Debates of Feb. 9th, 1998

Investment

[Gordon Earle, NDP, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Speaker, what promises can this government offer to aboriginal people that the multilateral agreement on investment will not give huge multinational corporations like Daishowa and others a very big say in determining aboriginal people's access to natural resources such as fish and forestry?

[Sergio Marchi, Liberal, Minister for International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, this act keeps getting worse on the far end. Whether or not we sign the MAI in April and whether or not it goes to the WTO does not mean the Government of Canada or any other participant will stop regulating and legislating on behalf of their interests and the values that gives rise to and define Canada.

We have given every assurance that we will only sign an MAI that is right for Canada and the global community. Nothing less is good enough.

[The Speaker]

Colleagues, that would bring to a close our question period for today.

Points Of Order

[Randy White, Reform, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, during question period you called our member for Skeena out of order on a particular question. I reviewed the question a number of times during question period. I refer to the annotated Standing Orders which state:

When a decision on a question of order is reached, however, the Speaker must justify it through a statement in which he or she explains which Standing Order or authority is being applied to the case. Once the Speaker has done this, the matter is no longer open to debate or discussion and—

[The Speaker]

I refer the member to 409(7).

We will now proceed to tributes to a former Clerk of this House, the Hon. Bev Koester.

The Late Charles Beverley Koester

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, we learned last week of the sudden passing of Dr. C. Beverley Koester, the former Clerk of the House of Commons. I wish to say a few words of tribute to him.

Dr. Koester was born in Regina in 1926 and was educated at Royal Roads Military College, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Alberta. He served in the Royal Canadian Navy and the RCN Reserve and retired with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

After a period of teaching history, he joined the staff of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan where he served as Clerk from 1960 to 1969 when he joined the faculty of the University of Regina.

He was the head of the university's history department when the government of the day invited him to become Clerk Assistant of the House of Commons. He was promoted in 1979 to Clerk of the House, thus becoming my boss. He held that position until 1986, and I must say that I, and all of the House of Commons staff, I believe, found him to be an excellent boss.

Dr. Koester brought to the table the knowledge and wisdom of a scholar while at the same time providing the House his own determined leadership in modernizing our administration.

I had the good fortune both to serve as part of that administration when he was here and later to be a member of the House of Commons during the latter part of his tenure as Clerk. In both capacities I was able to appreciate his sagacity and his foresightedness. It was a mark of his accomplishment that when he retired he was succeeded for the first time by a career House of Commons servant.

On behalf of the members of the government, and dare I say as a former staffer, the employees of the House of Commons, I wish to express my sincere sympathies to Dr. Koester's wife and children on the passing of a truly fine man.

[Randy White, Reform, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I stand in the House today to pay tribute to Charles Beverley Koester.

For more than four decades Charles Beverley Koester served Canadians in many different capacities. He began his career in the Royal Canadian Navy and served overseas during World War II. Bev then moved on to become Clerk in the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly. After obtaining his doctorate in history he spent several years teaching in his hometown at the University of Regina. In 1980, Dr. Koester moved to Ottawa to become Clerk of the House of Commons.

Although I did not have the privilege of knowing him personally, I understand from many people his skills and abilities were most remarkable. He served the Speakers and members of this House with dedication and wisdom.

Today my colleagues in the Reform Party join with our colleagues in all parties to salute a remarkable Canadian who served his country so well. We also pass along our sincere regrets to his wife, Carolyn, and his children, Elizabeth, Charles, Christopher, James and Kate, his grandchildren and his many friends across Canada.

I am sure Bev Koester will be sorrowfully missed.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the Bloc Quebecois to give tribute to Charles Beverley Koester, a former Clerk of the House of Commons, who passed away recently at the age of 72.

Born in Regina in 1926, Mr. Koester graduated from the Royal Canadian Naval College in Victoria in 1944. He then took up duties in Scotland, and in 1945 was involved in the liberation of Oslo and Copenhagen. He was to remain in naval service until 1960.

In 1960, he began his career in the service of parliamentary institutions. After serving as the Clerk of the Saskatchewan legislature from 1960 to 1969, he retired to teach history at the University of Regina until 1975. In 1980 he became Clerk of the House of Commons, a position he held until 1987. Over that period, he was to serve under seven Speakers of the House of Commons.

A number of colleagues here in this House had the opportunity and privilege of knowing Mr. Koester and working with him. I believe I speak for them in saying that this institution has just lost a great man. On behalf of my colleagues in the Bloc Quebecois, therefore, I would like to express our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

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

Mr. Speaker, at the end of an obituary for the late Bev Koester, there is a quote from Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and it goes like this “and may there be no moaning of the bar when I put out to sea.”

I want to say to the family of Mr. Koester that we are not here to violate this instruction, to moan at the bar. We are here to pay tribute to someone who served this House of Commons very well in the time that he was here.

