As I was saying, there is this disconnect between the government's refusal to allow history and Confederation as themes of Canada 150 and what ordinary Canadians are doing in the communities. I went through a bunch of them.
It's happening in the private sector as well. Fitzhenry & Whiteside publishers are celebrating Canada 150 by profiling our books about Canadian history. Harbour Air Seaplanes in Vancouver has 38 Otters and Beavers. They are iconic in aviation and Canadian history. Some of them are being painted in special Canada 150 colours to show that. Moosehead Breweries has an advertisement on TV, “We are still pioneers”, which shows a conveyer belt with bottles bearing labels all about Canada's history going by. CIBC is linking the bank's history to Canada's history. CP Rail has a transcontinental train initiative with 13 stops celebrating the first transcontinental train trip.
Then there's my favourite one. Clera Windows has this beautiful add, “Even our founding fathers had beautiful windows. So can you! Happy 150th birthday, Canada!” Of course, it's the picture that we see up there that all of us know so well.
The private sector is doing it.
Another way in which the Liberal government has, I think, failed to honour the histories and traditions is the unfortunate decision to not have a medal honouring ordinary Canadians. We had medals in the Canada 125 year, in the Centennial year, honouring ordinary Canadians, and in the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation in 1927. Of course, there were medals in the Confederation year. That initiative, although well advanced under the previous government, was actually cancelled under the Liberal government.
People are stepping in. A lot of communities are going to have Canada Day celebrations where they honour their community leadership and give out awards. Bradford West Gwillimbury in my riding is one of them. In addition to communities like that, St. Francis Xavier's history department is starting a new tradition of issuing pins for their graduates in history.
Then believe it or not, you have the private sector stepping in with efforts to fill that gap. Molson is doing an initiative to seek nominations for significant community members across Canada. It's going to give 150 of them one of their red beer fridges.
There's a clear desire among Canadians to have that kind of recognition, but again, the Liberal government has failed by stepping back from it. Would you acknowledge that was a mistake and abandonment to the tradition that meant a great deal to Canadians? Is it something that you wish you had done differently if you could do it over again?