June 26, 1917 (12th Parliament, 7th Session)

Mr. OLIVEK:

I would respectfully ask the minister to inform the House at the earliest convenient date how far this Order does extend. It is probably the most remarkable Order that has yet been issued in Canada, and there is a very great difference created between those mines that are under it and those that are not. It is of great importance that we should know which mines are under the Order and which, if any, are not. In view of the importance of this Order and of the action that necessarily follows it, it is essential that this House and the country should know, not by a return laid on the Table of papers which do not carry their own explanation, but on the responsibility of the Minister of Labour, what the negotiations between the parties were, and why and how those negotiations failed to come to a satisfactory conclusion. This country is going into a tremendous experiment, and we have a right to begin at the beginning and know why.