Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Alfred Dryden Hales, a former member of this House, who recently passed away. I did not have the opportunity or the pleasure of meeting Mr. Hales, but in his biography I discovered a number of points we have in common.
He was born in Guelph, Ontario, in 1909 and earned a diploma in agricultural sciences in 1934. Before becoming active in his community in Guelph, he played football for the Toronto Argonauts, between 1934 and 1936. This is the first point we share, as I am an avid football fan.
He started his political life as a candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party in the 1953 federal election, but was defeated. He was elected for the first time in 1957 representing the riding of Wellington South in the House of Commons. He was re-elected in every election thereafter until his retirement from political life in 1974.
In 1962, in the Diefenbaker government, he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour. In opposition, he chaired the Standing Committee on Public Accounts from 1966 to 1974.
He was responsible for the creation of the parliamentary internship program. In 1965, he tabled a motion in this regard. Four years later, Parliament welcomed its first interns.
As a former intern at the National Assembly, I can testify to the importance to an institution such as ours of the parliamentary internship program and I think we owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Hales' innovative spirit and vision.
I would therefore like to offer my sincere condolences and those of all my colleagues in the Bloc Quebecois to his family and friends.