Mr. Speaker:

May I draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the Speaker's gallery of some members of the National Assembly of South Viet Nam. On behalf of all the members of the House of Commons of Canada and of the Parliament of Canada I heartily welcome them to Ottawa and to Canada.

Hear, hear.

Hon. Jean-Luc Pepin (Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce):

Mr. Speaker, I wish to make a statement regarding the final payments on barley and oats.

Producers delivered 27,538,577 bushels of oats and 81,592,536 bushels of barley to the Canadian Wheat Board in the 1967-68 crop year. The pool periods for oats and barley were closed on January 31 and February 14 respectively. The amounts of the final payments to be distributed are $4,800,024 for oats and $3,490,962 for barley. These are not payments by the government of Canada, but represent the net returns of the Canadian Wheat Board in the marketing of western Canadian oats and barley for the 1967-68 crop year.

The board will begin mailing the final payment cheques for oats today, and immediately after the completion of the oats payment the final payment cheques for barley will be distributed.

The final payments are being made on a grade basis as prescribed in the Canadian Wheat Board Act. The average final payment

is 17.4 cents per bushel for oats and 4.3 cents per bushel for barley. While the level of these final payments is lower than the previous crop year, it should be noted that the initial payments for these grains were increased by 5 cents per bushel for oats and 10 cents per bushel for barley at the beginning of the 1967-68 crop year.

Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to table the statement being issued today in Winnipeg by the Canadian Wheat Board regarding these final payments.

The 1967-68 wheat pool account was closed on February 28 and the necessary accounting is now being completed. I expect to be able to make an announcement in about two weeks as to the level of the final wheat payments, when the board will be in a position to commence mailing the final payment cheques for wheat.

Mr. J. H. Horner (Crowfooi):

Mr. Speaker, in rising to speak on the statement made by the minister my first reaction is one of pleasure on seeing hard earned cash going out to the farmers in western Canada. I will point out immediately that this money is the farmers' money being paid to them from the final sales of 27 million bushels of oats and 81 million bushels of barley. It is regrettable that the grain which sold the largest number of bushels should be the one bringing in the lowest payment-4.3 cents a bushel for the barley. The 17.4 cents on oats is a better payment but the total amount involved is small.

[DOT] (2:10 p.m.)

The recent report of the task force suggests we should be growing and marketing more barley and feed grain. I would only point out that there are 200 million bushels of barley still in storage. How can we justify taking nine million acres out of wheat this year and seeding them to barley and feed grains, when we have such a backlog in storage? Moreover, low final payments such as these will not encourage farmers to do as requested of them in the recent task force report.

So while initially we react with pleasure to see hard-earned cash being paid out to the

March 13, 1969

Movement of Grain

farmers of western Canada at a time of particular need, we see little hope of the suggestions of the task force being carried out, especially having regard to the low payment on barley.

Mr. John Burton (Regina East):

The low

level of return on the 1967-68 crop will be extremely disappointing to the farmers of western Canada, though I might say it will not be entirely a surprise to them as they saw the crisis which was looming on the farm front before the government did.

The returns being provided at the present time and the level of prices are not nearly adequate to meet the needs of the agricultural economy. I think it ought to be emphasized once again that western Canada and the agricultural economy of that region face a crisis and that this crisis is bound to effect the national economy. Farm prices have been falling over the last two years while farm costs continue to rise. During the past year the index of farm costs has risen by some 5 per cent.

We can also expect that the wheat payment will be low. This I feel is the result of the abdication of responsibility by the federal government particularly during the period between the expiration of the international wheat agreement and the commencement of the new international grains arrangement-it was during this period that the grain crisis developed to the full extent which we are witnessing today.

The downward trend of grain prices is continuing into this year. The level of Winnipeg cash prices for oats presently ranges around 86 cents a bushel compared with an average of 92 cents a year ago. Prices for No. 2 C.W.-6 row Barley are in the area of $1.07 compared with $1.25 a year ago. This indicates that the situation is getting worse, yet we have seen little or nothing in the way of government action to deal with these problems.

In addition to the price factor, the farmers of western Canada have this year been faced with extremely difficult problems involving damp and tough grain. On many occasions my colleagues and other members of this house have endeavoured to bring the full impact of this crisis to the realization of the government, but the government has been slow in taking action and in developing initiatives. The farmers of western Canada are extremely disappointed by the ineffectiveness of government action over the past several months.

The full impact of the crisis with respect to damp and tough grain will become more clearly known in the course of the next few weeks and will be entirely in line with the predictions made by the western agricultural organizations and by the farmers on the scene. Thus I urge the government, before it is too late, to take measures to deal with this crisis which is affecting all of Canada.

