Mr. H. W. Herridge (Kootenay West):

I wish to address a question to the Prime Minister. Has the Prime Minister received any official response from the premier of British Columbia with respect to the government's offer to co-operate with that government in the matter of public power development on the Columbia?

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

No, Mr. Speaker, to my knowledge there has not been any communication since the possibility was expressed of the government being interested in the development of power on the Columbia after negotiations with the United States government have been completed.

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

May I ask why it is necessary to wait until the negotiations are completed before any attempt is made to reach agreement with the province of British Columbia?

Mr. Si. Laurent (Quebec East):

I do not

know that it is necessary, but those negotiations aim at retaining for Canada as much as possible of all the benefits, either upstream or downstream, which might result from regulating the flow of the Columbia river. I think they would very probably affect the kind of physical works that would be erected for the purpose of making that control of the flow as effective as possible.

Mr. Green:

Does that not mean that it may be many months or even years before anything can be done about the Columbia river? Our understanding was that they could proceed very shortly to build the Mica dam.

Mr. St. Laurent (Quebec East):

Of course, I would imagine that if the government of British Columbia wished to proceed with the building of the Mica dam they would communicate with us, have the plans prepared and have them dealt with as expeditiously as they might find it in their interest to do so in conformity with the provisions of the legislation that is applicable. It may very well be that it will be considered by the government of British Columbia that the dam should be a provincial work and not a work erected by the federal government.

Mr. Green:

Does that statement mean that there need not necessarily be delay until negotiations with the United States are completed, and that this co-operative arrangement could be started at once?

[Mr. Knowles.)

It means that we will give consideration to any proposal the British Columbia government may feel it should make at any time.

Mr. A. M. Nicholson (Mackenzie):

Mr. Speaker, I should like to direct a question to the Minister of National Defence. I wonder whether he has had a chance to read the story in this morning's Globe and Mail with regard to the nuclear blast set off by the Russians and also the Reuters dispatch in last night's Journal which reports the leading British medical journal, namely the Lancet, as having stated that the radioactive accumulation from H-bomb explosions may be near the danger point? Would the minister consider making representations to the British asking them to review their decision to have H-bomb experiments in the south Pacific until this matter is further considered?

Mr. Fulton:

Will he make representations to the Russians at the same time?

Mr. Brooks:

Or to the United States.

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

Mr. Speaker, may I answer that

question. The whole matter was thoroughly gone into at the recent meeting between representatives of the government of the United Kingdom and representatives of the Canadian government. The results of those discussions were announced in the communique that was issued and similar results had been announced in the communique issued after the discussions between the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.