Mr. Sinclair:

On a point of order, I did ask permission.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Golding):

I ask

the hon. member to refrain from interrupting the speaker who has the floor.

Mr. Sinclair:

I did ask permission. He gave his permission. I am afraid you did not hear it, sir, at that distance.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Golding):

I must ask hon. members to refrain from interrupting any more.

Mr. Gillis:

I think I have proved conclusively for the record of this house that my hon. friends to the right, who are still living in the dark ages in so far as economics are concerned, were absolutely inaccurate in the statements made by the hon. gentleman who spoke for them this afternoon. I am going to let the matter rest there. I was provoked into this sideline discussion by the remarks of the hon. member for Lake Centre (Mr. Diefenbaker) because I realized he was making a speech for the record, a political speech to be distributed, and if someone did not answer it in this house it would be the theme song of the Tory party in provinces west and east where there do not happen to be too many C.C.F. members to tell exactly what is going on in Saskatchewan.

I am sorry the Minister of Finance (Mr. Abbott) is not in his seat. I am not going to start to beat the budget from the financial point of view. I think the hon. member for Rosetown-Biggar (Mr. Coldwell) did that very successfully and there is no need of repeating what he said at that time. He did make a suggestion which I think more of us should elaborate on. His suggestion was to the effect that the budget itself should not be just a bookkeeping record of the government, of their income and expenditures. In addition, the Minister of Finance should bring in a capital budget and show the Canadian people and hon. members exactly what he proposes in the way of developing this country. He did make the statement that he had a shelf of public works. Nobody knows what they are. Across this country today unemployment is developing, and as time goes on that trend will become more serious.

The Budget-Mr. Gillis

That is not so.

Mr. Gillis:

I know. I read; you fellows do not.

They read the Globe and Mail.

Mr. Smith (Calgary West):

I did not say

a word.

Mr. Sinclair:

He is suspicious of us.

Mr. Gillis:

There is going to be unemployment. You cannot avoid it. They are watching what is going on in the United States today. With the downward trend of prices in that country you will find, if you are watching your unemployment insurance figures in this country and in certain of the provinces-

Mr. Grant:

More wishful thinking.

Mr. Gillis:

-you will find that there is unemployment, and it may catch up to you even before the election. I know that hon. members from British Columbia are fully aware of it.

Mr. Sinclair:

Not today.

Mr. Gillis:

There is quite a lot of it; some 36,000 were unemployed in Vancouver not so long ago.

Mr. Sinclair:

Two months ago.

Mr. Gillis:

They are starting to go back in the bush now and we are getting away from it a bit, but we are not away from it all. Either the Minister of Finance or the Minister of Reconstruction and Supply should have some plans to deal with unemployment. There is a lot of work to be done in this country, and there are many people who could be put to work. There should be a plan for each one of the provinces so that the provincial governments and the people generally would know exactly what will happen if certain industries lay off men because of the piling up of goods. That is not done, but it should be done. For example, in my own province the unemployment insurance figures are four times as great as they were last year. That means that four times as many people are drawing unemployment insurance in Nova Scotia at this time as there were at this time last year. The unemployment insurance figures do not give the whole picture of unemployment because there are hundreds of men who run out of unemployment insurance. There are hundreds of others who are seeking employment and who never qualify for unemployment insurance. If you take these unemployment insurance figures alone it indicates an upward trend in that field. Some hon. member suggested that it was only wishful thinking. I would remind hon. members from Nova Scotia particularly-

2610 HOUSE OF

The Budget-Mr. Gillis

Mr. Knowles:

It was the senator from Prince Edward Island.

Mr. Gillis:

I did not expect him to be very much interested. The session opened in January. I suppose that every hon. member from Nova Scotia has received telegrams and letters from that province pointing out that the basic industry of that province has been working about half time owing to the lack of markets. Mind you, that is not considered unemployment.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Golding):

Order. I must remind the hon. member that his time has expired.