Debates of June 17th, 1996

The Late Hon. George Hees

[Louis Plamondon, Bloc, Richelieu, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to add my voice to those of the representatives of the other parties, expressing my most sincere condolences, and those of my colleagues, to Mrs. Hees and their three daughters. I would like to take a few moments for some memories of Mr. Hees.

Mr. Hees was a great sportsman, an exceptional parliamentarian and a career soldier, as well as a minister known for his great efficiency. He was also known in Quebec, more than any other anglophone minister of his day, for having been one of the directors of the Montreal International Expo, during the brief hiatus he took in 1963 in his political career, as well as president of the Montreal stock exchange. We also know how involved he was in working for the creation of the Collège militaire de Saint-Jean. In all, a politician acknowledged by Quebec as having been a good spokesperson for its interests.

As well, he was one of the few politicians to have been a minister in two governments, 20 years apart. He was a minister under Diefenbaker and again in the last Mulroney government.

His work on behalf of war veterans is acknowledged in every Canadian Legion, as well as throughout the world. He has been held up often as an example of support, not only moral support but also concrete action, on behalf of veterans, and for gaining recognition of their true value to society.

I had the honour of getting to know him personally, particularly from 1984 on. At the Conservative candidates' school prior to the September 1984 election, when I spent three days in Ottawa in the month of August, one of the lecturers was Mr. Hees himself. He spoke glowingly of his methods for getting elected every time, of how he did his door to door campaigning. I was very much struck by his way of reaching out to people and his contagious good humour.

This man was an exceptional communicator, as well as a great perfectionist in everything he did. He was characterized by his extreme respect for his colleagues and a most exceptional sense of team work.

We have lost a great democrat. We would like to express our most sincere condolences to his widow and their three daughters, and our sincere appreciation for all that he has contributed to democracy in Canada and Quebec.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Beaver River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a few comments on behalf of the Reform Party of Canada. I extend our sincere condolences to George Hees' daughters, his grandchildren, his great grandchild and to the many friends I am sure he has built up over the generations.

George's service to his country was automatic, whether it was serving the country during World War II or whether it was serving in the House as he did for nearly four decades.

George Hees was first elected in a 1950 byelection and won every election from then on until his retirement in 1988 with the exception of the 1963 election. Imagine running and winning every single time. That is an amazing legacy in itself.

He served in the cabinets of John Diefenbaker and Brian Mulroney. He proved to be a very capable and effective minister and administrator.

In 1988, after his retirement, he was named Prime Minister Mulroney's personal advisor and ambassador at large, overseeing

the transportation, storage and distribution of Canada's food aid programs in the third world.

Although he was offered a Senate appointment several times, he always declined. That is something which is very remarkable. Even though he was offered a no-cut contract, he always declined because he thought there were other things he could be doing.

Mr. Hees was popular and respected by members of all political parties. When he retired from the House he said that serving in the House of Commons is the finest profession any Canadian could have because of the association with MPs from all parties and that everyone is here because they are trying to do a job for the people of Canada. That is really noble. It is certainly the reason we are all here.

I am very fortunate in that one of my staff members worked for George Hees for some time. When he retired in 1988 I was able to hire her when I first came here in 1989. I spoke with her on the phone this morning for a short while: "Jenny, what do you remember about George Hees?" She said: "He was sure good to work for". A personal testimonial like that is worth a million dollars. She said he was charming and that everybody knew him as George. If he was on the street in Northumberland in his home area people would walk up to him and say: "Hi, George. How are you?" He was theirs. They did not address him very formally because he was just one of them. They appreciated him as George.

He retired in 1988 but left an amazing legacy, serving as a senior minister. One thing I was really impressed with was that he was very frugal. He did not think it was appropriate to just ring up taxpayer dollars for all kinds of things.

One example is that when he moved into one office the carpet was fairly well worn. He said: "We do not have the money right now to replace this carpet". So there it stayed. It got older and more and more frayed. Finally when the day came to replace the carpet and the workers came to clear the old carpet out, they thought it should go to the museum because it looked that old and would be a great piece for the museum.

That philosophy of serving people was the essence of George Hees. He never forgot why he was here and what he was fighting for. Although he is no longer with us, I am sure his legacy will live on in the House and in minds and hearts of the Canadian people.

