Mr. Speaker, today the government caucus joins with the House in paying tribute to the memory of Mr. David Orlikow who from 1962 to 1988 served as the member of Parliament for Winnipeg North, the former constituency I had the honour to serve since as his successor until the boundary changed in June last year. It now constitutes a significant part of my riding of Winnipeg North—St. Paul.
May I convey on behalf of the Liberal caucus and my constituents my deepest condolences to his immediate family and relatives.
Mr. David Orlikow left this earth on the 19 ultimo when the House of Commons was in recess. This week, as we begin another year and another chapter in the books of parliamentary history, we mourn the loss of a former colleague whose death reminds us of a chapter in history we ourselves will eventually place in the bookcases of this great House.
In death, our true legacy is measured whatever the magnitudes. In death, our time on earth takes on a more historical perspective.
We are reminded that we have had predecessors and we will have successors. Our time in this Chamber is only for a moment. For that moment we must fully dedicate ourselves to the best of our abilities, creativity and industry; yes, to the best of our minds and to the best of our hearts.
There is no assurance of longevity on this earth. There is only the assurance of a lasting legacy of good work. As we reflect today on the legacies of those who precede us, we are reminded of the importance of our own work in the present, the fruits of which will become the valuable legacies for those who succeed us.
We can never erase the moment when we took our oath and became a member of Parliament. For all of us here, our personal legacy began the very moment when we made the steadfast decision to serve the Canadian public in the way we knew best, to serve in Parliament, a place where we debate to reconcile competing philosophies, logics, claims and priorities.
We do so best guided by thinking straight from the mind and straight from the heart, as our prime minister has so eloquently expressed on more than one occasion.
I am sure for David Orlikow it must have been a most rewarding career, representing the former constituency of Winnipeg North for 26 continuous years. The years of commitment he dedicated to his constituents were hallmarks of his tenure.
Indeed it would be a daunting task to review page by page in Hansard the story of his parliamentary career, but we know he served his constituents well, for they elected him nine consecutive times, a political record by any standard.
Allow me to share with members one intervention he made by way of a member's statement on December 14, 1983 when he called for legislation to “ensure workers some right of control of new technology”. He was advocating that unless there was opportunity for consultation in the workplace the result would be a deplorable state of human and economic suffering.
He took the case of 15 Bell Canada telephone operators in Midland, Ontario who were to be displaced a month later when automation was to be introduced to the phone switchboard system. Writing on this case for the May-June, 1996 issue of the periodical This Magazine , author Heather Menzies observed “nothing came out of the intervention”.
This judgment would later prove to be premature and in fact wrong. Mr. Orlikow's effort may very well have planted a seed for others who advance similar causes.
A little over a decade later, in September 1997, the Government of Canada issued a report entitled “Valuing our People”, a report in part about the new technology and workforce of the future.
Allow me to quote a relevant paragraph from this document: “Public service workplaces can be made more efficient and better suited to the requirements of new technologies while improving employees' quality of life. Employees believe that all it will take is commitment, better use of state of the art technology and consultation with employees”. Let me underscore those two phrases, new technology and consultation with the employees.
Truly Mr. Orlikow had the foresight to recognize the future impact of this linkage 14 years earlier.
Let me conclude by saying it was with this vision, the vision of one David Orlikow, that won the support of his constituents for more than two and a half decades.
His colleagues who knew him best said of him David was a tireless defender of his constituents and champion of many causes over the years. In tandem with his peer, Mr. Stanley Knowles, he represented Winnipeg's colourful north in Parliament. I share this sentiment.
Indeed as a member of Parliament, Mr. Orlikow contributed his share. Mr. Orlikow knew and lived parliamentary life, secure in purpose, serving his constituents for a quarter of a century plus one year with unswerving commitment and dedication.
Although his time in this House and on this earth has come and gone, we know that what he had uniquely contributed as a member of Parliament and as a citizen of Canada will forever be etched in a chapter of the history books of this great nation.