Hon. J. A. MacLean (Queens):

In the absence of the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Speaker, I should like to address a question-

He is here.

Mr. MacLean (Queens):

I am sorry; the Minister of Agriculture-I should like to address a question to the acting minister or to the minister's parliamentary secretary. Can he assure the farmers of Prince Edward Island that the supervisory zone office of the Farm Credit Corporation for the province is not being moved to Moncton, New Brunswick?

Mr. B. S. Beer (Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Agriculture):

Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank the hon. member for giving notice of his intention to ask this question. I am advised as follows. In February, 1961, the Farm Credit Corporation centralized control of its operations in the Atlantic provinces in a branch office located in Moncton. However, the corporation retained a sub-office in Charlottetown, with a supervisor for the province who also performed the function of assistant branch manager for the Atlantic provinces. In order to improve the operations of the corporation within the Atlantic provinces, the assistant branch manager has been moved to the branch office at Moncton. The supervision office will be retained in Charlottetown

Inquiries of the Ministry and a new supervisor will be appointed, whose sole responsibility will be to supervise the corporation's services to farmers in Prince Edward Island.

Hon. Paul Martineau (Ponliac-Temisca-mingue):

Mr. Speaker, I should like to direct a question to the Minister of Forestry, in his capacity as minister responsible for eastern agriculture.

Has the minister been informed of the proposed march of 10,000 farmers on Ottawa to be organized by the Ontario farmers' union and the Quebec farmers' union, to protest against the government's inaction with regard to their problems and especially the water shortage and the cattle they are forced to sell?

Hon. Maurice Sauve (Minister of Forestry):

No, Mr. Speaker, but together with the Minister of Agriculture, I shall be glad to welcome them in Ottawa.

Mr. Peters:

Will he be here?

Mr. Heward Grafftey (Brome-Missisquoi):

I should like to direct a question to the Prime Minister. Inasmuch as a committee of the Quebec legislature is well advanced in its study of the Canadian constitution and proposed changes thereto, is it the intention of the federal government to initiate proposals in the near future to set up a constitutional study conference on a national basis, designed to propose positive suggestions which will result in a modern constitution suited to modern times?

Mr. Speaker:

Surely this is a question for the order paper, important though it is.

Mr. Graffley:

May I rephrase my question, Mr. Speaker. The urgency of the question is based on the fact that the province of Quebec is the only province at the moment that is carrying out such a study. I should like to ask the Prime Minister whether any other province or provinces have indicated to him that they intend to initiate studies of the con-

[Mr. Beer.)

stitution, as Quebec is doing at the present time.

Mr. Speaker:

Perhaps this question also could be put on the order paper.

Mr. Graffley:

I have no intention of putting it on the order paper or debating it at ten o'clock, but I felt it was an important question at the moment.

Mr. Andrew Brewin (Greenwood):

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Prime Minister a question. On Friday, November 6 he assured me that he hoped to be able to make a statement "next week" in regard to the setting up of a parliamentary committee to deal with the amendment formula and the whole procedure as to amending the British North America Act. The week has passed and the Prime Minister has not been able to make a statement. Does he anticipate that he will be able to make it in the near future?

Right Hon. L. B. Pearson (Prime Minister):

Yes, Mr. Speaker. I apologize to my hon. friend; I had the statement ready last Friday and unfortunately he was not in the house that day. I meant to make it yesterday but I forgot about it. The question was asked, as my hon. friend said, on November 6 whether the house will be enabled to make a detailed examination of the proposed white paper on constitutional amendment and whether there is to be a parliamentary committee to look into the subject. Similar suggestions have been made to me by some other hon. members.

The situation is that a white paper is in the course of preparation, and it is hoped that a draft will be ready for consideration by the government next week. Also, Mr. Speaker, the final text of the amending formula as settled at the conference just held has been sent formally to the governments of all the provinces requesting their formal concurrence in the terms of the text.

It is felt, Mr. Speaker, that it would not be desirable to make a final decision on the procedure to be followed in dealing with the white paper or the amending formula in the house until the replies that have been requested from the provinces have been received.