Mr. Diefenbaker:

Was not the minister in Montreal the day before yesterday in this regard, following the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada?

Mr. Cardin:

I am sorry but I did not hear the question.

Mr. Diefenbaker:

Was not the minister in Montreal immediately after the decision was rendered by the Supreme Court in this connection, with a view to determining whether a prosecution should be launched?

Mr. Cardin:

No, Mr. Speaker, I was not there.

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

Can

the minister inform the house whether the R.C.M.P. searched the premises of the S.I.U. in the first instance without his knowledge?

Mr. Cardin:

No, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. T. C. Douglas (Burnaby-Coquitlam):

Yesterday I asked the Minister of Industry whether he had received a request from Mr. George Burt, the Canadian director of the United Auto Workers, for a tripartite meeting of representatives of the government, the trade unions and management with reference to the crisis which has developed in connection with the metal stamping companies. The minister then said he had received no such telegram from Mr. Burt.

I wish to ask whether he has now received it, and whether I am correctly informed that the minister has refused to call such a tripartite meeting.

Hon. C. M. Drury (Minister of Industry):

have received a telegram, and I have replied to Mr. Burt pointing out that discussions have already taken place with the parts manufacturers and with the automobile manufacturers. I think the problems are well on their way to solution, but if Mr. Burt has further suggestions to make or requires additional information I would be glad to have a meeting with him.

Mr. Douglas:

As a supplementary question may I ask the minister, in view of the fact that he says he has had meetings with the parts manufacturers and the auto makers, would it not seem fair that the trade unions, whose members are vitally concerned with reference to job security, ought to be included in these talks? I ask him, is he prepared to reconsider his decision and hold tripartite meetings on this vital matter?

Mr. Drury:

Well, Mr. Speaker, it has been the practice up to the present for the motor car manufacturers and the parts manufacturers to advise their employees, nearly all of whom participate in labour agreements, through this machinery rather than through what is perhaps a less informative and rather more laborious system of having to provide information via union channels. The circumstances of each company tend to be different,

January 27, 1966

and accurate, precise information can probably be more easily obtained, under the particular circumstances of a company, from the management rather than from the government in Ottawa.

Mr. Reid Scot! (Danforth): As a supplementary question, Mr. Speaker, in view of the fact that the difficulties arising out of this agreement are coming about because of the initiative of the minister and his government, I want to ask him does he not feel that the workers, whose livelihood is affected, ought at least to be able to make similar representations and be given similar considerations as are afforded to the auto companies?

Mr. Martin (Essex East):

This has always been our policy.

Mr. Drury:

Yes, Mr. Speaker, most heartily.

Mr. Scott (Danforth):

Why don't you do it,

then?

Mr. Drury:

I suggest that the consideration and preoccupation of the government with the situation of the workers are just as great and just as intense as for the companies themselves. Indeed, the house will recollect that last year the government introduced a scheme to provide unemployment benefits for those who were laid off as a consequence of this agreement.

Mr. Graffiey:

Peanuts.

Mr. Drury:

This is described by one hon. gentleman as peanuts, but the fact of the matter is that because of the over-all arrangements which were made it has not been necessary in any significant measure for the workers to apply for these benefits. I suggest that the agreement is working out to a large degree more to the advantage of the workers than it may be for some of the companies themselves.

Mr. Lewis:

As a supplementary-