Legislative Assembly needs of working people. The Minimum Wage will be increased, coverage will be extended to all men and women." But we find we are still getting along with the same Minimum Wage and I hope consideration will be given to this because even under the Winter Works program the minimum wage I understand in the rural areas is $1.25, and the various departments are now paying $1.25 per hour. Of course, we, in the Opposition were disappointed that the attitude of the government in voting against the Resolution to appoint a Committee headed by Mr. Gallagher to receive submissions from the various groups regarding the plight of the farmers in this Province. I don't know what other means they have of tackling this serious situation but I hope that something will come out of this. I think that all commodity groups are dependent on one person called the con¬ sumer, and knowing what this consumer will want, and perhaps making even some potent suggestions to help make up his mind should determine how a producer and a processor team merchandizes. We are told that 45rr of our labour force are women and unemployed women are busy with the community projects and recreations, etc., and we are also told that by 1970 nearly one third of the householders will contain a college graduate. Better education, better means, and better jobs, hence the ability and the wil¬ lingness to pay for later life. For an example a pre-frozen meal, beef patties, broccoli, baked potatoes and lemon desert costs 54 cents per serving in the stores today, and when this is pre¬ pared from fresh ingredients the cost is 35 cents per plate or 19 cents less. But it takes 28 minutes to prepare the frozen meal against nearly two hours or 112 min¬ utes for home preparation. Does the buying public prefer to save the 19 cents or the 84 minutes? And despite these problems the high cost and the disappointing setbacks, de¬ hydration and freeze drying have such tempting promises they will persuade and when pursued, and when successful will radically change our entire principle of food storage, preparation and marketing. Such preparation and marketing take money and co-operation by the producer, marketing people and the government, all working" together. I am convinced that if agriculturl producears are to get a fair share of con¬ sumer dollars, they must give their product a brand name, they must give guar¬ anteed quality, they must provide identification at the store, and make that brand name a household word. With all of this is a tremendous challenge, and our farmers and government must unite and give financial support and massive attacks on this problem. We need imagination not alibis as we are getting from the present govern¬ ment today. Walter R. Shaw : Hear, hear. (Applause) Henry W. Wedge : This is a time for change. Great changes have taken place in our way of living and social conditions. For instance we find the R.C .'s now do not eat meat on Friday. The Jewish people are now eating pork and enjoying it. Walter R. Shaw : I knew the Presbyterians would turn them over. (Laughter) Henry W. Wedge : And the prohibitionists, if you wish to call them, or the Bap¬ tists, are now drinking facing each other. (Laughter) One of the most revolutionary and progressive marketing developments has been with the spuds. From the old potato bin pawed over by choosey housewives, the time and waste of peeling and forty-five minutes to cook, we can now get in¬ stant mashed, frozen french fries, hash browns, New Brunswick potatoes canned in Summerside . (Laughter) You can get many of the other tasty convenient forms of potatoes ready to eat in a few minutes. We also think we recall the salesmanship and we find that this is very im¬ portant, because today the restaurants are not promoting steaks for the dinner but they are trying to sell the "sizzle" in the steaks. —202—