Mr. Gordon Graydon (Peel):

May I direct a question to the Minister of Agriculture? It arises out of his statement yesterday in connection with the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Saskatchewan, in which he said it has been established that the disease was

transmitted from the area in which it was originally found. I seem to recall that the minister or someone said that it came from frozen meat which originated in the original quarantine area. That may not be right, but I should like to have the minister clarify it and indicate how the disease was transmitted from one area to the other, and on what date it left the original area to go to the new area of outbreak.

Right Hon. J. G. Gardiner (Minister of Agriculture):

I hesitate to make a statement on a report of this kind, which may not be absolutely in accordance with the facts- because you can scare people too much these days by saying certain things. I am quite prepared to discuss the matter with my hon. friend and give him any facts which I have, rather than make a general statement with regard to it at the moment.

Mr. Wright:

Can the minister give us any indication as to when the agriculture committee will meet to deal with this matter of foot-and-mouth disease? We were told it would meet immediately after the Easter recess.

Mr. Gardiner:

I had hoped to be able to suggest to the chairman of the committee that the committee be called the week after next, until this new case was discovered. I am not too sure now that we could get the officials away from the area to bring them here that soon. My suggestion would be- and I think it has already been discussed with the Minister of Trade and Commerce (Mr. Howe)-that the committee be called together, and, if we are not able to deal with that question at that time, that we go on with the report of the wheat board or with some other matter which is to be referred to the committee, and bring the matter of foot-and-mouth disease on as soon as we can.

Mr. H. R. Argue (Assiniboia):

I should like to address a question to the Minister of Labour. Will the government take immediate steps to provide necessary help for farmers who must carry out seeding and harvesting operations in western Canada within the next few weeks? Will the government again make members of the armed services available for such work?

Hon. Milton F. Gregg (Minister of Labour):

The hon. member kindly sent me notice of his questions. As to the first question, there will be rather a special farm labour situation

Inquiries of the Ministry in some areas of Saskatchewan over the period of the next several weeks, arising particularly from the additional requirements of spring harvesting operations now in process, which are in addition to the usual spring farm labour needs.

The agricultural employment officers of our national employment service in the prairie region are working hard on the recruitment of labour to meet this shortage, in conjunction with provincial agricultural officers. A concerted effort is being made to meet the short-time requirements-because it will only be a short time-from within the prairie region. Our officers are optimistic that as a result of these efforts there will be no serious shortage.

I would ask my hon. friend to suggest to any farmers in need of help that they get in touch with their provincial agricultural officer or with our nearest national employment officer, if they have not already done so. While the list of unemployed at our offices in the prairie region is down by 4,677 as at April 17, as compared with April 3, two weeks before, there are still in the prairie region listed for employment some 33,000 male workers. Our officers will continue to do their best to deal with this situation.

Now, as to the second question, this is of course a matter of government policy, and therefore even though I were sure, which I am not at this moment, that the necessity existed, I would not be able to make any comment on it because it affects other departments, particularly the Department of National Defence.

(Translation):

Mr. Charles Cannon (Iles-de-la-Madeleine):

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Public Works (Mr. Fournier) a question.

Under the Navigable Waters Protection Act, has the minister received from the province of Quebec a request for the approval of the plans of a bridge to be built at Havre-aux-Basques, in the Magdalen islands, between Grindstone and Amherst islands?

If so, will the minister grant, at the earliest possible moment, the approval required under the act, since this bridge is urgently needed and has long been asked for by the people of the Magdalen islands?

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Inquiries of the Ministry

Hon. Alphonse Fournier (Minister of Public Works):

I thank the hon. member for having given me notice of his question.

In reply, I must say that the provincial authorities, under the Navigable Waters Protection Act, have requested the approval of the plans for that bridge. Their request was referred to departmental engineers, who reported that the project would in no way be prejudicial to navigation.

Once the provincial government have assured us that all public notices have been given in accordance with the requirements of the Navigable Waters Protection Act, we shall ask council to authorize the plan of the proposed bridge.

(Text):

Mr. J. G. Diefenbaker (Lake Centre):

should like to direct a question to the Minister of National Defence in regard to Camp Borden. Are there any cases of typhoid fever among the troops there?