Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today on behalf of the Bloc Quebecois to support Bill C-276, An Act respecting Lester B. Pearson Day. This is a perfect opportunity to take a look at the life and career of an illustrious man, who was Prime Minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968, and who made a remarkable contribution to Canadian diplomacy.
After a brief military career, Mr. Pearson joined the diplomatic circuit. It is there that, from 1935 to 1946, he developed his exceptional skills in foreign policy and gained a solid reputation at the international level. After being Deputy Minister in 1946, and then Minister of External Affairs in 1948, Lester B. Pearson was well prepared to face the new challenges which awaited Canada in the post-war era.
As the architect of the new Canadian foreign policy, he helped our country gain full status at the international level. The long tradition of Canada as a passive observer on the international scene was over. After the Second World War, our country had become a middle power. Pearson understood more than anyone else that Canada had to adopt a distinct and more independent foreign policy with its traditional partners, Great Britain and the United States.
Consequently, he opened the door to multilateralism and imposed an expansionist vision of Canadian foreign policy. This resulted in Canada joining and actively participating in new international organizations such as the UN. For a peace proponent like Pearson, Canada's involvement in such an organization was crucial for his foreign policy.
However, there were limits to what the United Nations could do. Taking into consideration the Cold War and the fact that no international authority could ensure order and stability on a world-wide basis, Pearson, then deputy minister of External Affairs, believed that Canada needed to join forces with its strategic allies under a collective defence pact. Pearson thought that, by signing the North Atlantic Treaty, Canada's security needs were being met, but also that NATO would become a deterrent and a defence instrument against Soviet imperialism.
Guided by an international vision quite rare in North America at that time and having taken stock of the events in Prague in 1948, Mr. Pearson unreservedly supported the creation of this organization in 1949. However, the North Atlantic Treaty remains a regional agreement. Since 1945, international relations have been marked by new forms of violence. All of the ideological confrontations between the super-powers and the decolonization process, led to many conflicts throughout the world.
Obviously, the Charter of the United Nations cannot prevent war, since the veto of the five superpowers sitting on the Security Council limits the scope of the activities of the international community. To counter the powerlessness of the only agency of the United Nations authorized to use coercion to settle international conflicts, the General Assembly passed a resolution concerning peacekeeping in 1950.
In 1956, during the Suez Canal crisis, Mr. Pearson proposed that a peacekeeping force be set up. The UN having implemented his recommendation, Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957. In fact, he had provided the United Nations with a new response capability. As a result of his international reputation, Lester B. Pearson was twice approached to fill the prestige position of Secretary General of the United Nations. In 1952, he had been president of the UN General Assembly, playing a pivotal role in the creation of specialized agencies like the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
During his term as Prime Minister, when decolonization and the emerging non-aligned movement were important elements on the international scene, Pearson became known as an eminent artisan of the North-South dialogue. He was in favour of an open policy vis-à-vis the Third World and enjoyed a privileged relationship with leaders like Nehru.
His vision of Canada and the federal system would reflect the same open attitude. Pearson was on very good terms with Quebec and the other provinces during his first mandate.
It was the time of the Quiet Revolution, as the Quebec nation State was emerging. Political leaders in Quebec were developing the tools the new State would need to affirm its right to exist. Quebec was to recover jurisdictions recognized in the Constitution Act, 1867, but never claimed by Canada's provinces.
At the time, Pearson agreed that Quebec was justified in its insistence on some of these rights, and until 1965, he was on excellent terms with his Quebec counterparts, so that negotiations with the province were relatively harmonious.
Pearson was in favour of co-operative federalism and, to show that he meant what he said, after he won the election in 1963, he appointed the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission on Official Languages. Under his government, federal-provincial negotiations led to a number of administrative agreements and also, although there were some problems, to the creation of the Quebec Pension Plan and the Caisse de dépôt et de placement.
It is hard to understand the complete reversal in Mr. Pearson's attitude to Quebec during his second term. He went so far as to deny Quebec's international personality and to see the province's attempts to create ties with other nations as those of a rebellious province intent on usurping powers that he felt were exclusive to the federal government.
It is amazing that this passionate defender of decolonization throughout the world was so unwilling to entertain Quebec's aspirations. What made him suddenly become impervious to the legitimate demands of a province that wanted to claim the jurisdictions to which it was entitled? Some attribute this to the rise of the indépendantiste movement in Quebec or to new constitutional demands being made by Quebec leaders. At the time, it was Daniel Johnson, with his "Égalité ou indépendance". Some say it was due to the increasing influence of Trudeau, Marchand and other members of his cabinet.
After Lester B. Pearson, Canada-Quebec relations were never again as harmonious as they were before. After the Victoria fiasco, the night of the long knives in 1982 was to lead to Meech and Charlottetown. Despite some shadow areas, Lester B. Pearson was a man of great stature, that is how Canadians and Quebecers remember him. However, it is unfortunate that his successors either failed or refused to continue his tradition of openness and his conciliatory approach.
We can only hope that Lester B. Pearson Day will remind men and women in Quebec and Canada that openness and respect for diversity are qualities that are essential to the individual and the national maturity.