§ 53. Mr. William Shepherdasked the President of the Board of Trade why Canada received in 1948 less than half the quantity of iron and steel, including railway tyres, etc., from this country as compared with 1938, whereas the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Sweden and Finland have received many times the 1938 volume.
§ Mr. H. WilsonThe steel made available in 1948 to the Soviet Union, Sweden and Finland was in each case supplied in order to secure agreements necessary to safeguard essential supplies and our financial reserves establishing an approximate balance of overall trade. This did not, however, prevent us from sending Canada more steel (excluding tinplate) in 527 1948 than before the war, and the hon. Member will be glad to know that we hope to ship more steel to Canada in 1949 than to any other overseas market.