Mr. FLEMING:

The house is travelling a little behind schedule tonight, and I appreciate that the government may wish to have the bill disposed of in the few remaining minutes, if possible.

In the first place, I draw attention to the fact that this bill is an inevitable kind of bill, because the position of charities must revert at some time or another to the situation which existed prior to the war. The purpose of the bill is, therefore, such that it deserves the support of the house in so far as it seeks to close the class of charities to which the War Charities Act applies and which must submit to registration in accordance with the act before they are entitled to seek moneys by way of subscription.

The explanatory note I suggest, Mr. Speaker, overstates the effect of the bill. The bill provides that the application of the act shall be confined to war charities established prior to the coming into force of the act. Of course there is a difference between establishing the fund and submitting it to registration, and the explanatory note says that the effect of the amendment is, therefore, to confine the provision of the act to funds already registered for the purpose of complete administration of such funds and to free from the provisions of the act any new funds which would otherwise 83166-249J

require to be registered. As the bill stands, of course it cannot have that effect because the effect of the bill as it now reads is to limit the effect of the act to charities established, whether registered or not, prior to the coming into force of the act. If the intention is as stated in the explanatory note, then I suggest that the bill will have to be amended when the house goes into committee. It may be that there are some new charities which are within the scope of the act but are not yet registered, since the 1945 amendment extended the scope of the War Charities Act to include funds to be used for the purpose of providing war memorials. Perhaps the minister can deal with that when he speaks.

There is one other matter-

Mr. MARTIN:

So that we may save time, the provision is intended to apply to anything that is not already a registered charity, war memorial or otherwise.

Mr. FLEMING:

Then I suggest to the minister that when we get into committee the word '"established" should be amended to read "registered", and that will clarify it.

There is one matter that, I think, does call for some explanation. Section 12 of the Department of National War Services Act requires that an annual report be submitted to parliament, but the last report issued by this department covering the administration of war charities is the report for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1945. The administration of this act was transferred from the Minister of National War Services to the Minister of National Health and Welfare by P.C. 134, dated January 14, of this year. That does not' I submit, override the requirement of the act in connection with annual reports to parliament. A report for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1946, should have been submitted long ago, and none has yet been submitted.

Mr. SMITH (Calgary West):

Does the minister not think we should change that word to "registered"?

Mr. MARTIN:

Yes.

Mr. SPEAKER:

Is it the pleasure of the house to adopt the motion?

Carried.

Mr. HACKETT:

No, no. There is an amendment.

Mr. FLEMING:

The amendment is for the committee. It can be raised in committee.

Mr. MARTIN:

I am very happy to accept the suggestion made by the hon. member for Eglinton that section 1 be amended in the second last line by substituting for the word "established" after the word "fund", the word "registered".

Mr. MACKENZIE:

I move accordingly.

Mr. FLEMING:

Has the minister anything to say on the subject of the report and as to when the report may be expected? I appreciate that the administration of this act is in its closing stages, but parliament should have some assurance that the report required by .the statute will be soon forthcoming. It is long overdue now.

Mr. MARTIN:

It will be. I will deal with the matter on the estimates.

Mr. FLEMING:

When will that be?

Section as amended agreed to.