Mr. M. J. COLDWELL (Rosetown-Biggar):

Mr. Speaker, before the business is proceeded with I wish to rise to a question of privilege, affecting not only myself but I am sure other members of the house as well. Hon. members have been receiving cards purporting to be signed by their constituents, and supplied by the Income Tax Payers' Association, which read:

I respectfully urge:

1. That the government apply income taxation on exactly the same basis on all forms of commercial enterprise, including cooperatives, crown companies, municipal and governmental undertakings and mutual concerns.

2. That patronage dividends, and like payments, be disallowed as an expense before arriving at taxable income.

Some of us have acknowledged a number of these cards. We are now getting letters from the persons who were purported to have signed them; and some are returned marked "no such person." I shall just read one to give the house an indication of the type of letter wh are receiving. This reads:

I received your letter this morning and I wish to state that no such card was ever sent by myself or any member of my family. It seems that some one is signing false signatures and sending these cards in, as I have heard others of this district complain of getting letters the^ could not understand.

The letters that hon. members are getting in acknowledgment of the letters written by hon. members indicate that apparently no such cards have been sent by these people.

Mr. SMITH (Calgary West):

On the same question of privilege, I have received 1,270 cards, but I was smarter-I have not answered one of them.

Mr. COLDWELL:

It is a good thing that somebody answered them so that we may know who is sending them.

Hon. J. A. MacKINNON (Minister of Trade and Commerce):

Mr. Speaker, I am now in a position to make a brief statement in respect to the payment on 1943-44 wheat participation certificates. The surplus in the

1943-44 board account is approximately 836,000,000, which on deliveries of 293,375,116 bushels will provide an average final payment of about 12 cents per bushel.

In connection with the surplus on the 194344 board account, it is necessary to mention that on sales in the domestic market, the intention is that there shall be no loss or gain as far as the producer is concerned-this wheat is sold at 81.25 per bushel, basis No. 1 northern, in store Fort William/Port Arthur or Vancouver, with the dominion government assuming carrying charges. 1943-44 wheat for export was sold over a period of approximately a' year and a half, commencing in October, 1943.

The actual payment on 1943-44 participation certificates will begin as soon as the barlej? equalization payment and the Ontario wheat flour equalization payments are completed. Requisition forms will be distributed through country elevators within a week or ten days time. These are the forms upon which producers will list their 1943-44 wheat participation certificates for forwarding to the board for payment.

It is expected that the payment on the 1943-44 board account will be much more rapid than the payment in respect to participation certificates for 1940-41, 1941-42 and

1942- 43. In these latter crop years, about five to six million participation certificates were outstanding and approximately twenty per cent had been lost or misplaced, which retarded the rate at which payment could be made. In respect to 1943-44, there will be fewer lost certificates, and the payment should proceed much more rapidly. Approximately 2,500,000 participation certificates are involved in the 1943-44 payment, and it is estimated that about 400,000 cheques will be issued.

Last year some areas in southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta experienced poor crops, and in some points in Saskatchewan low yields per acre were harvested in 1943 as well. In making payment on 1943-44 participation certificates, the Canadian wheat board will arrange to make payment first in these areas to which I have just referred. The

1943- 44 production was very uniform, and with the exception of a very few grades, the payment per grade will be about twelve cents a bushel in each case.

Mr. BRACKEN:

Could the minister state approximately when the cheques will go out?

Mr. MacKINNON:

As far as I know, ir. about ten days' time.

Labour Conditions

Mr. GORDON GRAYDON (Peel):

May I ask the Acting Secretary of State for External Affairs when the next election of member nations to the security council of the united nations will be held, and what member nations are due to retire from the security council prior to such election?

Right Hon. L. S. ST. LAURENT (Acting Secretary of State for External Affairs): The next election to the security council of the united nations is due to be held at the general assembly of the united nations which is called for September 3, 1946. No member is to retire before that date. But Egypt, Mexico and the Netherlands were elected to the security council for a one-year term ending in January, 1947, and they are due to be rerjlaced by those who will be designated at election to be held at the September meeting of the general assembly of the united nations.

Mr. GORDON GRAYDON (Peel):

May I ask the Minister of Finance whether in his preparation of the forthcoming budget he will give favourable consideration to permitting unmarried persons, widows, widowers, and separated married persons to claim married status in their future income tax returns where such persons maintain a self-contained domestic establishment?

Order.

Mr. GRAYDON:

I hope the government is not closing the door to suggestions affecting the welfare of the people-

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

Mr. Speaker, while I received notice of the question I did not really expect my hon. friend to ask it, because it is an attempt to elicit advance information about the budget.

Mr. GRAYrDON: I was not seeking advance information. I was asking the minister to give consideration to my suggestion.