March 9, 1937 (18th Parliament, 2nd Session)

Mr. DOUGLAS:

Whether the Minister of Labour told these young men or not, the fact remains that for fifty or sixty thousand young men in Canada to-day the outlook of youth is $5 a month on a farm; otherwise they can go to the mission and get two meals per day. Some people think that $5 a month is a lot of money, and sometimes I am amazed at the sense of values shown by hon. gentlemen opposite. I have here a copy of an order in council, which I mentioned before, showing that Colonel Ralston, counsel for the Turgeon grain inquiry, receives $20 a day for expenses, and a salary of $200 per day. Compare that with the lot of these young men. Let us leave out the living expenses, though they are not altogether comparable; the boys get board and this gentleman gets $20 a day. Let us take Colonel Ralston's salary and make a calculation on the basis of it. It would take a young man, working under the farm placement scheme, eighty-seven years to make as much as Colonel Ralston makes in a month of twenty-six days, or 1,054 young men working a year to make as much money as he would make if he worked one year.