Editing C. D. Howe (section)

==== "What's a million?" ====
During the debate on Howe's war spending estimates in 1945 (which totalled $1.365&nbsp;billion), Howe answered an Opposition question on whether such a large sum could be reduced: "I dare say my honourable friend could cut a million dollars from that amount, but a million dollars from the War Appropriations Bill would not be a very important matter."{{sfn|Roberts|1957|p=155}} Saskatchewan Tory MP [[John Diefenbaker]] spoke the following day, and alleged that Howe had said, "We may save a million dollars, but what of it?"{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=240}} Howe angrily denied the quote, accusing Diefenbaker of being "a past master of distortion"—language he was forced to withdraw as [[Unparliamentary language|unparliamentary]]. Diefenbaker sharpened the anecdote over time, and it emerged in its final form as Howe saying, "What's a million?" Even Liberals who knew that Howe had made no such statement agreed that it was just the sort of thing he could have said.{{sfn|Bothwell|Kilbourn|1979|p=240}} In the years to come, "What's a million?" would be a mocking Tory attack on the Liberals, most often directed at Howe.{{sfn|Smith|1995|p=165}}