Friday, April 21, 1967 Keith S. Harrington : Mr. Speaker , when I spoke and concluded or adjourned the Debate last night, I was referring to certain policies of the Government in con¬ nection with the distribution of drugs for diabetics. I intended to throw out a suggestion to the Minister of Health, but I do not see him in his place, so I will suggest to him privately a better course in which he would be well advised to follow, a course that would give added advantage and convenience to the people who re¬ ceive this treatment. Now before I go any further, Mr. Speaker , and I do not see the Chairman of the Agricultural Committee in his seat at this time, and so I hope he will not acuse mp. as he did previously when we met last time in Committee with the Agri¬ cultural Committee of the House, of coming in here and mentioning thintrs that had taken place during that meeting. Many of the things that I have to say now are things that have already been discussed this afternoon with the members of the Federation of Agriculture. So I do hope that I will not be subjected to that criticism and accusation in this respect. I would first like to say to the Provincial Secretary that he has a duty to perform which he should attend to very promptly. In the Speech from the Throne under number sixteen it states: "A policy of seasonal licenses for trucks will be implemented by my Government this year." Now I presume that this is during the season of 1967 and that is the present time. He hasn't announced what this policy is but many of the farmers throughout the rural areas hope and expect that they will receive some consideration, some reduction in the rate of registration for their farm trucks. (Applause) And I wish to advise the Provincial Secretary that the registration office has received, as yet, no instructions in this respect. Last week when I arrived home my wife said, "There is a certain fellow trying to get you three or four times. For gracious sake you had better call him on the 'phone and see what he wants." He was very annoyed but fortunately he was not annoyed at me. He had just come back from the Motor Vehicle Registration Branch, and lo and behold, he was required to pay full registration fees in order to have his trucks operate on the highways. There is something wrong, but I would like to inform the present Provincial Secretary of a suggestion made by the Minister of Agriculture when he was a member of the Opposition. It is a good suggestion, Mr. Minister , and with your permission, Mr. Speaker , I would like to quote from the speech that Daniel MacDonald made while he was a member of the Legislature in 1965. In speaking in this regard, in regard to the registration of farm trucks he said, "There¬ fore I feel that it is necessary for them to get free or greatly reduced registration for farm trucks." Now I do hope that the Provincial Secretary will take some steps. Some Member : It is under consideration. Keith S. Harrington : It is under consideration, that's fine, and what do you propose my good friend to do to the people who have already paid the full regis¬ tration fees? I myself had to the other day. I am not complaining about that but there are people, the farmers throughout the province who were promised, and nat¬ urally expect, a reduction in this charge. Now it is no good coming, Mr. Minister , next fall or during the summer as long as the people who are now abiding by the law of this province are required to pay the full registration fee. And I advise you, Mr. Minister , if this Throne Speech means anything to the people of Prince Edward Island , that you see that this program is instrumented immediately. Immediately; I am glad that the Senior Member from Second Queens has acquainted the House with the true meaning of what immediately means. It means take prompt action now. I mentioned last night, when I was speaking, that I thought the agricultural policies of our government were several years behind times, and I intended to make some suggestions as to the means and ways of remdying these out-dated policies. I wish the Minister of Agriculture was in his seat now. I know he is a good man and likes to take advice and I know that he is conscientious and always wants to work on behalf of the welfare of the farmers of this province. I would like to say to him that one of our greatest problems today, in order to increase the wealth of Prince Edward Island , is to start now on a constructive policy to grow our own feed grain. (Applause) I am going to quote from an article I received entitled: "The National Food and Farm Policy" written by D. Gleason , Department of Agri- —288—