March 16, 1949 (20th Parliament, 5th Session)

Mr. Poulioi:

I agree, and I do not intend to discuss the motion at all. I rise on a question of privilege, and it is one which would affect all requests of a similar nature.
I am lured by mystery, and mystery surrounds us here. We are told a thing is mysterious, and we cannot know about it. We cannot even learn about the tenders for post office contracts at Riviere du Loup. They are secret; there is a mystery attached to them, and there is mystery attached to this matter too. I will now tell you why I will not insist that the motion be proceeded with.
I will tell the house why it has been made mysterious. It was precisely at the time of that conference that Mr. Dunning went to see Mr. Duplessis of Quebec and said to him, referring to certain words in the transcript: "Would you like to delete this?" He said, "No; I will leave it as it is." What Mr. Dunning referred to was an offer of co-operation from the premier of Quebec to the dominion government as to the settlement of all difficulties, and it is because the premier of Quebec refused to delete those words that the whole thing has been kept secret. Now everybody knows it.
Motion dropped.