On behalf of the Reform Party, we send our condolences to his family and say a personal thank you, George, for all you did for us.

[Christine Stewart, Liberal, Secretary of State (Latin America and Africa)]

Mr. Speaker, it is not possible to express a tribute in the House on the sad passing of George Hees without bringing words of condolence and respect from my constituents in Northumberland.

To this day Northumberland thinks of George Hees with great pride for the 23 years he so ably served the constituents of the riding of Northumberland. The tenacity and hard work of George Hees and his inherent sense of politics earned him the support of his Northumberland constituents for a period of 23 years.

As we have heard, throughout his military and political careers George Hees served Canada and his constituents beyond the call of duty. He was a devoted parliamentarian and a person who believed in the great potential of Canada and Canadians.

As Mr. Hees' successor in the riding of Northumberland, I can attest to the fact that he was well loved throughout the riding. He was respected and admired on a non-partisan basis. He was a true gentleman. His legacy in the region is alive and well. Around Northumberland there still abound everyone's favourite George Hees stories.

One of mine remains his comment to me the night before my first election. He said he felt I had run a very good campaign. I do not know if at that time he imagined I would win that election campaign by a resounding 27 votes, but I can say that my success on that campaign of 1988 in large part was due to the fact that as a campaigner one did not forget to speak of George Hees with great respect and admiration.

In Northumberland we are very proud of George Hees and the way he represented us. My heartfelt condolences and sympathy go out to his family and all the many friends of George Hees.

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the New Democrats in the House today I join with my colleagues to pay tribute to George Hees, honouring his long record of public service, military service and parliamentary service.

I had the opportunity to sit in the House of Commons with Mr. Hees for nine years. I echo the comments of the Minister of National Defence that George Hees was a House of Commons man and someone who gave to this place and to those who came here as new members an appropriate sense of the responsibility and also the joy and collegiality of being a member of Parliament.

I say with some regret that I do not always feel the House is as collegial as it was in previous Parliaments or as George Hees would have liked it to continue to be.

I was here for some of the exchanges between George Hees and former Prime Minister Trudeau. I remember very well the day when he stepped out and raised his dukes, so to speak, and challenged the Prime Minister in a kidding sort of way that perhaps they could settle the matter outside.

I remember very well his daily walks. I used to run into him near the flame and elsewhere because I have the habit of going for a walk myself. Many times I had the opportunity to have informal conversations with Mr. Hees and I came to like him very much.

I swam at the Chateau Laurier and I used to talk to him there. He was just that kind of person you could get to know. He was as very interested in younger people who had been elected to Parliament. He would give you a bit of the history of this place and get you to have the right feel for your job.

An article in the Globe and Mail this morning entitled ``Lives Lived'' was about George Hees. For the record, because I know he would not want the memory of another happy warrior in this place to be misreported, when he beat Pauline Jewett in 1965 she was not a Socialist, she was a Liberal. She became a Socialist later when she became more successful.

When George Hees became the Minister of Veterans Affairs in 1985 my case work with respect to veterans affairs dropped just like that. As Minister of Veterans Affairs he must have told the bureaucrats in the civil service: "Clean up your act. I want you to give the benefit of the doubt to veterans. I do not want anymore of this stalling and delaying". It made a real difference. Anybody who was a member of Parliament could see it at that time. Your case load with respect to veterans affairs literally disappeared overnight when George Hees became the Minister of Veterans Affairs. I want to pay tribute to that particular element of his career.

On behalf of the NDP I extend our condolences to his family. I am very sorry on a personal level that he is no longer with us.

[Len Hopkins, Liberal, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, George Hees was married on June 30, 1934 to Mabel Dunlop of Pembroke, Ontario. Mabs Dunlop, as she was known, was the daughter of A.E. Dunlop, the provincial treasurer in the Conservative government in Ontario for many years. George was very proud to have married into that family. The Hon. A.E. Dunlop, the former treasurer of Ontario, died earlier that year just before George and Mabs were married.

