Mr. Speaker:

Mr. Pouliot moves that an order of the house do issue-

For a copy of the transcript of the shorthand notes of the report of the dominion-provincial conference, 1936.

Mr. Abbott:

I find that a similar motion was made five or six years ago; it asked for the production of the transcript of the shorthand notes of the proceedings of the dominion-provincial conference of 1936. My predecessor pointed out at that time that the shorthand notes of the proceedings were to be taken for the purposes of a confidential record of what took place. A press statement was issued each day following the meetings of the conference. In view of the arrangement between the dominion and provincial representatives at the conference, I feel it would not be appropriate to produce the transcript of the proceedings.

Mr. Poulioi:

I rise again on a question of privilege. Apparently no one can understand why this report should be secret when the reports of all other dominion-provincial conferences have been published. Many years have elapsed since the predecessor of my

1530 HOUSE OF

Inquiries of the Ministry genial friend the Minister of Finance refused to table this document. The other day I voted reluctantly against the request of the hon. member for Lake Centre (Mr. Diefen-baker) for the production and tabling of certain orders in council. They were not historical documents then, but a few days afterwards they became historical documents and were tabled in the house. If it only took a matter of days to table the papers asked for by the hon. member for Lake Centre, I do not see why many years are not enough to make other papers of historical value.

Mr. Speaker:

Order. I am sorry to interrupt the hon. member, but motions for the production of papers are not debatable. If the hon. member wishes to rise on a question of privilege, I would ask him to state his question of privilege. Otherwise I shall have to put the motion to the house, because such motions are not debatable.

Mr. Poulioi:

I agree, and I do not intend to discuss the motion at all. I rise on a question of privilege, and it is one which would affect all requests of a similar nature.

I am lured by mystery, and mystery surrounds us here. We are told a thing is mysterious, and we cannot know about it. We cannot even learn about the tenders for post office contracts at Riviere du Loup. They are secret; there is a mystery attached to them, and there is mystery attached to this matter too. I will now tell you why I will not insist that the motion be proceeded with.

I will tell the house why it has been made mysterious. It was precisely at the time of that conference that Mr. Dunning went to see Mr. Duplessis of Quebec and said to him, referring to certain words in the transcript: "Would you like to delete this?" He said, "No; I will leave it as it is." What Mr. Dunning referred to was an offer of co-operation from the premier of Quebec to the dominion government as to the settlement of all difficulties, and it is because the premier of Quebec refused to delete those words that the whole thing has been kept secret. Now everybody knows it.

Motion dropped.

Mr. M. J. Coldwell (Roseiown-Biggar):

should like to direct a question to the Minister of National Defence or, in his absence, to one of his assistants. Is the new system of grants to police and fire departments, announced by the attorney general of Ontario, which he said was part of an overall plan of improving national defence, being

undertaken in co-operation with the federal Department of National Defence? If so, will the minister make a statement in the matter and say whether the same co-operation is expected of or being arranged with the other provinces?

Mr. L. E. Baker (Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of National Defence):

I shall take note of the question. I noticed the newspaper article to which the leader of the C.C.F. party has referred.

Mr. Howard C. Green (Vancouver South):

I should like to ask the Minister of Finance whether proposals have been made to the government by the United States or any other source that Canada should extend mostfavoured-nation tariff treatment to Japanese textiles or other Japanese manufactured goods. Further, is the Canadian government contemplating any such action?

Hon. Douglas Abbott (Minister of Finance):

We have had intimations that such a request may be made, but none has been received officially. As to what would be the attitude of the government, of course I am not in a position to say until some such proposal is put forward.

Mr. Green:

May I direct a supplementary question to the Minister of Finance? Will the subject of extending most-favoured-nation treatment to Japanese goods be under discussion at the international trade organization conference to be held in France next month?

Mr. Abbott:

I am not sure, but I should think not.