Mr. Pepin:
Mr. Speaker, it is well known that even when I smile I am serious.
On the orders of the day:
Mr. Hubert Badanai (Forf William):
Mr. Speaker, I wish to direct a question to the Minister without Portfolio who is associated
DEBATES 163
Inquiries of the Ministry with the Minister of Transport. Has the government reached a decision with regard to the granting of landing rights to Alitalia at the Toronto international airport?
Mr. Speaker:
Order. Unless this question has an urgency which is unknown to me, it should be placed on the order paper.
On the orders of the day:
Mr. A. D. Hales (Wellington):
Mr. Speaker, I should like to address a question to the Minister of Finance. Has the minister received an audited financial statement from the Expo '67 corporation, and if so will he table it?
Hon. E. J. Benson (Minister of Finance):
Mr. Speaker, may I take this question as notice? I really do not know whether I have received it, but I do not think I have.
Mr. Benson:
Mr. Speaker, in answer to a question raised earlier this day by the hon. member for Wellington, may I say that the audited financial statements of Expo have not been received by my department. At the present time the financial statements are in the hands of the Auditor General, and he is probably closer to the Auditor General than I am.
On the orders of the day:
Hon. J. A. MacLean (Malpeque):
I should like to address a question to the Prime Minister. In view of the statement by the United States state department to the effect that Soviet military intervention in West Germany would lead to an immediate allied response in accordance with the NATO treaty, was the Canadian government consulted about this statement and asked to associate itself with it? If so, what was the response?
Well, Mr. Speaker, when the United States government speaks through one of its ministers it speaks in its own name, and it does not engage any other country. Its opinion of what is needed would be the opinion of a sovereign
September 18, 1968
Inquiries of the Ministry state, but NATO decides according to its own treaty arrangements.
Hon. Marcel Lambert (Edmonton West):
May I ask a supplementary question. Is the Prime Minister leaving the house with the impression the United States would take immediate action under its position as the leader of NATO and leave Canada completely, shall we say, on its own, at loose ends?
Mr. Trudeau:
That is not the impression I believe my answer gave, Mr. Speaker. I said the United States was a sovereign state and could act in the way it decided. However, the members of NATO will only act in the way that NATO decides under the charter.
On the orders of the day:
Mr. R. Harding (Kootenay West):
I should like to direct a question to the Secretary of State for External Affairs. In view of the Prime Minister's statement on the need for diplomatic recognition of the government of mainland China, made both during and after the federal election campaign, I should like to ask whether it is the government's intention to extend recognition to the mainland government of China. Will action be taken at this session, and has any move toward recognition been initiated to date?