1. What is the total number of cadets at the Royal Roads service college at the present time?

2. How many in each grade year?

3. In each grade how many are French Canadian?

1. What is the total number of cadets at the Royal Military College at the present time?

2. How many in each grade year?

3. In each grade how many are French Canadian?

Mr. Balcer:

What is the total number of recruits that have enlisted in the three services in the province of Quebec, each month, during the period between September 1, 1950, and August 31, 1951?

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1. Was any work done by the firm of Bruce Stewart and Company on vessels at the ship repair dock at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, during the year 1951?

2. If so, on what vessels?

3. Was this work let by tender or cost plus basis?

4. If by cost plus, what percentage was allowed?

5. What wages were paid to all classes of workmen on the above, and how do these rates compare with similar work being done at the repair dock at Lauzon, Quebec?

Mr. H. W. Herridge (Kootenay West):

should like to address a question to the Prime Minister (Mr. St. Laurent). Does the exclusion of newspapermen from all functions organized by the Canadian embassy at Washington in connection with the royal visit to that city represent government policy, or was this decision made by the Canadian ambassador to the United States?

Hon. Brooke Claxion (for the Secretary of State for External Affairs):

Mr. Speaker, as Acting Secretary of State for External Affairs perhaps 1 might answer that question. No such decision was made. There are only two events scheduled for the Canadian embassy. The first is a reception for commonwealth ambassadors and certain senior members of their staffs before lunch tomorrow, and the second is a dinner at which Their Royal Highnesses will be the hosts tomorrow evening.

Time, space, and numbers have imposed certain limitations upon the press coverage. In the case of the reception, in 45 minutes 150 people will have to be presented. It has been arranged that one representative of the press of the United States, Great Britain, and Canada will be chosen from those travelling with the royal party. That should provide adequate coverage on that occasion.

The dinner is given by Their Royal Highnesses and it seems logical that a dinner to be given by them should follow the precedent established by the president in giving a dinner for them at Blair House where there was no press coverage whatever. It was purely a private affair.

Mr. Irvin Studer (Maple Creek):

Mr. Speaker, the people of Maple Creek join with me in expressing my deep appreciation at being permitted to join with others in debating the address in reply to the speech from the throne. We in this section of the house are fortunate in being in close proximity to the mover (Mr. Cauchon) and the seconder (Mr. Simmons) of the address. We are revelling in the reflected glory that is coming to them because of the excellent presentations they have made on behalf of their constituencies.

I was raised and educated to some extent in another country and I should like to express my deep appreciation of the privilege of meeting Their Royal Highnesses The Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. We do not always realize just what is involved in this representation by the royal family. Those of us who come from other countries like the United States, who have been educated in the history of that country and its early development and association with Great Britain, are apt to come to Canada feeling that those symbols do not mean very much. We are likely to look at them with critical or perhaps sceptical eyes, but always tolerantly.

But after coming here and being subjected to the good influences that are extended to all countries connected with the commonwealth, we cannot help but join with those who have expressed the feelings of Canada. It was a proud moment for me two weeks ago when I stood in the snow on the platform at Swift Current and had the honour of being presented to Their Royal Highnesses. If some sentiment has been shown in connection with the royal visit, I hope that that sentiment will always remain because sentiment is disappearing in many parts of the world today. Another feeling, not at all connected with the welfare of the people, has taken its place. I am glad always to note the reference to the royal family and princess made in the prayers at the opening of this House of Commons when we ask the blessings of the Almighty upon them.

I think the people of Canada owe a debt to the leader of the opposition (Mr. Drew) for the presentation he made at the beginning of the week when he brought to the attention of parliament and1 the people of Canada details of the methods being employed in this country to destroy the very institutions upon which our country is built. I am glad that we have in Canada people who are ready to stand

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above party and are willing to take this sort of action. I like to see people who take this attitude: may my country be always right, but right or wrong, it is my country. I think the leader of the opposition stands high in the esteem of the people of this country for what he did this week.

It is the duty of members of parliament to bring before the House of Commons the conditions that exist in various parts' of the country, and I hope to deal with my constituency in a few words. The constituency of Maple Creek runs 180 miles along the borders of the state of Montana. This constituency is therefore interested in the conditions that prevail across the line. Maple Creek is: one of the largest settled constituencies in the country, as I have mentioned before. It is almost one and a half times the size of Prince Edward Island. It is two-thirds as large as Nova Scotia. It is almost as large as Vancouver island. It is over half as large as New Brunswick. Therefore it is a large constituency, and it is so important to Canada that Canada just could not get along without it. I say that because in the constituency of Maple Creek we supply and cater to the needs of all of the people of Canada. We add to the production of wealth in Canada. We raise wheat in untold millions of bushels when it rains, and sometimes it does rain. This year it did. We contribute to the economy of Canada and to the feeding of the people of Canada by raising untold numbers of the best cattle raised anywhere, hundreds of thousands of them. We contribute eggs and poultry, and we contribute turkeys because it is turkey country.

We contribute many of the good things that people eat and we also keep them warm because we raise one-quarter of all the sheep in Canada. Therefore we try to keep you well fed and we try to keep you warm. I make no apologies for representing that constituency. It is a country of extremes. Not many other people on the earth have the extremes that we enjoy or suffer from, as the case may be, in that southwestern part of Saskatchewan close to the northern part of Montana. There is a variation in temperature in that part of Canada of over 155 degrees. I admit that perhaps it gets somewhat colder at the North pole, although I am not too sure about it. The temperature goes down to 55 below in our area so it is extremely cold, and it can be extremely warm in the summer. The temperature goes up to 105 degrees in the shade. I do not know of any country where people are more conditioned to extremes than they are in my constituency, although for sure the people are not extreme.

