Right Hon. L. S. St. Laurent (for the Minister of Justice) moved

that the house go into committee at the next sitting to consider the following resolution, which has been recommended to the house by His Excellency:

That it is expedient to introduce a measure to amend the Judges Act including provision of a salary for one additional judge of the county court of Ontario.

Right Hon. L. S. St. Laurent (Prime Minister):

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the hon. member for Vancouver-Quadra (Mr. Green) asked about recent press reports concerning the activities of United States naval vessels in the Canadian Arctic during the coming summer. I am not sure exactly what report he was referring to, though I understand there was one in the April 3 issue of the Montreal Gazette and another in the edition of the Financial Post dated April 6.

Mr. Howard C. Green (Vancouver-Quadra):

No, it was one which appeared in the Christian Science Monitor.

Mr. St. Laurent (Quebec East):

Well, I have not seen the one in the Christian Science Monitor, but I assume it would be along the same lines.

Mr. Green:

Yes, it was much the same as the one which appeared in the Gazette.

Mr. St. Laurent (Quebec East):

These stories were apparently based on a recent United States navy press release. When arrangements were being made for the construction of the distant early warning line Canada and the United States agreed that the United States should be responsible for the sea supply of the D.E.W. line while it was being built.

It was realized that because of the amount of material involved and the urgency of the operation, a large number of special vessels

would be required which Canada was not in a position to supply. At the time this agreement was reached, however, the United States was informed that once the line was in operation Canada might wish to assume responsibility for the annual resupply. Arrangements have already been completed for the Northern Transportation Company to resupply the western portion of the D.E.W. line beginning in the summer of 1958. Discussions are under way to determine if the Department of Transport can assume the responsibility for supplying the eastern portion of the line in connection with their other responsibilities in the Arctic.

As a result of the agreement I just mentioned the United States navy has been sending two convoys into the Canadian Arctic for the past two summers. One of these has emanated from Seattle and the other from New York or Boston. These convoys have had the task of supplying all the United States installations in the north, including those in Alaska and Greenland as well as in Canada. This may be one reason why the number of ships involved seems to be large. Actually only a portion of each convoy enters Canadian waters. The operation this summer will be similar in both size and organization to that of the past two summers.

As in other years Canada will be well represented on both convoys. During the past two summers there have been both official government representatives as well as technical observers working with the commander of each task force. H.M.C.S. Labrador has provided icebreaker support for the eastern task force and the Royal Canadian Air Force has carried out a series of ice reconnaissances. Similar arrangements will be in effect again this summer.

Canada has always been consulted when the plans for the convoys were being made each year. This year, for instance, representatives of the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force attended a series of meetings held in Seattle on February 5 to make arrangements for the sea supply of the western Arctic, and a senior Canadian naval officer attended a meeting in Washington on March 25 when the details of the eastern Arctic convoy were being worked out. Incidentally, each year the United States navy has been required to apply for a waiver of the

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Inquiries of the Ministry provisions of the Canada Shipping Act, since the cargo ships they charter operate in Canadian coastal waters.

The suggestion that this summer's task force is being organized to discover a northwest passage rather than supply the D.E.W. line and other United States installations is, I am afraid, the fruit of a rather active imagination. During the past two summers a great deal of hydrographic work has been done jointly by Canadian and United States agencies in connection with the sea supply of the D.E.W. line, and except for the area around Boothia peninsula the task is now almost complete. Plans have been made to finish the work during the coming summer by having both Canadian and United States vessels work at the problem from opposite sides. H.M.C.S. Labrador will proceed from the Atlantic to the vicinity of Prince Regent inlet and carry out survey work there, while the United States navy icebreaker Storis and two other United States coastguard survey ships will carry out similar work on the western side of Boothia peninsula. H.M.C.S. Labrador will be surveying Bellot strait which provides a channel between the eastern and western Arctic, and if it is found that water and ice conditions are suitable the three United States navy vessels may attempt to pass through Bellot strait and accompany the Labrador south to the Atlantic.

Useful hydrographic information will undoubtedly be collected during this joint project by the United States and Canadian navies, and it will be interesting to see if larger ships can pass through Bellot strait. We already know that small ships can navigate the strait because the Royal Canadian Mounted Police vessel St. Roch completed the passage in 1942.

If larger vessels can navigate this route it will provide a useful alternative for ships carrying supplies to the area, but it will probably always remain a second choice since ice conditions in the vicinity are known to be difficult in most years. Any ship wishing to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific or vice versa would probably follow the route farther north through Lancaster and Viscount Melville sounds, which H.M.C.S. Labrador used in 1955.

Mr. Green:

May I ask the Prime Minister whether the Canadian government considers these waters to be Canadian territorial waters, and, if so, whether the United States government admits that such is the case?

Mr. St. Laurent (Quebec East):

I do not know whether we can interpret the fact that they did comply with our requirement that they obtain a waiver of the provisions of the Canada Shipping Act as an admission

that these are territorial waters, but if they were not territorial waters there would be no point in asking for a waiver under the Canada Shipping Act.

Mr. Green:

There is no doubt, then, that the Canadian government at least considers them as territorial waters?

Mr. Si. Laurent (Quebec East):

Oh, yes, the Canadian government considers that these are Canadian territorial waters, and we make it a condition of the consent we have given to these arrangements that they apply for a waiver from the provisions that would otherwise apply in Canadian territorial waters.

Mr. Stanley Knowles (Winnipeg North Centre):

Mr. Speaker, I believe this is a question of privilege, but I will put it in the form of a question to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister join with me in expressing the resentment of the entire house at the screaming headlines in last night's Toronto Star? They read, "More Canadians on U.S. Probe List. Aim at Pearson. Recall Pearson also Third Canadian Official Mentioned by Woman".

The first sentence of the article, which is written by Harold Greer, reads:

Hon. Lester B. Pearson may be next on the list of persons the United States Senate internal security subcommittee can do without.

As I say, Mr. Speaker, political difference notwithstanding, I believe the Prime Minister would be expressing the views of the entire house in indicating resentment at these headlines and I would express the hope that if there is any truth in the report that such an investigation is being made he personally will protest to President Eisenhower.

Right Hon. L. S. St. Laurent (PrimeMinister): Mr. Speaker, I am sure I wouldbe expressing the views not only of all

hon. members of the house but also of all Canadians if I say that such smear reports, however good they may be for circulation purposes of newspapers, are very undesirable.