Clarence Gillis
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)
Mr. GILLIS:
You have no fixed profits. That is one thing we have urged in this house time and again. We have been urging that in addition to fixing prices and regulating wages, profits also should be fixed. Profits are one of the big factors today in this country-one of the factors that have got us into the mess we are now in-because they are uncontrolled until such time as the government is prepared to lay down some definite regulations with regard to the margin of profit anyone is permitted to make, taking anything in excess of
Prices Committee
that in the form of excess profits. But you have nothing to investigate anywhere, and you cannot bring into this house anything that [DOT]will condemn anyone in this country for any price he 13 charging.
In the hands of the government just now there is all the necessary machinery. There is the Combines Investigation Act. This matter has all been gone over before and there is no necessity for me to go over it again, but I strongly urge that if you set up a committee it should go into the matter thoroughly. It is not a bad idea to have a committee that will go thoroughly into the whole economy, overhaul it, and bring some evidence into the house on the necessity for legislation to control and regulate things in this country in the interests of all the people. But in the meantime, with the present upward trend of things in this country, action should be taken by the government, even if it be a temporary action, to reimpose controls and subsidies in order to hold the line where it is at the present time.