As Minister of Veterans Affairs, the Hon. George Hees invited me and others in the House at the time to the 45th anniversary of the Dieppe raid. I can recall how emotional he was at times during that visit. He did a great job for Canada as a spokesperson, as one to represent the veterans, and we had many cenotaph ceremonies remembering those who died at the battle of Dieppe.

As veterans affairs minister George Hees was very personal, very in depth and had a great empathy for his job. All veterans got the benefit of the doubt when they asked George Hees to look into a case.

One of the reasons George Hees lived from 1910 until 1996 was that he was a great believer in physical exercise, as mentioned by a previous speaker. He was always out doing his thing early in the morning and even in the evenings. Besides being a great person in phys-ed, he was never at a loss for words either.

He was first elected in 1950 and then re-elected in 1953, 1957, 1958 and 1962. He did not run in 1963. He came back into the House in 1965, when I was first elected. He was in the House for the next 23 years after that.

Of interest, I believe nearly all of the ministers from the Ontario cabinet came to Pembroke for his father-in-law's funeral in 1934.

George was a hail fellow well met. When we came back from the the 45th anniversary of the Dieppe raid, I delivered a statement in the House praising George Hees and thanking him for doing such a fine job in leading that delegation to that very important memorial. I recall at the time Mary Collins from Vancouver sent me a kind note across the House thanking me for saying something nice about George Hees because in those days not very many people said nice things about anybody. Nevertheless he was a tremendous fellow.

I have one last comment with respect to George's in-laws. It is of interest to note that Paul Martin Senior first ran in the old Renfrew North provincial riding against A.E. Dunlop who was George's father-in-law. The most interesting part of that story is that Paul Martin Senior's father worked in the lumber yard for A.E. Dunlop and his son was running against A.E. Dunlop in the provincial election. That created a little interest. George was always one to tell a lot of stories of his background.

Today we are really celebrating the life of a person who spent 35 years of elected service in this House of Commons. As the representative for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, I extend to George's family and all his relatives and friends sincere condolences from Lois and me today.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)]

In conclusion I thank all the members who participated during the past half hour in the tribute to the late George Hees.

Government Response To Petitions

[Barry Campbell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I

have the honour to table in both official languages the government's responses to 15 petitions.

Committees Of The House

[Charles Caccia, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development relating to the second Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region, held on March 13 and 14, 1996 in Yellowknife, and to the third ministerial meeting on the Arctic environment protection strategy, held on March 19 and 21, 1996 in Inuvik.

The committee is recommending that the government take the necessary measures to implement the recommendations contained in the statement of the second conference of parliamentarians, that the standing committee of parliamentarians of the Arctic have a permanent and substantive role in the Arctic council, and finally that the Parliament of Canada formally recognize the standing committee of parliamentarians of the Arctic.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a response to this report.

I would like to thank officials from Environment Canada for their excellent work in co-ordinating the conference of parliamentarians.

[Roger Simmons, Liberal, Burin—St. George's, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Health has the honour to present its first report in accordance with its order of reference of Thursday, March 7, 1996.

Your committee has considered votes 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 under health in the main estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1997 and reports the same.

Public Safety Officers Compensation Act

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-314, an act respecting the provision of compensation to public safety officers who lost their lives while on duty.

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured and pleased together with the hon. member for Mississauga East to introduce this bill to the House today, to establish a registered charitable trust fund for the benefit of families of police and firefighters killed in the line of duty.

The fund will be administered by an independent board and will be set up to receive such money as appropriated to it by Parliament, or a legislature of a province, or as received by gift or bequest.

Canadians are aware of the daily risks that face our police and firefighters as they serve our emergent needs. When one of them loses their life in the line of duty, all of us mourn that loss. This fund would be a tangible way for Canadians to honour their courageous service and to assist their loved ones in their time of need.

I therefore hope my bill will have the strong support of all hon. members.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

Criminal Code

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-315, an act to amend the Criminal Code (protection of witnesses).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce a bill to amend the Criminal Code. The purpose of this bill is to protect witnesses and complainants in proceedings in which the accused is charged with a sexual offence, sexual assault or where violence has been used, threatened or attempted.

