Hon. PAUL MARTIN (Minister of National Health and Welfare):

Mr. Speaker, at the request of the leader of the house, and on behalf of the Secretary of State for External Affairs (Mr. St. Laurent), I wish to give the names of the Canadian delegation to the fourth session of the economic and social council of the United Nations which is to meet in New Yrork on February 28.

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The delegate will be Doctor George F. Davidson, Deputy Minister of National Health and Welfare. The alternate delegate will be Mr. R. G. Riddell, Department of External Affairs. They will be accompanied by the following advisers: Mr. A. C. Smith, Department of External Affairs; Mr. G. Ignatieff, Department of External Affairs; Colonel C. H. L. Sharman, Canadian member of the united nations commission on narcotic drugs; Mr. J. A. Blais, Department of National Health and Welfare' and Mr. J. G. H. Halstead, Department of External Affairs.

Mr. GRAYDON:

The government is not being represented.

Air. Speaker, I should like to ask a question of the Minister of Finance, or in his absence, his parliamentary assistant. Notice of the question was sent to the minister, and to you, Mr. Speaker, this morning. Is the minister aware that tenants occupying apartments and premises located at 15 Main street west, Smith's Falls, Ontario, are under notice to vacate on March 15 next, in order to make way for its use by the Theatre Holding Corporation, which is described by the wartime pi ices and trade board rentals administrator as piepared to make ''higher and better use of the land ? Is the minister also aware that the same corporation already owns a theatre in this relatively small town?

Mr. R. W. MAYHEW (Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance):

Application was made to the rental administrator by the theatre holding company. At the time the application was made there were four stores in this property, two of which were occupied and two of which were vacant. Of the two that were occupied, one was occupied by a second-hand dealer who had a junk yard at the rear and who lived above the store. The second store was occupied by a plumber. The plans and specifications submitted by the theatre company intended to make use of the complete property. Therefore it would come under the policy of the government to see that it should be used to the greatest advantage.

The hon. member referred to the fact that the corporation operates another theatre in this town. That is a matter that would be entirely up to the mayor and aldermen of the city. The leader of the C.C.F. wrote to

Inquiries of the Ministry

the administrator and I might say that last night the administrator mailed him a full explanation of this whole transaction.

Mr. R. R. KNIGHT (Saskatoon City):

I should like to ask the Minister of Reconstruction and Supply what action is being taken in regard to the urgent demand of Saskatoon labour to be allowed to work locally on wartime houses rather than have ready-made assembled parts shipped from Montreal?

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

The first wire received from the Saskatoon trades and labour council complained that the material being used was produced by non-union low paid Montreal firms, and the council protested such discrimination and demanded an immediate investigation. The matter was investigated, and I am informed that the company in question does have a labour agreement with its employees, and I have no information that the union, is not active or that the agreement is not in full operation. The trades and labour council were advised that this material was shipped to Saskatoon because of the inability of Wartime Housing to obtain similar material in that area, and that this millwork was being manufactured against standard price lists which were approved by the mill owners association. A high percentage of this millwork is manufactured from white pine, and in normal times the Saskatchewan mills import the lumber from the United States. As such imports are practically non-existent today it is necessary to use eastern pine or the equivalent, and in order to ensure a steady flow of the material to complete housing projects it has been necessary to farm out the required millwork among various eastern firms.

A further wire today protests that the eastern millwork is much inferior to local Saskatoon products and that the building inspectors have expressed disapproval to the Toronto office of Wartime Housing Limited. Further protest is made that the workmanship is inferior, that certain materials have arrived in smashed1 condition, and that the local carpenters union will not install millwork shipped from Montreal received after March 1. The wire also states that the report that the local mills cannot supply on time is false.

We are asking Mr. Russell, vice-president of Wartime Housing, who is now in Vancouver, to return by way of Saskatoon to investigate and attempt to adjust this situation.