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April 26, 1949

LIB

John Ewen Sinclair

Liberal
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Sinclair:

May I ask a question?

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
CCF

Clarence Gillis

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Gillis:

Yes.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
LIB

John Ewen Sinclair

Liberal
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Sinclair:

I should like to ask a question concerning these figures, and that is, is private enterprise all profit? There is one great feature in private enterprise and that is that people lose money as well as make money.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
LIB

William Henry Golding (Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole)

Liberal
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Golding):

Order. I should like all hon. members to cease interrupting the member who has the floor. It is not in order and I believe all hon. members know it.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
CCF

Stanley Howard Knowles (Whip of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation)

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Knowles:

Which hon. member has the floor?

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
CCF

Clarence Gillis

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Gillis:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not mind it a bit; I like it. The hon. member for Vancouver North (Mr. Sinclair) asked me a question and I said I would try to answer it. His question was-

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
PC

Douglas Gooderham Ross

Progressive Conservative
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Ross (St. Paul's):

May I ask a question?

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
CCF

Clarence Gillis

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Gillis:

The leader of our party and the members of this group have always suggested that private enterprise, or free enterprise, if you wish-

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
LIB

John Ewen Sinclair

Liberal
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Sinclair:

Competition.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
CCF

Clarence Gillis

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Gillis:

-which is something that does not exist, have always made a lot of money, and the question has been asked why. The answer to that is that there is no longer such a thing as free enterprise in this country. There is no such thing as private enterprise. What we have in this country today is monopoly enterprise, where a small group at the top can weed out the little fellow where there was competition. Where is there any competition in this country today in the field of distributing from Ontario and Quebec to the rest of the country in practically everything that you eat and wear? Where is the competition? The competition that you suspect or think of is from one little grocery store to the other. There is no such thing as competition. The manufacturers of this country, who supply those who retail and sell, fix the price of the products and decide what you are to sell it for, and you sell it for that or else you get out. Take the coal industry in this country today, or the steel industry.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
LIB

Gordon Benjamin Isnor

Liberal
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Isnor:

There are no fixed prices. There is not a single fixed price.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
CCF

Clarence Gillis

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Gillis:

Take coal, steel or any of our essential commodities. The price is dictated. There is no competition. There is practically one organization in every field which controls every commodity that is used in this country today.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
LIB

John Ewen Sinclair

Liberal
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Sinclair:

May I give one big example, the biggest of all, automobiles. You say there is no competition between the great automobile firms of Canada?

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
CCF

Clarence Gillis

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Gillis:

No, I do not think there is.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
LIB

John Ewen Sinclair

Liberal
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Sinclair:

They get together and fix prices?

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
CCF

Clarence Gillis

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Gillis:

Certainly they do. Do you mean to tell me that there is any competition between Ford, General Motors and Chrysler? Certainly there is not.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
LIB

John Ewen Sinclair

Liberal
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Sinclair:

How naive.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
CCF

Clarence Gillis

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Gillis:

Today there is a shortage. You cannot get cars. It is a buyers' market.

People are hunting for cars. They are not in competition with one another, not by a long shot. The only thing that is uniform in the prices of automobiles is the tax charged by the Canadian government. That is uniform.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
LIB

John Ewen Sinclair

Liberal
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

Mr. Sinclair:

The prices are not uniform; the prices are different.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink
LIB

William Henry Golding (Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole)

Liberal
Member File Biography @ PARLINFO

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Golding):

I ask

hon. members to refrain from interrupting the speaker who has the floor. It is not proper.

Topic:   THE BUDGET
Subtopic:   DEBATE ON THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
Permalink

April 26, 1949