April 25, 1917 (12th Parliament, 7th Session)

Sir THOMAS WHITE:

An Order in
Council has been passed giving the Minister of Customs authority to fix the price of newsprint paper in Canada. The purpose of the Order was to provide an adequate supply of newsprint paper at reasonable prices to the publishers of newspapers. The Order to which I refer was not to become effective until gazetted. It provided that newsprint papers could only be exported by license. That Order was not gazetted, because, upon taking the matter up with the manufacturers of newsprint paper, an arrangement was reached whereby they made a fixed mill price and by
reason of that action it was not thought necessary to enforce the Order in Council. Subsequently, in order to meet a situation which developed, a further Order in Council was passed; under the provisions of which the Minister of Customs was authorized to fix the price of newsprint paper sold in Canada, and an officer of the Government was authorized, if necessary, to take possession of supplies of newsprint paper required by newspaper publishers throughout Canada and to sell at a price fixed by the minister, and distribute to Canadian newspapers. If my Rt. Hon. friend desires that both Orders should be brought down I shall be very glad to lay them upon the Table in due course.