Right Hon. C. D. HOWE (Minister of Trade and Commerce):

I wish to make an announcement concerning the 1948 crop of flaxseed. The government has been advised that to meet our domestic requirements we can do with a somewhat smaller acreage of flaxseed than was sown last year. There are some definite signs of easing in the world situation on oil bearing seeds and distinct possibilities that we will no longer have the serious shortage that we have been facing for the past several years. With this changing situation in mind, it has been decided that the Canadian wheat board will be instructed to support prices of $4 per bushel for the top grades of flaxseed, basis delivered at Montreal or basis in store at Fort William/Port Arthur for the 1948-49 crop year commencing next August 1, should the market drop to that level. On the same date, the wartime prices and trade board ceiling of $5 per bushel will be removed, thus permitting buyer and seller to trade freely at prices above the support levels. In any event, the producers sowing flaxseed this year will be sure of a price not less than $4 per bushel for top grades.

Mr. J. T. RICHARD (Ottawa East):

I wish to direct a question to the Minister of Public Works. It has to do with the flooding in the Rideau river district. In view of the fact that the government now owns the riverfront from Rideau falls to Hog's Back will the minister state (1) what assistance has been offered in the past to the adjoining municipalities to prevent floods; and (2) whether his officers have studied the responsibility of the dominion government to assist in the prevention of floods on the Rideau river, and its liability therein, especially in the case of an emergency?

Hon. ALPHONSE FOURNIER (Minister of Public Works):

I will take this question as a notice and will give full answer tomorrow. I shall have to look over the files to see if this is a case under the jurisdiction of the federal government.

Mr. COLDWELL:

I should like to ask a supplementary question. In view of the widespread damage from floods, will the minister give consideration to trying to enter into some form of co-operation with the provincial governments with a view to taking effective steps for flood control, inasmuch as we have some responsibility for navigable waters?

Mr. FOURNIER (Hull):

It is admitted that the federal government has no jurisdiction in these cases. There is only one statute which gives us jurisdiction, and that is the Navigable Waters Protection Act. We are ready to consider any situation, but at this time I would not want to commit the government to any obligation in this respect.

Mr. COLDWELL:

I simply asked for cooperation.

Mr. SMITH (Calgary West):

I should like to ask a supplementary question in view of what the minister has just said. The federal government has rights with respect to navigation through the placing of dams across rivers. I do not think it can escape its responsibility for flooding caused by dams put in these rivers by its authority.

Mr. FOURNIER (Hull):

Whenever floods are caused by federal works, there is a responsibility. But in the instance cited this afternoon it is not established that any works which the federal government has constructed are the cause of these floods.

Mr. GRAYDON:

May I ask a supplementary question of the Minister of Public Works? Will he be kind enough, when he makes a statement tomorrow with respect to flood responsibilities of the federal government, to include in the report a statement regarding the situation in connection with the Etobicoke river?

Mr. FOURNIER (Hull):

We have looked into that question with respect to the condition at Etobicoke river and other places, and there is absolutely no federal jurisdiction in

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connection with them. That is the information that comes from my department. I understand it is exclusively a matter of provincial jurisdiction.

Mr. GRAYDON:

The Grand river, which would be in a somewhat similar situation to that of the Etobicoke, is the precedent upon which the people in my part of the country are basing their claim.

Mr. FOURNIER (Hull):

The scheme in connection with the Grand river was entered into by the federal government, the provincial government and the local municipalities during the depression years. During those years moneys were spent by the federal government to relieve unemployment, and we did enter into an agreement with the province of Ontario and with the municipalities and made an expenditure of over one million dollars. This scheme is being continued from the point of view of surveys for future works, but no similar agreement was signed or entered into by the federal government with regard to the Etobicoke and their problems. I understand that application was made some time ago by these municipalities to the province, but to my knowledge actually nothing has reached the Department of Public Works.