Mr. GRAYDON:

Mr. Speaker, already two hon. members of our party have been howled down by those who would) take the position of the Speaker away from him, and I do not intend to be howled down.

Order.

Mr. SPEAKER:

I would say to the hon. member that the Speaker is not influenced' at all by the actions or reactions of members of the house, but the rules should and will be applied to all in the same way. The hon. gentleman knows that when an hon. member rises to a question of privilege, in stating that question he must be brief and to the point.

Mr. GRAYDON:

Well, Mr. Speaker, I shall now come to the point. I had to lay my foundation, which was very difficult with all the noise from across the way. This is the item in the air mail bulletin:

The government was supported by a vote of 108 to 41 yesterday in the first division of the present session of parliament.

Hear, hear.

Mr. GRAYDON:

My point of privilege is that apparently the government has taken the position, in its own publication, that a victory-

Order.

Mr. GRAYDON:

I want a chance to finish this, please.

Mr. SPEAKER:

Mr. GRAYDON:

The question of privilege is this. There should be a ruling by Your Honour or by this house that a vote upholding the Speaker's ruling does not necessarily mean a victory for the government. I think that is a very proper question of privilege, and I should like to raise it at this time.

Mr. STANLEY KNOWLES (Winnipeg North Centre):

I should like to ask the Minister of Labour whether an offer has been made to continue federal jurisdiction over labour matters until May 15 in any province requesting that this be done. Will the minister make a statement to the house on this matter?

Order.

Hon. HUMPHREY MITCHELL (Minister of Labour):

I can answer my hon. friend's question, though I believe it should go on the order paper. I think I shall answer the question by reading a telegram:

Regarding wartime labour relations regulations it would appear that a satisfactory plan to follow will be to repeal schedule "A" to the regulations effective March 31 next. This will have the effect of bringing jurisdiction back to a peace-time position and place provinces in a position of being able to deal with provincial industries. I intend recommending the extension of regulations covering industries coming under dominion authority to May 15 next which will give time to review suggestions respecting tentative bill and give dominion parliament time to pass new legislation. When bill has been revised you will be furnished with copy of same. In respect to those provinces which have adopted the provisions of dominion regulations and. made them applicable to provincial industries if they wish, this situation can be continued until May 15, 1947, or to such earlier date decided upon by the provinces which would give the provinces time to pass new legislation which might follow the pattern of the dominion revised bill. In respect to administration there

Inquiries of the Ministry

are special arrangements by agreement in certain provinces and I would prefer that these arrangements be discontinued on March 31. However if the provinces desire the terms of the present agreement extended to May 15, 1947, 1 will so recommend. Of course in those provinces which have heretofore dealt with provincial industries under other provincial legislation the cancellation of schedule A to P.C. 1003 effective March 31, 1947, will involve very minor adjustments. May 'I have your expression of approval or otherwise to this general plan and if your province is one which has adopted the provisions of P.C. 1003 for provincial industries will you wire me the date you wish the arrangement cancelled respecting administration thereof in the province which date would be May 15, 1947, or an earlier date at your option.

Mr. MacINNIS:

If I may ask a supplementary question, to whom was that telegram sent, what was its date, and who sent it?

Mr. MITCHELL:

I sent the telegram; the date is January 28, and it was sent to every province except Prince Edward Island.

Mr. GILLIS:

Have any of the provinces signified their intention of extending the date?

Mr. MITCHELL:

I do not want to speak from memory-