I certainly remember the days when Mr. Koester sat at the table as Clerk. He swore me in a couple of times. He served this House well. He had a distinguished career in the navy, in academia, in this House and in the Saskatchewan legislature.

I note that he was the Clerk of the House of Commons and a Clerk of the Saskatchewan legislature at very interesting times, having been the Clerk of the Saskatchewan legislature during the great debate about medicare and the Clerk in this House during the bell ringings and various other goings on that occurred around the patriation of the constitution in the early 1980s.

He will be missed. My NDP colleagues and I extend our sincere condolences to his family.

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, as the House notes the death of Dr. Charles Beverley Koester, the former Clerk of the House of Commons, the members of the Progressive Conservative Party caucus would like to join in offering our sympathy to Mrs. Koester, her children and grandchildren as well.

Dr. Koester's service to this House is well known. In addition to his parliamentary career he was also a scholar and biographer. He wrote a biography of the Conservative MP Nicholas Flood Davin. In that biography Dr. Koester summed up the life of Mr. Davin and, in doing so, offered these eloquent words which apply equally to him:

—he contributed his talents to the issues of the day; —he lent his energy, his eloquence, his wisdom, and his experience to the noble task of government; —and he sought, through parliament, to build —[knowing that] parliamentary government depends as much upon the institution as the individual.

The House of Commons gained much from Dr. Koester's tenure here. Parliament has lost a friend and the country a great man.

[The Speaker]

My colleagues, in your name I would permit myself a few words about Dr. Koester, the Clerk of the House of Commons of Canada.

I was a member of Parliament during a few of the years when he sat here at this table. On more than one occasion I had reason to approach the Table to get information. I found that Bev Koester was unfailingly a professional. He took time to listen to the ordinary backbencher, if you will, and to guide us along in the ways of the House.

That he was a scholar goes without saying. I would not want to compare him to all of the clerks, but I would say that of the clerks who I had the pleasure of serving with in the House of Commons, he was one of the best read that I have ever known.

He was highly respected in the Commonwealth. As recently as a month ago, when I met with the Speakers of the Commonwealth, I was asked about Dr. Koester and his spouse. At the time, of course, my answer was that he seemed to be doing quite well.

He served this House and he served us, as parliamentarians, very well. He will be missed by this community of Parliament, by his fellow brother and sister clerks, not only here in this House but across Canada because he made himself available to the other clerks in the other houses, he himself having come out of the Saskatchewan House.

In your name, to his family, to his grandchildren, and to all of those who have so much to be proud of because of the way he served us, he will be missed. He was and he is appreciated by those of us who had the great honour of serving with him in this House of Commons.

Committees Of The House

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the 21st report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the membership and associate membership of the Standing Joint Committee on the Scrutiny of Regulations.

If the House gives its consent, I intend to move concurrence in the 21st report later this day.

Middle East

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 56(1), I move:

That on Monday, February 9, 1998 at the ordinary time of adjournment, proceedings pursuant to Standing Order 38 shall not be taken up, but at that time, a motion to adjourn shall be deemed to have been proposed and the said motion shall be debated under the following conditions:

1. Members wishing to speak shall address the question of the invitation to Canada by the United States of America to participate in possible military actions in the Middle East;

2. No member shall speak for more than 20 minutes, with no period being allotted for questions and comments, and two members may share one 20-minute period;

3. No dilatory motions or quorum calls shall be received.

4. When no member rises to speak, the motion shall be deemed to have been adopted.

[The Speaker]

Will those members who object to the motion please rise in their places.

And fewer than 25 members having risen:

[The Speaker]

Fewer than 25 members having risen, the motion is adopted.

(Motion agreed to)

[Randy White, Reform, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of clarification first before I introduce a request for unanimous consent to move a motion.

I wonder if the government House leader would clarify to the House whether or not during this discussion tonight there will be a motion put forward on action as far as where the government is going, and whether or not we will be able to vote on that at some point.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the only motion before the House is the one that I have just proposed. If the hon. member wants to have private discussions later with me, I am sure we can meet later this afternoon. That is the only motion before the House at this time.

[Randy White, Reform, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to ask for the unanimous consent of the House to consider the emergency debate tonight as a normal proceeding on a government order and that the motion under consideration at that time be as follows:

That this House support diplomatic, and if necessary, military action by our allies to stop terrorism and the production of weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Hussein.

[The Speaker]

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[An hon. member]

No.

Committees Of The House

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, if the House gives its consent, I move that the 21st report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs presented to the House earlier this day be concurred in.

[The Speaker]

Does the hon. parliamentary secretary have the unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

(Motion agreed to)

Petitions

[Elinor Caplan, Liberal, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I have the honour to present a petition to the House of Commons regarding the abolition of nuclear weapons. I was specifically requested by my constituent, Mr. Mark Frank, to table this petition. It asks that Parliament support the immediate initiation and conclusion by the year 2000 of an international convention that will set out a binding timetable for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.