Hon. Marc Lalonde (Outremont):

Mr. Speaker, under the provisions of Standing Order 43, I ask the unanimous consent of the House to move a motion on a matter of urgent and pressing necessity.

In view of the fact that some multinationals have reduced the volume of oil made available to independent distributors and, in some cases, have already warned those independents that they would no longer supply them, thus driving them to bankruptcy, in view of the fact that the Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources (Mr. Hnatyshyn) has failed to obtain from those multinationals a firm commitment that no independent gas station would experience a reduction or cut in supplies which would not also be applicable to gas stations under their control, in view of the fact that the Prime Minister (Mr. Clark) has failed to honour his public commitment of November 6 to the effect that independent distributors would not suffer any supply cut, 1 move, seconded by the hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grace (Mr. Allmand):

That the House condemn the Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources for his lack of energy in protecting independent distributors against the activities of multinationals, condemn the Prime Minister for having reneged on still another promise, thus adding to the long list of broken promises made by his government, and finally condemn the member for Beauce for having been naive enough to believe in such a promise made by the Prime Minister.

Mr. Speaker:

The House has heard the motion of the hon. member. Under the provisions of Standing Order 43, such a motion requires the unanimous consent of the House. Is there unanimous consent?

Agreed.

No.

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a matter of urgent and pressing necessity pursuant to Standing Order 43. Farmers in southern Ontario may be comforted by the conclusion contained in a recent study conducted at the University of Guelph, indicating that acid rain does not harm farm crops in southern Ontario. However, recognizing that northern Ontario has potential farmland totalling more than 12 million acres, and that northern Ontario farmers face high acidity levels in their soil caused by sulphur emissions in the United States and Canada, I move, seconded by the hon. member for Thunder Bay-Nipigon (Mr. Andras):

That this House urge the Minister of the Environment to advise his Ontario counterpart as well as himself that northern Ontario represents 90 per cent of the total provincial land mass and that it should be given top priority in the formulation of environmental policies dealing with the problem of acid rain.

Mr. Speaker:

Standing Order 43 permits the presentation of such a motion for debate only with the unanimous consent of the House. Is there unanimous consent?

Agreed.

No.

Mr. Lome Nystrom (Yorkton-Melville):

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion under Standing Order 43 which I hope is supported by the Prime Minister (Mr. Clark). It arises out of Your Honour's words of wisdom in the House yesterday, when Your Honour commented that the practice of supporting from public funds a committee composed of members of only one caucus was a rather dangerous practice to embark upon. I move, seconded by the hon. member for Winnipeg North Centre (Mr. Knowles):

That this House calls upon the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to reimburse the federal treasury the $9,161 of taxpayers' money which was spent on the grain movement task force which was composed of only three members, all three of whom were members of the Progressive Conservative caucus in this House.

Mr. Speaker:

This motion can be introduced for debate only upon unanimous consent. Is there unanimous consent?

December 11, 1979

5.0. 43

Agreed.

No.

Mr. Bob Brisco (Kootenay West):

Mr. Speaker, in view of the fact that the National Energy Board has misled this House by indicating in a letter that the hearings on B.C. Hydro's application for an export licence would be held in the spring, in view of the fact that the hearings commenced this morning in Vancouver, and since the ridings of Kootenay East-Revelstoke and Kootenay West may be seriously affected by the decision of this hearing, I move, seconded by the hon. member for Kootenay East-Revelstoke (Mr. Graham):