Mr. J. G. Diefenbaker (Lake Centre):

Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Spadina referred to an excerpt from a speech reported in the Globe and Mail, in which I was reported to have said as follows:

He said the defence committee, which reported Tuesday with a revised Currie report, wasted its time in sitting for seven weeks. The report was written by a minister and could have been drawn up before the committee even sat.

I want to assure my hon. friend that an error was made in the report. What I said was that the report could have been written by a minister, and could have been drawn up before the committee ever sat. I thank my hon. friend for the courteous way in which he dealt with it, and his point of privilege was well taken.

Mr. Sinnott:

What about Springfield?

Hon. J. J. McCann (Minister of National Revenue):

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a question of privilege. After the luncheon recess yesterday, the hon. member for Three Rivers (Mr. Balcer) rose on a question of privilege and, quoting an extract from Le Droit of May 6 with reference to a questionnaire sent from the Ottawa district office, taxation division, Department of National Revenue, signed by F. A. Humphrys, assessment branch, the hon. member protested against the unworthy and anti-national attitude of a civil servant and asked for his dismissal.

I was not in the house at the time. Had I been here, I would have immediately protested against this unwarranted attack on a civil servant who was not here to defend himself. I have known Mr. Humphrys for the past eight or nine years, and have always found him a conscientious and efficient officer. In an interview yesterday afternoon with Mr. Humphrys, in the presence of the assistant deputy minister of the taxation division, Mr. Humphrys absolutely denied

having made the statement or reply attributed to him. Personally, I accept Mr. Humphrys' word.

Within the next few days, the estimates of the Department of National Revenue will be under review, and the house will have an opportunity to more fully discuss this and related matters. I shall be prepared to answer any questions and give all available information.

Right Hon. C. D. Howe (Minister of Trade and Commerce):

Mr. Speaker, I should like to make a further short statement in regard to the grain position in Canada. In doing so I would first like to comment that during the past and present crop years we have been dealing with physical grain handling problems arising from abundant harvests. In

1951, the western wheat crop was estimated at 529 million bushels, and this was followed by a crop of 664 million bushels in 1952, or a total wheat production of 1,193 million bushels from the two harvests. The production of oats in 1951 was 340 million bushels and in 1952, 346 million bushels, or 686 million bushels in the two years.

In the case of barley, 1951 production was 234 million bushels and 1952 production was 281 million bushels, or a combined barley production of 515 million bushels in 1951 and

1952.

In all the history of the west never have these quantities of grain been harvested in two successive years.

The phenomenal grain production in the prairie provinces in the last two years has been accompanied by an excellent demand. The extent of overseas demand for grain is indicated by the fact that in 1951-52, total grain exports-including wheat flour-from Canada amounted to 506 million bushels, an all-time record; and during the present crop year exports are running substantially ahead of the volume of a year ago. Our exports for the crop year 1952-53 should exceed the record levels of the last crop year by a substantial margin.

With this background I would now like to give the house an estimate of delivery possibilities in the prairie provinces for the balance of the crop year.

Grain

First of all, I would like to observe that producers' deliveries of grain up to April 30 amounted to 573 million bushels. This is the largest delivery of grain ever recorded in the corresponding period of any crop year. When we consider that we started the crop year with not more than 125 million bushels of immediately available country elevator space, I think you will agree that we have had an excellent movement of grain out of country elevators this year and an excellent turnover of country elevator space. Producers will, of course, continue to deliver grain in substantial volume right up to the end of the crop year. I have requested the Canadian wheat board to provide me with its estimate of the delivery position for the balance of the crop year and I will summarize the board's appraisal of the position.

According to the latest estimate of elevator agents, producers had marketable surpluses from 1952 crop of all grains amounting to 964 million bushels. This figure is about 37 million bushels lower than our earlier estimate and, of course, could be affected by crop development over the next 90 days.

Based on the grain movement to date, and after allowing for an increase in country elevator storage capacity and more efficient use of both country and terminal storage this year as a result of the dry harvest, we believe it will be possible to provide for firm deliveries of about 830 million bushels by July 31, 1953. This will be an increase of about 110 million bushels over the quantities of grain delivered in 1951-52. Up to the present time producers' deliveries have amounted to about 573 million bushels and we have, therefore, to make space available for a further 257 million bushels to provide for total producers' marketings up to the objective of 830 million bushels.

We estimate . that about 830 million bushels of grain can be delivered under our basic quota of 15 bushels per seeded acre on wheat, oats and barley, and the supplementary three-bushel delivery quota on total wheat, oats and barley acreage. Therefore, it looks now as though this will be the limit of our delivery quotas for the present crop year, although, of course, we will keep the position in continuous review for the balance of the crop year.

On May 1 the supplementary three-bushel quota became effective at every delivery point in the west and two weeks later, on May 15 all delivery points become alternative points. This means that producers may deliver their grain up to the 18-bushel quota at any station in the west where space is available.

As closely as we can estimate, total deliveries of around 830 million bushels will allow about 532 million bushels of wheat, 150 million bushels of barley, 120 million bushels of oats, 18 million bushels of rye and 10 million bushels of flax to be delivered.

To accomplish this, space must be found for about 165 million bushels of wheat, 49 million bushels of oats, 35 million bushels of barley and about 8 million bushels of flaxseed and rye.

If the foregoing estimates prove to be substantially correct, we will have a farm carryover on July 31 of about 133 million bushels of grain. The farm carryover will be largely in areas with the highest yield per acre in 1952.

[Later: ]

Mr. Argue:

I should like to ask the Minister of Trade and Commerce a question, arising out of his very comprehensive statement on the grain situation. I think the minister realizes that farmers need to deliver additional grain.

Mr. Speaker:

Order. Will the hon. gentleman ask his question?

Mr. Argue:

My question is this. Will the farmer have the right, as I believe the minister indicated some weeks ago-

Question.

Mr. Argue:

Will the farmer have the right to switch deliveries of oats and barley on his quota to deliveries of wheat? Will he have alternatives, and will he be permitted to switch grains in order to market his most valuable grain?

Mr. Howe:

He has the privilege of marketing 18 bushels of wheat per acre, plus 18 bushels of oats per acre, plus quotas for barley and rye, but he cannot switch. In other words, he cannot switch between one grain and the other. He has a maximum in each case that must be observed. I may say that when he delivers 18 bushels of wheat per acre he is delivering a very handsome crop. If he has more, he is fortunate.

Mr. Argue:

Will the minister give consideration to that point? There is plenty of oats and barley in the elevators now; it would be better to have wheat.

Order.

Hon. Stuart S. Garson (Minister of Justice) moved

for leave to introduce Bill No. 367, to amend the Criminal Code.

Mr. Knowles:

Explain.