Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to debate the merits of my private member's bill entitled an act to establish Lester B. Pearson Day.
The purpose of my bill is to establish a national holiday in honour of the Right Hon. Lester B. Pearson in recognition of his great contributions to Canada and the international community. In short, I have proposed that the second Monday in February of each year be designated as Lester B. Pearson Day for reasons which I will outline in my comments.
While I am certain that members are familiar with the many achievements of this great man, I feel it was important to state some of his accomplishments for the record. Although Lester B. Pearson, often known as Mike Pearson, served as Canada's Prime Minister from April 22, 1963 to April 20, 1968, he began serving Canada long before moving into the Prime Minister's office.
Prior to joining the department of external affairs in 1928, Pearson served in the Canadian Army Medical and Flying Corps from 1914 to 1918. As a diplomat with external affairs, he held several senior posts abroad, including first secretary to the Canadian High Commission in London from 1935 to 1941 and eventually became Canadian ambassador to the United States in 1945.
These high profile diplomatic posts contributed to his recognition on the world stage and propelled him to the chairmanship of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization between 1951 and 1952 and then to the presidency of the United Nations General Assembly in 1952.
While Lester Pearson was well known on the international scene, it was really in 1957 that he became a household name. On October 14, 1957 Lester Pearson was awarded the Nobel peace prize. To date he is the first and only Canadian to receive the peace prize and I am really proud of him.
The Nobel committee voted to bestow the peace prize on Mr. Pearson primarily because of his role in the Suez crisis of 1956. In an effort to resolve the crisis between Egyptians and Israelis, Pearson proposed the creation of a UN military force to act as a buffer between the belligerents. His proposal received overwhelming approval, 57 for and none against. The first modern UN peacekeeping force was established, thanks to Lester B. Pearson.
Gunnar Jahn, the chairman of the Nobel committee later stated that Pearson had been awarded the peace prize because of his "never tiring determination and his exceptional ability to put forward constructive ideas for the solution of problems".
Others would echo those comments, including UN General Assembly President Leslie Munro, who described Pearson as a great Canadian who is one of the foremost citizens of the world. The New York Times reported that Pearson was: "A big man from a country that is a small power" and that he was probably better known abroad than at home. Pearson's victory prompted Toronto Mayor Nathan Phillips to declare December 19, 1957 Lester Pearson Day. Unfortunately I do not believe the tradition has been continued.
Pearson's success on the international stage and his receipt of the Nobel peace prize finally helped him to get the recognition he deserved in his own country. Canadians began to take notice of him and in 1958 Lester Pearson became the leader of the Liberal Party. After a few years in opposition, he went on to become the Prime Minister of Canada in 1963.
In addition to his success on the international stage, Pearson also accomplished a great deal as Prime Minister. During his tenure Canadians were given the Canada pension plan, a program central to our nation's social safety net. Pearson was also responsible for giving Canadians a national flag, a true symbol of our nationhood and independence.
Other notable achievements include the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism and the Canada-U.S. automotive agreement, both of which have had a significant impact on Canadian life as we know it today.
Although Lester Pearson left this earth on December 27, 1972 his legacy lives on in world peacekeeping. Canada is a peacekeeping nation because of Mr. Pearson. We are proud of our record as world peacekeepers and in fact many believe that peacekeeping personifies what it means to be Canadian. To date, more than 90,000 Canadians have participated in UN and other peacekeeping missions.
As of this fall, close to 3,000 Canadian peacekeepers were participating in missions around the world, including a significant number in Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Haiti and Macedonia.
If the recent report of the Special Joint Committee on Canada's Defence Policy is any indication of our commitment to peacekeeping, we can plan on being in the business for many more years to come. Canadians have more often than not failed to honour those individuals of whom they are most proud. A quick review of all of our national holidays show there is not one holiday, with perhaps the exception of Remembrance Day, which pays tribute to a truly remarkable Canadian.
Although I can understand why we celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday and many other of our statutory holidays, I have never been able to understand why we cannot pay tribute to our own heroes, to those who have had a significant impact on Canadian life as we know it, like Lester B. Pearson.
Unlike Canada, many other nations take time to pay tribute to their heroes. The Americans celebrate George Washington's birthday; the British celebrate their monarchs and the Russians once had a holiday to honour Lenin. Is it because we feel there is no one worthy of our recognition? I say not.
Some have asked me why in my bill I have chosen the second Monday in February as a day on which to honour our former Prime Minister. Originally I had hoped to select a day of significance to the life of Lester Pearson. I considered April 23, his birthday, but of course Easter is in April. Then I thought of October 14, the day it was announced that Pearson had won the Nobel peace prize, but Thanksgiving is too close. Then I considered December 27, the day of his death, which falls extremely close to Christmas and Boxing Day.
I opted for February, the one month of the year that Canadians do not get a break and the month that most Canadians find to be the coldest and most depressing month of the year. A few years ago some statistics indicated that a majority of suicides take place in February, leading me to believe that Canadians really need something to look forward to in the second month of the year.
I also opted for February because I felt that having two or more holidays in April, October or December might pose an excessive burden on those Canadians that operate businesses.
I have also been asked by some members whether this bill is political in nature because Pearson was a Liberal. I want to assure all members that politics was not behind this initiative. This man was a great Canadian. As stated earlier, he is the only Nobel peace prize winner from Canada. He is the father of international peacekeeping. I simply want to honour a man who
has given so much to the people of this nation. I want to pay homage to a great Canadian and his political stripe has nothing to do with it.
At this stage in our history when many Canadians are asking themselves what it truly means to be a Canadian and some are even asking whether they should continue to remain in Canada, we must make every effort to show our citizens there are Canadians of whom they can be proud, Canadians who have made a difference to their lives today and to the lives of many people around the world.
Lester Pearson is such a Canadian. By enacting a national holiday to honour the Right Hon. Lester Pearson, we would be providing Canadians with a day to reflect on this great country of ours and on this great man and his valuable contribution to our nation. Let us bring a little bit of nationalism and pride to Canada that it truly Canadian in nature. Let us honour one of our own heroes for a change.
I will wrap up here because two of my colleagues who were privileged to know and work with Lester Pearson are anxious to share their experience and thoughts on this great man.
In closing, I would urge all members to support this initiative.
