gasoline, I would remind hon. members that both motor and aviation gasolines come from the same sources, sources which must supply the tremendous demands of the allied armed forces. When we consider that it requires 2,000 gallons of fuel to move an armoured division one mile, that a fleet of 5,000 bombers and escort fighters raiding Germany uses up some

5.250.000 gallons of aviation gasoline, we can readily see wherein lies our responsibility.

These fighting men must not lack fuel for one single instant because of our carelessness, selfishness, or waste.

I will now give you consumption figures for aviation gasoline supplied from Canada, and these figures will indicate the importance of aviation gasoline to the Canadian war economy. Canada could not become the hub of the world's largest air training plan without sending Canadian consumption of aviation gasoline to staggering heights. By way of example, I would point out that in one thirty-day period, aircraft operated by R.C.A.F. in Canada and Newfoundland consumed an average of 548,000 gallons of aviation gasoline per day.

The figures I have for aviation gasoline, including exports from Canada, are for the five calendar years commencing with 1939 and ending with 1943, and for the twelve months ending March 31, 1944. These figures are as follows:

Gallons

1939 5,453,980

1940 12,661,425

1941 57,181,005

1942 119,740,110

1943 173,208,910

1944 (year ended March 31).. 176,298,570

As a further indication of what the balance of this year holds in store for us, I am advised that an estimate made before the invasion indicated that we shall have to move offshore this year four times as much aviation gasoline as we did last year. What this estimate will be now, I cannot say.

I do not think it is advisable at this time to disclose aviation gasoline inventories. Meanwhile, although Canada must provide all the fuels required by its own navy

which, as hon. members know, has expanded from 13 to more than 700 vessels; although we must fuel all the bombers leaving Labrador and Newfoundland for England and leaving Edmonton for Russia; although we must fuel aircraft operating under the commonwealth air training plan, the convoys leaving our shores, the army, war factories, agricultural machinery for food production, and essential transportation, not one aircraft, ship, or machine tool has ever been stopped because of lack of fuel. We have not failed, and we must not fail.

I have pointed out to hon. members on more than one occasion that we are dependent on outside sources for 85 per cent of our petroleum product requirements, 60 per cent of which must be brought in by ocean tanker transportation which has been in short supply since 1941. We are drawing on the same sources, inventories, and transportation facilities as our allies. Coupled with this, we now face a dwindling crude oil supply. The war-

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particularly now the invasion is in full swing- is making greater and greater demands upon the crude oil and transportation facilities of this hemisphere. We have to continually review our position in order to assure our allies that we are not asking for crude oil and transportation beyond our needs. Our stocks are too far below normal to carry us any distance without replenishment. Motor gasoline coupons outstanding and to be issued are based upon our inventories and projected imports which we estimate are sufficient to honour each coupon. This is not a time for other than the most essential driving. Everyone should let his conscience be his guide in using gasoline of any kind to-day-this applies to the armed forces, the farmer, and everyone else in the country.

Let me repeat: Every barrel of petroleum products we can do without means that much more for the theatres of war and the transportation to get the material there.

I will now discuss light and heavy fuel oils used for heating by Canadian homes and for heating and processing by Canadian industries. As a result of conservation measures taken on this continent, hon. members will note that whereas consumption of heavy fuel oil has dropped slightly, the consumption of light fuel oil has risen steadily since 1940. Without conservation measures our position would have been hopeless long before this, with the likelihood that many schools, office buildings, apartment houses, and homes would have been without heat last winter.

Consumption, including exports, of light fuel oils for the calendar years 1940 to 1943 and for the twelve months ending March 31, 1944, are as follows:

Gallons

1940 201,613,895

1941 247,578,450

1942 251,388,585

1943 267,139,355

1944 (year ended March 31).. 267,166,655

Light fuel oil, such as is used for heating homes, is an important commodity in the war effort, as it includes diesel oil used for propulsion of tanks and other army equipment, as well as oil for special heat treating furnaces for the annealing of metals, and for other essential uses in industry.

Heavy fuel oil consumption, including exports, for the four calendar years 1940 to 1943 inclusive, and for the twelve months ending March 31, 1944, are as follows:-

Gallons

1940 510,191,850

1941 590,816.485

1942 594,590,360

1943 560,791,910

1944 (year ended March 31).. 587,830,460

These figures do not include heavy fuel oil consumed by oil refineries. [DOT]

At the inception of oil control we did not have in Canada an organization comparable to the American Petroleum Institute; therefore statistics kept in 1939 make no distinction between light and heavy fuel oils, but their combined consumption in that year was 589,921,360 gallons as compared with 711,805,745 gallons for 1940, 838,394,935 gallons for 1941, and 874,383,195 gallons for the year ended May 31, 1942.

