231
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Friday, February 4, 1949
The house met at three o'clock.
INCOME TAX
COMMUNICATION OF INFORMATION TO THE
SENATE OR HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Stanley Knowles (Winnipeg North
Centre) moved for leave to introduce Bill
No. 10, to amend the Income Tax Act.
Mr. Knowles: Mr. Speaker, this bill would
add to section 121 of the new Income Tax
Act the following words which are underlined
in the bill:
Provided that nothing in this section shall operate
to prevent a minister of the crown from communicating to the Senate or to the House
of Commons
any information with respect to corporations obtained under the provisions of this
act.
The purpose of this amendment is to
remove in part the restrictions as to secrecy
imposed by section 121 of the Income Tax
Act, which as it stands at present can have
the effect of preventing a minister of the
crown from giving the Senate or the House
such information as it might be perfectly
legitimate to ask for and obtain. No change
is made by this bill in the matter of information obtained from personal income tax
returns. Such information must still be kept
secret. I may say that in this particular the
bill is different from the one which I introduced last year and to which some objection
was taken. On the other hand, this amendment would make it possible to make public
any information respecting corporations
obtained by the income tax division of the
Department of National Revenue.
Motion agreed to and bill read the first
time.
CANADIAN COMMERCIAL CORPORATION
ADVANCES BY WAY OF LOAN—EXTENSION OF LIFE
OF THE CORPORATION
Right Hon. L. S. St. Laurent (for the Minister of Trade and Commerce) moved that the
house go into committee at the next sitting to
consider the following resolution:
That it is expedient to present a bill to amend the
Canadian Commercial Corporation Act to provide
authority for advances to the corporation by way of
loan out of the consolidated revenue fund and to
extend the time of operation of the act.
He said: His Excellency the Governor General, having been made acquainted with the
subject matter of this resolution, recommends it to the consideration of the house.
Motion agreed to.
STATUTE LAW AMENDMENT
AMENDMENTS TO IMPLEMENT TERMS OF UNION
OF NEWFOUNDLAND WITH CANADA
Hon. Stuart S. Garson (Minister of Justice)
moved that the house go into committee at
the next sitting to consider the following
resolution:
That it is expedient to present a bill to amend
several statutes to make them applicable to or
otherwise conform with the Canadian confederation
as and when Newfoundland becomes a province of
Canada.
He said: His Excellency the Governor General, having been made acquainted with the
subject matter of this resolution, recommends it to the consideration of the house.
Motion agreed to.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE—QUESTIONS AND
NOTICES OF MOTIONS FOR PRODUCTION OF PAPERS
On the orders of the day:
Mr. George A. Drew (Leader of the Opposition): May I ask the Prime Minister when
provision will be made for answering the
sixty-nine questions now on the order paper,
and for dealing with notices of motion for
production of papers?
Right Hon. L. S. St. Laurent (Prime Minister): I shall be glad to take the question
of
the leader of the opposition as notice. I will
discuss the matter with my colleagues and
give an answer at the earliest opportunity.
REVISION OF STANDING ORDERS—RECOMMENDATIONS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF LAST SESSION
Mr. Stanley Knowles (Winnipeg North Centre): May I direct a question to the Prime
Minister? Has the government given consideration to recommending to the house the
adoption of any of the proposed changes in
standing orders that were recommended to
the house last session by a committee of
which Your Honour was chairman, and the
report of which, as the Prime Minister will
recall, was unanimous?