Mr. Speaker, we of the Ralliement Creditiste want to rejoice with the western farmers and congratulate the members of that wonderful organization, the Canadian Wheat Board, because, as was said by the minister, the money does not come from the country or the government but solely from the Canadian Wheat Board which has accumulated it to make a last payment to the farmers.

Those who like me have had the privilege to read about the very difficult start experienced by the board, can rejoice today over its achievements. In fact, we notice that the western farmers are wise to support at all costs their co-operative because I have always considered the Canadian Wheat Board to be just that, and we can see today how profitable the work of this board has been for the western farmers.

Mr. Speaker, several hon. members seem to wonder why the Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce (Mr. Pepin) is the spokesman for the board in this house? I think that I have found the answer and I want to pass it on to the house because several new members seem a little intrigued. We know that government money is not involved but rather the efforts of the Canadian Wheat Board to assist the farmers. I do not think that I am mistaken and if my memory serves me well, the former Minister of Trade and Commerce (Mr. Winters) used to be in the past co-chairman or honorary chairman of the Canadian Wheat Board. I think it is a title which the Canadian Wheat Board has bestowed upon the Minister of Trade and Commerce and I should like to know whether the present minister is an honorary chairman of that board. I trust he is, because when making such statements in the house he seems to talk on behalf of the Canadian Wheat Board and I have the impression that the western farmers are happy to have him as an honorary chairman in view of the significance of that position.

Mr. Speaker, we are not jealous of the Westerners, but we, also, would like to be

March 13, 1969

represented by an eastern agricultural products commission of which the Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce would be the co-chairman or the honorary chairman.

I ask him and the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Olson) to help us so that one day we shall get the same results as the western farmers.

Mr. Gerard Duquet (Quebec East):

Mr. Speaker, seconded by Mr. Groos, I have the honour to move:

That the petition of The Perth Mutual Fire Insurance Company, filed after the time limit specified by Standing Order 90, be referred to the Standing Committee on Miscellaneous Private Bills and Standing Orders, with the eleventh report of the Clerk of Petitions tabled in the house on Wednesday, February 26, 1969, so that the Committee may make the recommendations it shall deem necessary.

Mr. T. C. Douglas (Nanaimo-Cowichan-The Islands):

Mr. Speaker, I ask leave, seconded by the hon. member for Winnipeg North Centre (Mr. Knowles), to move the adjournment of the house under standing order 26 for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter requiring urgent consideration, namely the urgent situation revealed in the unemployment statistics released today, showing 10.5 per cent unemployment for the Atlantic area, 8.4 per cent for Quebec, 6.6 per cent for British Columbia-6 per cent being the overall figure for the entire country-and the failure of the government to provide policies to cope with this situation, particularly its failure to provide alternative seasonal employment programs to take the place of the winter works program cancelled unilaterally by the government.

[DOT] (2:20 p.m.)

Mr. Speaker:

Having considered the hon. member's notice of motion I can do no better than to refer him to the ruling of the Chair 29180-4151

Labour Conditions

when a similar motion was presented by the hon. member for York South on January 16 last. In particular I refer hon. members to the ruling of Mr. Speaker Michener, made on March 23, 1959. On that occasion he said:

I have felt that the question of unemployment, which is a continuing one, can scarcely be brought forward under rule 26. The circumstance alleged by the hon. member for Essex East, namely a joint release by the Department of Labour and the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, scarcely alters the situation, in my opinion, to a point where the house should be asked to interrupt its ordinary business.

Under the circumstances I do not think it would be in order to put the hon. member's proposed motion to the house.

Mr. Douglas (Nanaimo-Cowichan-The Islands):

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, I have no wish to dispute Your Honour's decision and, under the rules of the house, cannot do so. With great deference however I would ask Your Honour, in interpreting the standing orders in future, to give some thought to distinguishing what might be termed continuing problems. If a problem continues to exist for a certain period of time surely there comes a point in time when it reaches critical proportions.

Mr. Speaker:

Order, please. In raising his point of order the hon. member himself has said that he cannot question the ruling of the Chair. I know what the hon. member has in mind and I can assure him I appreciate the fact that in some circumstances a continuing situation may reach a point where perhaps the general rule should be discarded. The situation might then be considered a matter of sudden emergency, to the extent that the motion should be allowed. As I say, I appreciate the point made by the hon. member for Nanaimo-Cowichan-The Islands. I assure him that it will always be one of the considerations taken into account by the Chair when similar motions are presented to the house.