March 18, 1949 (20th Parliament, 5th Session)

Mr. Jackman:

Some time ago I tried to get some information from the Minister of Agriculture, but I am afraid I did not get quite what I wanted. I did get a note from one of my colleagues which said that the qualification of a cabinet minister is to be able to reply to a question without answering it. The minister did not answer my question. I am not going to ask it again because the minister is much smarter in debate than I am or ever hope to be. I am just an average, ordinary member, like my colleague the hon. member for Vancouver-Burrard. Therefore I shall address my question to the Minister of Finance. Some time ago some figures were given in this house

I think from this side-which showed that the total imports of Great Britain from Canada were $688 million and the total exports from Great Britain to Canada were $374 million, or 40 per cent of the amount they took from us. What I

Foreign Exchange Control should like to know from the Minister of Finance is this, and it is purely factual; there is nothing else behind it. What efforts have been made to have Britain send more goods such as iron and perhaps textiles? I know that we altered tariffs on one particular point. But a good salesman not only tries to sell his own goods when he goes over to Great Britain; he shows them the way oy which they can purchase goods from us. I should like to know if the Minister of Finance can throw any light upon these matters. What has been done to try to get more of Britain's goods into Canada, to offset the goods we are sending to Britain? Because only this month we have read in the press that Great Britain's over-all balance is now about equal. The only shortage is in hard currencies-Canadian dollars and American dollars.
I think it is true to say generally that there have been many things produced in Great Britain and exported to soft currency countries which could have been sent to Canada. Can the Minister of Finance throw any light upon that-before I ask further questions?