Mr. ALFRED T. DAVIESasked the Minister of Labour, seeing that in the matter of certificates of exemption from the Unemployment Insurance Acts all railway companies, with the single exemption of the Great Northern Railway Company, have fulfilled the conditions for such exemption, and that the Great Northern Railway Company have declined either to make application themselves or to confirm the statement made by the trade unions that the employment is permanent, whether the Minister has made any suggestion to that company with the object of assisting the company to meet the minimum requirements of the Act; and, in view of the hardships that this attitude on the part of the company has inflicted on the railwaymen in their employ, in contrast with the position of 690W railwaymen who are serving under companies who have received such certificates of exemption, what are the reasons for the attitude of the Great Northern Railway Company for the exceptional position they have taken up?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAThis matter has been discussed on several occasions with representatives of the Great Northern Railway Company, who have had and still have the opportunity to obtain exception from unemployment insurance on the same terms as other railway companies. The company have made no application for exception, and, I understand, consider that the terms of service of their employés do not satisfy the conditions laid down by the Act for the purposes of exception. Unless the company give me an assurance, as other railway companies have done, that these conditions are satisfied, I regret that I cannot grant exception.