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

Mr. VICTOR QUELCH (Acadia):

First, I should like to congratulate the Minister of Finance (Mr. Dunning) and the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Gardiner) upon the very fine delivery of their speeches, though I fear I cannot be quite so complimentary about some of the statements which those speeches contain. I intend to deal very briefly with certain conditions that are prevalent to-day.
One of the most encouraging signs of the times is the fact that it is becoming generally realized that the prosperity of a nation does not so much depend upon stock exchange quotations, statistics of production or trade returns, but rather on the general level of the social well-being of the people. As we go through Canada from east to west we find so much poverty, squalor and actual want, that we must immediately realize that this vaunted prosperity is only for a very limited section of society. So much poverty might be excusable in a country which was producing
The Budget-Mr. Quelch

boards is very heavy in the various provinces, I would urge that additional boards be appointed in order to expedite the work of readjusting these cases.