Realizing that the consumption of light and heavy fuel oils might reach a point beyond our ability to supply, an appeal was made to the public in the fall of 1941 to convert to substitute fuels, and conversion for certain large groups of users was made mandatory on September 1, 1942. To what heights-the consumption of light and heavy fuel oils might have risen without restrictions I cannot say, but in reviewing the increases over the years 1939 to 1944 it is reasonable to assume that a saving of at least 175,000,000 gallons was effected. .

Light and heavy fuel oil inventories at March 31, 1944, were 4,650,065 gallons and 17,475,500 gallons respectively higher than a year ago. Because the heavier crudes we now have to run yield larger quantities of heavy fuel oil, restrictions on the use of heavy fuel oil have been lifted in all provinces except British Columbia. The situation on the west coast to-day is more critical than it has ever been since the outbreak of the war. The petroleum product requirements of the fighting forces in the Pacific are such that the oil-producing state of California is unable to meet these demands, and heavy importations are now being made from other points in the United States to California. This, of course, affects our position in British Columbia, and we are to-day moving crude oil from Colombia and Ecuador in South America to Vancouver -some 4,200 miles, or five times the distance of our previous source of supply. This has created a serious transportation problem, and it will be touch and go whether we shall be able to care for the most essential services in British Columbia.

In the winter and spring of 1942, when the supply of domestic fuel oil became acute and I announced on the floor of the house that there was evidence that this country would be short of this commodity, a number of citizens voluntarily changed over from oil to an alternative form of heating.

While no general relief can be made in respect to the use of light fuel oil for any

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purpose, we have, as a result of the mild winter just behind us and the cooperation of home owners in reducing their consumption to the minimum, built up a slightly better inventory position which will permit owners of bona fide residences who voluntarily converted when requested to do so in 1942, to reinstal oil burning equipment in their homes, provided that the equipment has been continuously in their possession. This does not permit new installations.

In closing, I wish to state once again that our position in the matter of petroleum fuels is not improving, and this in spite of the best efforts we have been able to make toward conservation. Careful planning has provided gasoline available to the public in quantities sufficient to honour gasoline and fuel oil coupons which had been issued. In that respect we are more fortunate than any other country. Possibly the fact that we have kept petroleum products available for legitimate users has led to a popular belief that the supply of these products is not a critical matter. If so, the impression is erroneous and unfortunate. I am happy to say that the misuse of petroleum products has been kept to very small proportions, due wholly to the vigilance of the government's enforcement officers. I appeal for the support of the public in preventing these abuses. With the support of the public, I am hopeful that our supply position can be maintained at its present level. Without public support, I am certain that our supply position must deteriorate. Should war consumption continue at its present level for any considerable period, it is unlikely that we can avoid further curtailment in any event.

Mr. BLACKMORE:

I should like to ask the minister whether any measures have been taken in Canada to increase our production of alcohol for fuel purposes.

Mr. HOWE:

We are producing alcohol to the full capacity of the available productive plants, but that alcohol is being used for the manufacture of synthetic rubber rather than for fuel.

Mr. BLACKMORE:

We are interested in ascertaining "whether the government have taken all reasonable measures to increase the capacity of the productive plants in Canada. Have they endeavoured to build factories for the manufacture of alcohol for fuel?

Mr. HOWE:

I think so; yes.

Mr. BLACKMORE:

Will the minister tell the house whether or not increased factory

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facilities were provided in Canada in 1943 for the manufacture of alcohol for fuel purposes?

Mr. SPEAKER:

The minister may treat what the hon. member has said as a notice of question, to be placed on the order paper.

Mr. BLACKMORE:

I will add three more years; I want to know what has been done.

Mr. M. C. SENN (Haldimand):

I should like to address a question to the Minister of Finance or his parliamentary assistant. I am doing so at the request of my colleague from the county of Lincoln (Mr. Lockhart), whose constituency is one of the largest producers of small fruits in Canada. According to an article appearing^ in The Country Gentleman of May, 1944, the OP.A. in the United States has eased its rules for home canning this year. They allow sugar totalling tweDty-five pounds for each member of the family, and no limitation is placed on the amount of sugar that may be used for jams, jellies and preserves. In view of this change in regulations, has the government given consideration to the advisability of increasing the ration of sugar for home canning in Canada, and, if not, will it do so immediately? This matter is urgent, because strawberries are already in full production and will be followed by raspberries, cherries and so on, in rapid succession.

Hon. J. L. ILSLEY (Minister of Finance):

I am sorry I cannot give the hon. gentleman an answer before Thursday. I believe there are reasons for the difference between the systems of rationing in Canada and the United States, and I will present those reasons when I answer the question. My understanding is that our ration goes as far as our allocation will permit, but I will give a more complete answer on Thursday.