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

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a question of privilege. Yesterday during the debate on the budget I raised certain points with regard to Canadian representation at a number of conferences; and as reported at page 2373 of Hansard I said:

But I wonder how important to the government and the people of Canada was a conference described as the international congress of chocolate and cocoa manufacturers which was held at Lausanne last year.

Then further on I said:

And I do not know that we have heard anything of what was gained by our attendance at the international congress of psychiatrists at Paris, or the meeting of the directing council and sanitary conference of the Pan-American bureau of Ciudad Trujillo.

Later I referred to the Washington conference of the society of vertebrate palaeontology and the palaeontological society. At that point I noticed that the Secretary of State for External Affairs (Mr. Pearson) was about to rise, and I mentioned that fact. Then, as reported in Hansard, the Secretary of State for External Affairs said:

I was just going to say there were no delegations at those conferences.

It is possible that there is some distinction in the use of words which is in the mind of the Secretary of State for External Affairs, but certainly the thought conveyed to my mind, and I know to others, was that this statement was incorrect as to the fact that Canada had attended those conferences. I therefore should like to refer to the report of the Department of External Affairs for the year 1950, issued over the signature of the Secretary of State for External Affairs. At pages 82 and 83 I find that Canada was represented, according to the official statement of the department, at the conferences which I have just mentioned.

Hon. L. B. Pearson (Secretary of State for External Affairs):

Mr. Speaker, if I may, I

should like to add a word on the question of privilege raised by the hon. gentleman. If my intervention yesterday gave the impression, as it might well have done, that there 80709-1534

was no Canadian representation of any kind at these conferences, I was entirely wrong, and I apologize to the hon. gentleman and to the house for giving that impression. It is quite true that, with regard to these four conferences, there were individual Canadian observers at two of them and individual Canadian representatives from departments of government at the other two. In that sense, Mr. Speaker, Canada was represented at those four meetings; and I am extremely sorry to have given the wrong impression by my intervention yesterday.

Mr. W. G. Weir (Portage-Neepawa) moved:

That the name of Mr. Macdonnell (Greenwood) be substituted for that of Mr. White (Hastings-Peterborough) on. the standing committee on public accounts.

That the name of Mr. Richard (Gloucester) be substituted for that of Mr. Langlois (Gaspe) on the special committee on veterans affairs.

That the name of Mr. Weaver be substituted for that of Mr. Maybank on the standing committee on public accounts.

1. During the past two years, have Mr. Peter Wilk or Mr. Richard K. Lehman acquired land in the Duck Lake Indian reserve?

2. If so, has either gentleman a joint lease with any other person?

3. If so, what is the name of the other person?

1. Yes.

2. Yes.

3. On July 6, 1950, a crop share lease on the usual terms was issued in favour of Messrs. R. K. Lehman and W. A. Tucker covering 320 acres of land in the Okemasis and Beardy's Indian reserves.

1. What firms were awarded contracts, and what was the amount of each contract, during 1950-51

Questions

for (a) new construction and repairs; (b) catering; (c) supplies for H.M.C.S. Cornwallis?

2. Were tenders called in each instance?

3. If so, who submitted tenders, and what was the amount of each tender?

Mr. Mcllrailh:

Mr. Speaker, to obtain the information asked in part 1 (c) in the three questions which appear on the order paper as Nos. 4, 5 and 6, would require detailed examination of something over 12,000 files. I presume it is not the wish of the hon. member asking the question, or of the house generally, that this work be undertaken. I propose therefore to answer the three questions subject to this reservation, anid I would ask that with the reservation the questions be declared answered..

Mr. Speaker:

Questions 4, 5 and 6, asked by the hon. member for Halifax (Mr. Balcom), are answered, subject to the reservation made by the parliamentary assistant.

Mr. Mcllrailh:

Then, the answer to the first question, No. 4, is as follows-and the answers to the other two are subject to the same reservation:

1. (a) New construction: Annapolis Valley Construction Ltd., Truro, N.S., $409,822.00; Repairs: Dominion Atlantic Railway, Kent-ville, N.S., $627.00; Walker & Hall Ltd., Halifax, N.S., $29,141.00. (b) Catering: Commercial Caterers Ltd., Toronto, Ont., $141,218.50 (estimated).

2. Answered by No. 3.

3. New Construction: Annapolis Valley

Construction Ltd., Truro, N.S., $409,822.00; Kenney Construction Co., Yarmouth, N.S., $485,700.00; Acadia Construction Co., Bridgewater, N.S., $554,000.00.

Repairs: The contract placed with Dominion Atlantic Railway was on a negotiated basis as they were the owners of the railway siding which' underwent repairs.

Walker & Hall, Ltd., Halifax, N.S., $29,141.00; Clare Shipbuilding Co. Limited, Montreal, P.Q., $32,060.00; J. Harold Stephens, Annapolis Royal, N.S., $34,224.00; J. S. Parker, Saint John, N.B., $57,000.00; Standard Construction Co. Ltd., Halifax, N.S., $65,648.00.

Catering: The contract with Commercial Caterers Ltd., Toronto, Ont. was originally placed in 1949 on a competitive tender and has since been renewed annually, on a negotiated basis at a reduced price.

1. What firms were awarded contracts, and what was the amount of each contract, during 1950-51 for (a) new construction and repairs; (b) catering; (c) supplies for the R.C.A.F. headquarters at Greenwood, Nova Scotia?

2. Were tenders called in each instance?

3. If so, who submitted tenders and what was the amount of each tender?