February 8, 1951 (21st Parliament, 4th Session)

Mr. Cruickshank:

For the benefit of the
hon. member who says that that is why I am doing so well may I say that two years before he was moved over here behind me I was two rows closer to the Prime Minister's desk than he is today. The hon. member for Vancouver-Quadra is reported as follows on page 165 of Hansard of February 7:
This house would be well advised to listen to the pleas for action by these bodies of Canadian, veterans.
I suggest to the hon. member for Vancouver-Quadra that he should state where-he stands in so far as the supplying of manpower for the armed services is concerned, and this should include the reserve army as well. As I said before, if it ever becomes necessary to have all-out conscription, L

The Address-Mr. Cruickshank shall vote for it. However, I have complete confidence in the Prime Minister (Mr. St. Laurent). I believe that he appreciates the situation. My confidence in the Prime Minister is such that I believe that if and when the time comes that action is required nothing will stand in the way of his directing whatever is necessary to preserve the freedom we now have.
I do not want to keep the house too long because I recently read an article by the Canadian Manufacturers Association about speechmaking. I do not own a lumber company or a packing plant so it is not very often that I agree with them. However, they said that a speech should never last more than twenty minutes and they said one more thing with which I definitely agree, something which is not followed by 85 per cent of the members of this house, that a speech should not be read. If at any time I do read a speech I shall be different from even some of my colleagues on this side of the house and will admit that I am simply reading what some member in the press gallery has written for me.
Perhaps I should not be too hard on the hon. member for Vancouver-Quadra because he comes from my province. Perhaps instead of pointing out the mistakes of the hon. member I should point out the mistakes of hon. members from Ontario or the maritimes, although I do not know that there are any members in the opposition from the maritimes.