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To Halfon From Harry C. Harley , MD, MP Limit On Debates Since our last column the time of the House of Commons has been de­ voted to either consider­ ation o f d e p a r t m e ntal spending of the Govern­ ment or interim supply. The interim supply is necessary for the gov­ ernment to pay its bills for the months of Novem­ ber and December and must be asked for until complete detailed spend­ ing estimates of the gov­ ernment have been pass­ ed by parliament. During interim supply any matter may be dis­ cussed. On Friday all debate was concentrated on the Canadian National Railways and the pro­ posed changes in their running of their trans- Canada trains which would have discontinued crew changes at Nakina, Ontario and Wainwright, Alberta. After the de­ bate on Friday the CNR agreed to postpone their decision in this matter for three months while the matter is investiga­ ted by an i ndepen dent commission. Since this agreement, the topic of debate has been the CBC and its programming. I should explain that there is no time limit on the interim supply debate, but it may go on indef­ initely as long as the members wish to debate any matter. This is one of the areas that I feel could be improved in the rules of parliament. A great deal of time could be saved by placing a time limit of 48 or 72 hours on such debate. An inquiry has been set up by the govern­ ment to investigage the limiting of election ex­ penses. Television in particular has caused a great increase in elec­ tion expenses, and there is a general feeling in parliament that limita­ tion of spending during election ca m pa i g n s would be welcome and tend to equalize all Par­ ties in this matter. The British Govern­ ment on the basis of a review of B r i t a i n ' s present f i n a n c i a l and economic situation has concluded that in addi­ tion to a number of in­ ternal me a s u r e s im­ mediate s t eps w e r e necessary to reduce im­ ports from all sources. Accordingly the Bri­ tish Government has de­ cided to levy a tempor­ ary import charge of 15 per cent on i m p o r t s o t he r than foodstuffs, basic raw material and unmanufactured tobacco. No detail is as yet available as to the spe­ cific impact of this new c h a r g e on particular Canadian exports. How­ ever, it is clear that in general it will apply to Canadian manufacturers. We await further infor­ mation concerning the a p p l i c a b i l i t y of the charge to Canadian semi-manufactured ma­ terials. It is anticipated that this import charge will affect less than one third of Canada's ex­ ports to Britain. Brit­ ain is Canada' s second most important market and we value highly our trading relations with her. Britain' s economic strength is important to Canada and to the rest of the world. ROYAL WINTER FAIR opens in Toronto this month. See story page nine. Oakville Beaver, Wed., Nov. 4, 1964-Page 7 (Cont'd from page 6) bers who formerly got an undeserved halo for parliamentary v i r t u e because even afour-day weekend wasn' t l ong enough to get home and back on a free railway pass. Some of the m or e thoughtful MP's have been t a l k in g recently about the possibility of a roll-call in Parlia­ ment to expose the mem­ bers who seem to be seldom at their desks. The Senate takes ac­ count each sitting day of which its members are in their p l a c e s . But there' s nothing of this kind in the Commons. Instead it is left to an "honour" system which doesn't seem to wo rk very well. Each month, when the MP gets his pay-cheque, he gets with it a declara­ tion to sign and return. Capital Report: He is supposed to de­ clare how many days he was away from the House that month. The member is allow­ ed to be away 21 days without p en a l t y each year. But over that num­ ber, any day of absence costs him $120 off his pay-cheque. T h e r e ' s no way of proving it, but the opin­ ion of all the experien­ ced observers on Par­ liament Hill is thauhere are many ab s e nc e s which never show up on the declarations. Public accounts for past years show that few, if any, MP' s actually apply the f i n a n c i a l penalty to t h e m s e l v e s . They always find a reason to give themselves a good attendance r e c o rd , if only that " Everybody' s doing it." It wouldn't improve the debate or the Job done by individual MP' s to keep all m e m b e r s glued to their seats all day every day. But an attendance record would g i v e a constituency a way of j udg ing their member's performance and it would be up to him to explain what he had been doing when he wasn' t around the com­ mons. Some faithful-attend­ ing members feel, too, that it would be more fair than the kind oi " attendance r e c o r d " which some newspapers now compile from the roll-call votes - the only time it is officialy re­ corded whether a mem­ ber was present. Power tends iu cor­ rupt; absolute pow e r corrupts absolutely - Lord Acton. DISCOTHEQUE PRONOUNCED DEES-CO-TECK ) the NEW sensation You're dancing into a new era, into the fun of the Watusi, the Monkey, the Frug . . . the era of the fluid little crepe. Most often it's black, but colour enters into the fun, too. And there's the wonderful news of pretty neck lines. For instance the swingy fringe that follows every move you make. "Where Fashion is Foremost" EAST SIDE FAN-ETT FASHION OAK-QUEEN M ALL 845-6571 WEST SIDE ANCHE'S of Hop^dale HOPEDALE PLAZA VA7-476! Limit On Debates