Mr. John O. Probe (Regina City):

Mr. Speaker, in keeping with the pleasing custom which from time to time has been observed in the house, I rise on a matter of privilege to inform the house that this morning there arrived in the city of Ottawa a contingent from my city of Regina, the Regina Capitals hockey team-

Pretty lucky.

Mr. Probe:

-who have just come to Ottawa to engage with the Ottawa Senators for the Allan cup, emblematic of the championship in amateur hockey for the Dominion of Canada, after surviving the western playdowns. I cannot guarantee any tickets to members of the House of Commons; perhaps they might see Mr. Gorman about that.

Right Hon. L. S. St. Laurent (Prime Minister) moved:

That on Wednesday. April 27, 1949, the hours of sitting of the house shall be the same as on Tuesday, April 26, 1949, and that on Thursday, April 28, 1949, and every subsequent day until the end of the session, the house shall meet at 11 o'clock in the morning of each sitting day, and that in addition to the usual intermission at 6 o'clock there shall also be an intermission every day from 1 to 3 o'clock p.m.; that on Wednesday, April 27, 1949, government notices of motions and government orders shall have precedence over all other business except questions and notices of motions for production of papers: and further that on Thursday, April 28, 1949, standing order No. 28 shall not be applied.

He said: Having stated to the house that it was the intention of the government to recommend at the end of this week the dissolution of this parliament, I think I need not elaborate upon the terms of this motion. The effect of it would be to make today a day devoted to government notices of motions and government orders, and to sit this evening during the usual hours from seven-thirty to ten-thirty. Tomorrow we would sit from eleven

to one o'clock, from three to six, and from seven-thirty to ten-thirty, and the same on Friday.

The last part of the motion has to do with standing order 28, which provides that on Thursdays and Fridays, when the order of the day to go into committee of supply is called, Mr. Speaker leaves the chair without question put. As I stated on Monday evening, it is the intention tomorrow to ask the house to go into committee of the whole for the purpose of passing interim supply for the period of time required to have an election and thereafter call parliament together again at the earliest convenient day. The government felt that if it were to ask for interim supply on Thursday, it should not do so by Mr. Speaker leaving the chair without question put; the motion therefore will be in the ordinary form, so that members will have the right, if they see fit, to air any grievances they may consider to be of sufficient importance to require the attention of the house at that time.

In view of the evident satisfaction of all groups in the house at the prospect of there being this early appeal to the country, I hope it will be the pleasure of the house to adopt this motion and to co-operate with the government in disposing of matters which are urgent.

May I say just a word more. I think it would be the expectation of the house that if this motion be passed, before government notices of motions are taken up today the orders of the day will be called so that such questions as may be appropriate may be put to members of the government.

Mr. George A. Drew (Leader of the Opposition):

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister (Mr. St. Laurent) has correctly stated, we welcome the announcement that the people of Canada will soon have the opportunity to elect a government. But the suggestion that this motion is for the purpose of expediting the business of this house is mere pretence. This motion is one which no member could deal with very seriously, because it is simply an incident in the method which is being used to bring to an end the life of this government. This government will soon be dead and buried.

Oh, oh.

Mr. Drew:

There are medical men among the members who will testify to the extra-

Business of the House

ordinary vitality sometimes shown by a person at the point of death, only shortly before the corpse is actually carried away.

The house is being called upon to deal with a motion as though we were actually meeting here with great urgency to deal with the business of this house. Nothing of the kind is contemplated. After all, if it is the intention of the government to deal with the business of this house, this motion is completely unnecessary. We can deal with the business of the house in the ordinary way. The date of dissolution is a matter for the government, and the Prime Minister has stated that dissolution will be on Saturday. It is wholly unnecessary to compress into a matter of a few days the proceedings of the house, because the government well knows that it cam dissolve parliament and carry on business in the meantime without this pretence.

May I point out, however, that there are certain matters before the house which hon. members are anxious to deal with

evidently more anxious than the government was, having regard to the way in which they have been brought up. It was only as an afterthought that the amendment to the Old Age Pensions Act came up the other night. There is good reason to believe that the intention is to put the amendment to the Old Age Pensions Act at the end of the list, so that, unless all members are meek and submit to the orders of this authoritarian government, there will be no opportunity to deal with that amendment. Following the customary procedure, the government will then say, "Oh, we would have done this for you, but they would not let us carry on the business of government."

It is in keeping with the statement on Monday of the Minister of National Health and Welfare (Mr. Martin)-made at a time when I happened not to be here, being engaged in important business concerning the future of the province in which I live. On that occasion, with a great show of bravado, the minister said that he had challenged me before to say whether or not we would repeal the Family Allowances Act, and that since the question had not been answered, he was challenging me again. Of course he knows that we are going to form the new government, and I will give him an answer right now.

Mr. St. Laurent:

If the answer is no more accurate than the hon. member's statement, it will not impress the country.

(Inaudible interjection by an hon. member.)

Mr. Drew:

Not so much a humorist as the man who accepted the political support you did in your own riding in the last election.

Hong Kong.

Mr. Drew:

If there is one name that no member of this government can mention without shame and humiliation, it is Hong Kong. Fortunately the Prime Minister cannot now launch prosecutions or attempt to put in jail those who discuss it as he did on other occasions. Hong Kong is a name that cannot be mentioned with any satisfaction by any member of this government.

To refer to the point I made a moment ago, the Minister of National Health and Welfare is well aware that meetings were held in this building in 1945 and 1946-

Mr. Speaker:

I am sorry to interrupt the hon. member, but I must call his attention to the fact that the debate should be relevant to the motion before the house.

Mr. Drew:

I am pointing out that we are dealing here with a motion which has been presented for certain reasons. I am pointing out in connection with those reasons that various statements have been made, and I was trying to deal with one of those statements. I simply say that the Minister of National Health and Welfare knows perfectly well that my position is clear, and that there will be no repeal of the Family Allowances Act.

Mr. Speaker:

I must call the attention of the leader of the opposition to the fact that I cannot permit any discussion which is not relevant to the motion before the house.

Mr. Drew:

Mr. Speaker, naturally I accept your ruling, and I trust that it will not be necessary for me to make any remarks in relation to comments that also have no relation to the motion.

This motion purports to facilitate the business of the house. A motion was made on an earlier occasion in connection with which argument might have been made with some colour of justification that it was necessary to extend the hours of sitting so that certain measures could be dealt with before a certain date. But let us remember that the date of dissolution is an arbitrary date, and it is fixed by the Prime Minister; because he is the one who will ask for dissolution. If it was the intention before Easter to ask for dissolution, then we could have sat during the Easter recess, carried on the business of this house and had an opportunity to examine the accounts which are presented by the government.

Mr. McCann:

You were in Newfoundland.

Mr. Cruickshank:

Are you afraid of an election?