Mr. DOUGLAS (Weybum):

The Minister of Transport will remember that when the defence purchasing board legislation was before the house last year, considerable pressure was brought to bear from various parts of this chamber to have provision made that no member of the board should be a shareholder or stockholder in any armament firm, and the government brought in an amendment providing accordingly, but it was finally deleted by another body. The defence purchasing board was later merged with the war supply board, and the war supply board is now merged with the Department of Munitions and Supply. But the principle is still a good one; and in view of the fact that the government gave assent to the principle, I am wondering if it is being carried out so that those responsible for placing orders and for letting contracts under the minister shall be in no wise connected with the firms receiving the contracts; not because we are suspicious of everyone, but because the people of Canada would have a greater measure of confidence if they were perfectly certain that the men responsible for letting contracts on such a large scale were in

War Appropriation Bill

no wise connected with the business firms receiving the orders. Is that principle being carried out?

Mr. DOUGLAS ( Weybum):

What is the estimate of the selling price of these selling agencies which are disposing of the wheat or have disposed of it?

Mr. DOUGLAS (Weybum):

I wanted to ask the minister a question which does not relate directly to this resolution, but will come up later. Was the grain futures bill which was passed last year, providing for the supervision of the Winnipeg grain exchange, ever proclaimed to become law?

Mr. DOUGLAS (Weybum):

We should have an explanation from the government to assist us in discussing this matter further. When this bill was in the resolution stage, the Prime Minister suggested that a committee would be set up representing all parties to receive confidential information regarding the appropriations. Is it the purpose of the government to set up that committee to review these appropriations before this bill is finally passed, or will that be discussed after the bill is passed?