This bill is designed to prevent the accused who represent themselves from cross-examining the victims in such proceedings. Victims and witnesses under the age of 14 will also be covered by the provisions allowing them to testify in camera. This bill is part of a larger strategy to eliminate violence against women. I hope it will meet with the approval of this House.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

Petitions

[Morris Bodnar, Liberal, Saskatoon—Dundurn, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have one petition requesting that there be a full public inquiry into the relationship between lending institutions and the judiciary and to enact legislation restricting the appointment of judges with ties to credit granting institutions.

[Paul Devillers, Liberal, Simcoe North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to present pursuant to Standing Order 36.

The first two petitions, containing 43 signatures each, request that the House adopt the private members' bill to provide in Canadian law that no criminal profits from committing a crime.

[Paul Devillers, Liberal, Simcoe North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition contains the signatures of 48 constituents of Simcoe North. They request that Parliament regulate the longstanding Canadian practice of marketing generic drugs in a size, shape and colour similar to that of their brand name equivalents.

[Jack Frazer, Reform, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, it is my duty and honour to rise in the House to present two petitions, duly certified by the clerk of petitions, on behalf of 139 constituents of Saanich-Gulf Islands.

The petitioners humbly pray and call upon Parliament to ensure that the present provisions of the human rights act and the charter of rights and freedoms prohibiting amendments to indicate societal approval of same sex relationships, homosexuality and the undefined phrase of sexual orientation remain in force.

[Roger Simmons, Liberal, Burin—St. George's, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present several petitions with signatures totalling approximately 150 from residents in my riding from Port au Port east and Port au Port west, Aguathuna, Stephenville, Kippens and St. George's.

The petitioners pray and request that Parliament not amend the Constitution as requested by the Government of Newfoundland and refer the problem of educational reform back to the Government of Newfoundland for resolution by non-constitutional means.

[Karen Kraft Sloan, Liberal, York—Simcoe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition which states that there is an unequal division of federal subsidies between non-renewable and renewable energy generating sectors.

The petitioners state that an immediate shift of a major portion of funds from AECL to the renewable energy sector would stimulate this industry thereby making it able to meet a huge pent up demand from consumers for domestically produced photovoltaic and wind turbine components. Coupled with tax incentives, this would help create uncounted thousands of new long term jobs.

The petitioners are calling upon Parliament to realize the immediate benefit of clean energy generation and job creation in light of Canada's commitment to agenda 21 and to act in this regard without further delay.

[Gordon Kirkby, Liberal, Prince Albert—Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I put forward a petition, which has been duly certified by the clerk as to proper form and content, from residents of Pickering, Etobicoke, Mississauga and other communities. The petitioners pray that Parliament enact Bill C-205 introduced by the hon. member for Scarborough West at the earliest opportunity so as to provide in Canadian law that no criminal profits from committing a crime.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions pursuant to Standing Order 36, both of which have been circulating across Canada.

The first petition comes from Gloucester, Ontario. The petitioners would like to draw to the attention of the House that managing the family home and caring for preschool children is an honourable profession which has not been recognized for its value to our society. They also state that the Income Tax Act discriminates against the traditional family who make the choice to provide care in the home to preschool children, the disabled, the chronically ill or the aged.

The petitioners therefore pray and call upon Parliament to pursue initiatives to eliminate tax discrimination against families who decide to provide care in the home for preschool children, the disabled, the chronically ill or the aged.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition comes from Kingston, Ontario. The petitioners would like to bring to the attention of the House that consumption of alcoholic beverages may cause health problems or impair one's ability and specifically, that fetal alcohol syndrome and other alcohol related birth defects are 100 per cent preventable by avoiding alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

The petitioners therefore pray and call upon Parliament to enact legislation to require health warning labels to be placed on the containers of all alcoholic beverages to caution expectant mothers and others of the risks associated with alcohol consumption.

Questions On The Order Paper

[Barry Campbell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Finance]

I ask, Mr. Speaker, that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Elwin Hermanson, Reform, Kindersley—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, my Question No. 9 to which I requested a reply within 45 days has been sitting on the Order Paper since September 1994.

I spoke with the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader who indicated a few days ago that there were only four government departments remaining that have not come forth with a reply. I wonder if the government might indicate which four departments are so slow in responding with an answer to my question.

[Barry Campbell, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will certainly take that matter up with the appropriate members on this side and determine what the delay has been.