Mr. Stanley Knowles (Winnipeg North Centre) moved

for leave to introduce Bill No. 5, to amend the Industrial Relations and Disputes Investigation Act (voluntary revocable check-off).

Motion agreed to and bill read the first time.

Mr. W. M. Johnson (Kindersley):

I should like to address a question to the Minister of National Revenue. In view of the grain congestion and the necessary construction of farm storage facilities, has the minister given consideration to granting farmers accelerated depreciation for income tax purposes on farm granaries?

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

Mr. Speaker, the government has given very serious and careful consideration to all the problems which have arisen in the grain trade.

Mr. Johnson (Kindersley):

I should like to ask a supplementary question, Mr. Speaker. When will the results of this consideration become known?

Mr. McCann:

The best answer I can make to that question is a repetition of the answer given yesterday by the Minister of Trade and Commerce (Mr. Howe). He said that the government's legislation program with respect to grain is on the order paper. He also said that if there is any further program, it will appear on the order paper.

Mr. J. Wilfrid Dufresne (Quebec West):

should like to direct a question to the 67509-6

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Would the minister tell the house whether the proposed simplification of formalities in the case of British immigrants coming to Canada referred to by his deputy minister, Mr. Laval Fortier, at a press conference in Canada House as reported in the French newspaper Le Droit, is intended for British immigrants only or whether these simplifications will be extended to all immigrants coming to Canada regardless of their original nationality?

Hon. J. W. Pickersgill (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration):

Mr. Speaker, I have not the hon. gentleman's advantage of having read the particular item in question. I think perhaps it would be wise for me to read it before I attempt to explain it.

Mr. J. W. Noseworthy (York South):

should like to direct a question to the Minister of Trade and Commerce. Is any agency of the minister's department or of any other government department taking any measures, in co-operation with provincial and municipal agencies, to discover the cause of so many fires in homes and apartments, and to prevent the appalling loss of life in such fires? If so, what measures are being taken?

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

The division of building research of the national research council has a fire research section, the object of which is to investigate all aspects of fires with special reference to loss of life and the improvement of buildings with respect to fire hazards. The head of the section receives all second degree fire calls in the city of Ottawa, and therefore the national research council through its fire research section has studied all serious fires in the capital city in close co-operation with the Ottawa fire department during the last three or four years.

As the question suggests, the responsibility for fire prevention is a provincial matter under the British North America Act. The officer directly responsible is the fire marshal in the various provinces. The division to which I have referred works closely with the fire marshal and reports to him the results

Inquiries of the Ministry of their studies. In general, the division is working to eliminate fire hazards from Canadian homes and Canadian buildings. The difficulty at the moment is that these fires occur in the older houses and about all that the building research department can do is to call attention to the hazards in the home, the necessity for cleanliness, the necessity for having wiring checked, particularly if the wiring is old, and to ask that all precautions be taken.

I believe that as a result of the study we are moving toward a better class of fire-resistant building in newer construction both of homes and of other types of buildings.

Mr. Noseworthy:

May I ask two questions of the Minister of National Health and Welfare? In view of the large number of children who have recently lost their lives in burning homes and apartments, and in view of the fact that many mothers left alone with small children have no knowledge of what to do in case of fire, will the minister consider the advisability of including with the children's allowance cheques which go to the mothers of the country every month-

Mr. Speaker:

Order.