This year we have a crop, strange to say. We are not talking about crop failure payments in the same way as we have formerly, but we still have a most unfavourable situation because of climatic conditions. The extremes are again in evidence. When I left home about two weeks ago the ground was covered with nine inches of snow. Harvesting was at a standstill. The people who had harvested some grain and were in a position to deliver it to an elevator could get along for the time being, but there are hundreds of people in that area who have not harvested a bushel of grain. There is no prospect of crop failure payments for them because crop failure payments are based on the yield and there is no yield because the crop has not been harvested. These people have worked for the entire year. Their position is worse than of people who are employed because when you are employed you usually get paid weekly or monthly. However, when you work all year on a farm and have a crop failure you have worked for twelve months for absolutely nothing and you still have your overhead.

The situation existing on many farms is that there is no revenue whatsoever to compensate these people for their year's work, as was the case in other years when the same thing happened. There are people in that area who have not harvested a bushel. Some of them are people who have suffered crop failures in the past and as a result have not been in a position to buy machinery to do their harvesting. They have had to call for their neighbours' assistance. These same people are the ones who have not harvested anything. I hope that the situation in the province of Saskatchewan is being watched very closely by the government. The care of these people falls upon the municipalities. If they cannot handle the situation they will appeal to the provincial government, and if it cannot handle the situation it will make an appeal to the federal government. Therefore I hope that the government will watch the situation in the west closely in order to eliminate much of the suffering that is inevitable if the situation does not correct itself before winter actually sets in.

We have other troubles, as the hon. member for Lake Centre (Mr. Diefenbaker) pointed out yesterday, with respect to the movement of grain where there is grain. I would urge the government, as he did, that nothing be left undone to make facilities available to people with grain, although I believe that the box car situation is partially a result of what happened last year when we had a railway strike. At that time the two railway systems came to a halt. You cannot recuperate from a discontinuance of railway service from coast

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to coast throughout the Dominion of Canada without having the inevitable result of conditions that never can be compensated for so far as catching up with the backlog is concerned. I think the hon. member for Lake Centre rendered a service by the presentation that he made, but he would have also rendered a service last year if he had supported the government with respect to the settlement of the railway strike. However, at that time he did not see fit to do so. We have that situation in Saskatchewan, and my latest information is that 200 points out of 2,100 are completely plugged and there is no movement of grain. I am satisfied if the situation can be corrected nothing will be left undone by the various departments to bring that about.

We were talking about what Maple Creek produced. We are anxious to produce more to fit into the general policy not only of this government but of other governments in an effort to bring down the cost of living. They tell us that there should be more production. We are doing our share in the constituency of Maple Creek by trying to increase the number of cattle, hogs and poultry, and the amount of milk and eggs. All these things go into the cost of living. There is also the cost of clothing and by raising sheep and doing these other things we want to make it possible for everyone to have sufficient of these things to enable them to continue living in the Dominion of Canada.

We are breeding new varieties of cattle. One is the cattalo which is partly buffalo and partly one of the beef breeds. The purpose is to create an animal which will have more beef on it. New crossings of breeds are coming into existence. There is the crossing of the Brahman strain of India and various breeds such as Herefords, Shorthorns, Angus and others that have been developed to produce more meat in a shorter period of time. The same thing is true of hogs and poultry, and I have already referred to our production of milk and eggs.

Last but not least, I believe that the sheep raisers should receive some consideration for their contribution to the warmth that is so necessary in our northern climate. We are only producing a quarter of the wool necessary to clothe the people of Canada. We import about 80 per cent of the wool used, and we want to eliminate synthetics if we can. I do not care very much for anything that is synthetic. I do not like synthetic clothing. I do not like synthetic food such as margarine. I do not like any of the other synthetic things that will come into use if we do not provide the original product, if we do

not provide the actual clothing and other material that nature intended us to wear.

If anyone thinks that the sheep raising industry is one of no consequence, let me remind him that there are over two million sheep in Canada. No industry has come to the government asking for assistance less than the sheep industry. No subsidy has ever been mentioned so far as they are concerned. No subsidy was ever given to them. They suffered a shrinkage in the value of their wool down to as low as five cents a pound in years gone by and still made no complaint. They were prepared to carry on. I think the reason they do so is that the blessing of God is upon them. The sheep raising industry must have found favour in the eyes of God; because, at the birth of the Lord, to what workers was the announcement first made? It was to the shepherds on the hillsides. No other industry that I know of in biblical times or since has had such recognition as to be chosen to have such an announcement made.

In the Old Testament you hear of the Lamb of God and the sacrifices that were made, and there are also references in the New Testament. Therefore they must be favoured in the eyes of God. It must be so or the sheep raisers would have been here asking for subsidies long ago. There are a quarter of a million sheep in the constituency of Maple Creek. One of the healthiest foods on earth, certainly the healthiest meat, is mutton. It is not generally known but in the olden days it was used almost exclusively. Why? Ulcers are well known in these days, especially among politicians, for various reasons, and others. Mutton is a meat that contains a substance that when you eat it puts a lining on the stomach and prevents ulcers.

Oh, oh.