Hon. W. E. Harris (Minister of Finance):

Mr. Speaker, I shall give consideration to what appears to be a request.

Then we find that the matter was revived a month later. Hansard of March 11, 1957 indicates at page 2064 that the hon. member for Greenwood returned to his question and asked the minister of finance:

Mr. Speaker, may I ask the Minister of Finance whether it is the intention to have the governor of the Bank of Canada, now that the report is out, appear before the banking and commerce committee as he has done in the past?

To this question the minister of finance, Mr. Harris, made the following reply:

Mr. Speaker, I think I may have slightly misled the house-

He was obviously referring to what he had said earlier on February 14, which I have read:

Mr. Speaker, I think I may have slightly misled the house and the hon. member for Greenwood by a reference I made in answer to a question such as this earlier in the session. I find that it has not been a custom for the governor of the Bank of Canada to appear before the banking and commerce committee. It is true that the former governor and the present one have appeared before it on occasion but a good deal less frequently than I had thought when I made the answer. It would therefore not be correct to say that it has been customary, although on occasion it has been done. I shall consider whether or not it ought to be done in this case.

That is the end of the quotation and having considered it he did not propose that the report go to the committee.

Hon. W. E. Harris (Minister of Finance):

I doubt very much that I can. I have had a request from the civil service representatives to see me either Monday or Tuesday, and I do not think the civil service commission work will be completed by that time, though I am hopeful it will so we can discuss it with the representatives of the civil service.

Mr. Harris:

Normally, Mr. Speaker, there is a balance that can be drawn upon in the general salaries vote. That would not be sufficient for a retroactive increase in salary, and precisely how far it would go I am not sure. I shall have to look at that.

Mr. Harris:

As I said yesterday, I was about to rise at the opening of the discussion on the resolution, but the Leader of the Opposition seemed to feel he ought to take precedence. I would at that time have given the usual undertaking. I have been thinking about it since and I have noticed that in their comments a good many hon. members who have spoken in the course of this debate assume that my undertaking will be honoured by my colleagues in the fall. But I will give it.

Mr. Harris:

I was going to suggest that perhaps we could suspend until five minutes to nine. I beg your pardon, Mr. Speaker. I am reminded that the private bills which we passed over at five o'clock are still on the order paper, and if we had the time and the inclination now we could discuss them, although I notice that there is not a full hour left before it is expected we shall be summoned to the other place. However, I think if any hon. member feels that we ought to call them, at least this is an opportunity for them to be called.