Mr. Raymond Langlois (Meganiic):

I have a question for the Prime Minister which arises out of a press communique he issued this morning. It concerns the award of $5,000 which was given to Mr. Robert Bryce, the deputy minister of finance, for service to the country as an outstanding civil servant in 1967. I should like to ask the Prime Minister if the award was based on this gentleman's contribution to the current economic situation in which we have inflation, high cost of living, high interest rates and excessive taxes.

Mr. Langlois (Meganiic):

I rise on a question of privilege, Mr. Speaker, because I did not intend to cast a slur on Mr. Robert Bryce as deputy minister. However, I certainly will not accept the suggestion that his conduct of the economic affairs of the country shows an understanding of the situation.

Mr. Raymond Langlois (Meganiic):

Mr. Speaker, having read over the minister's statement I must agree with previous spokesmen that it does not contain much information. Apparently everything has gone according to schedule, but we do not know what the schedule was, what was contained on the agenda or what were the federal government's plans or intentions. We do not know what the government has in mind in respect of restrictions, or where they should be applied. We do not know what recommendations were made to the provinces as to where they should apply restrictions.

However, I would ask the minister to keep in mind the statements made by some of the provincial representatives after the federal-provincial conference. I refer particularly to the statements by the representative of British Columbia and Mr. Robichaud, premier of New Brunswick. They seemed quite upset in some respects about what the minister had in mind or had proposed at the conference.

We cannot comment much further on the subject because we do not know what transpired at the conference or what was proposed. I hope that some day soon we will find out what happened, and that the minister will take the earliest possible opportunity to inform the house of the proposals made at the conference so we may comment or criticize the minister's actions in this regard.

Mr. Raymond Langlois (Megantic):

My

question is directed to the Secretary of State for External Affairs or the Minister of National Defence. It concerns figures released by some newspapers indicating that $200 million worth of firearms have been exported by Canada to the United States for use in Viet Nam. Considering that Canada's position is supposed to be neutral, is the minister able to tell the house whether there will be any undertaking by the federal government not to furnish firearms in the future?

Mr. Raymond Langlois (Meganlic):

Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Finance. In view of the interest caused by the intention to increase the alloy content of Canadian coins in the near future, in view of reports that have been written in United States and Canadian newspapers, and because the businessmen who employ automatic vending machines will lose money when coinage of a different composition is used, is the government contemplating some sort of compensation to these businessmen while the change in coinage is in process?