Mr. Speaker, when the last Parliament adjourned we were still fortunate enough to be in the company of Mr. Stanley Knowles, the former member for Winnipeg North Centre. However, as everyone here will know, shortly after the general election of June 2 Mr. Knowles passed away just short of his 89th birthday. At that time he was honoured appropriately on the Hill.
In addition to the special honours that he received at that time from the House, from the government and from the Canadian people in a massive overwhelming way, we have a tradition in this place of paying tribute to former members. It is at this time that I would like to pay tribute to Mr. Knowles, the former member for Winnipeg North Centre, whose association with this place stretched over 50 years, 55 years from the time he was first elected in 1942 up until 1997 when he was still serving as an honorary officer of the table, with the exception of the four years that he spent out of office from 1958 to 1962. But he first ran for Parliament in 1935.
Obviously it was a tremendous span of association with Canadian politics. He was someone who I think was regarded almost universally as one of the great parliamentarians of our time. We will miss him and we will miss having him here with us. Of course as New Democrats we especially regret that he was not here to enjoy our return to this Parliament with the status of an official party. I know that my leader expressed similar sentiments yesterday when she spoke to the Speech from the Throne.
Stanley Knowles was a great defender of veterans, of the poor, of women, of anyone who needed help, of anyone who should have been the object of our compassion, either individually or as a society. He saw government as something that could play a positive role in the economy and in the creation of social programs. He fought especially for the elderly and for pensions and for a decent public pension system in this country and he lived to see many of his dreams realized.
Unfortunately he also lived to see the day when some of those dreams began to unravel as part of the policies adopted in recent years. So many of us here, inspired by his work and by his commitment to such things, intend to continue that work and to defend and to promote the ideals that he represented in this place.
One could talk about Stanley Knowles for a long time and never say the same thing twice because there is so much to say about the former member for Winnipeg North Centre but we only have a brief time here today.
I want to extend on behalf of my colleagues and I am sure on behalf of everyone our condolences to his family and our great appreciation of the gift that they gave to us, all the hours that Stanley Knowles spent in this place day after day, night after night.
I remember seeing him the night before his stroke. It was 11 o'clock in the evening in the hallway of the sixth floor of the Centre Block. He always paid attention to Parliament and cared about Parliament and cared about what Parliament was doing and how it was doing it. If there is one thing we can say about Mr. Knowles, it is that he always carried out his duties with a great deal of honour, dignity and a respect for the parliamentary process. We mourn his loss here today and pay him tribute.