Mr. Speaker, I feel privileged to have the opportunity to participate in this debate. I did not realize until I arrived here this afternoon that this tempest in a teapot had taken on a new proportion.
I want to begin by going back to my first year in this city, 1980. I and my good friend, the late Norman Wood who was a senior bureaucrat for many years, were given the job by the then prime minister of Canada to do an analysis of the Government of Canada presence right across the country. The purpose of doing this study about the presence of the Government of Canada at that time was to try to figure out why there was such a deep-seated feeling of western alienation when the Government of Canada had done all kinds of things especially in western Canada.
We travelled from coast to coast and placed special emphasis on western Canada. My very dear friend Norman Wood and myself took slides. We took thousands of pictures.
We discovered that there were literally thousands of Government of Canada services right across the country but especially in western Canada where the Government of Canada presence did not exist. There were agricultural buildings, there were youth services in colleges and universities. The Government of Canada was providing all of these services but with no Government of Canada presence.
Shortly thereafter we got the Canada word mark with the flag on top. We put these signs and flags not just in western Canada but right across the country. The whole purpose of that was to make sure the Government of Canada presence was recognized. It was not hidden in some back office. It was out there for the public to realize that this Chamber actually did useful things in every region of the country.
I say that because I do not want anybody in this Chamber to think for a second that my commitment to the flag, my commitment to the Government of Canada have diminished in any way, shape or form since 1980.
With reference to this incident, last week the member for Rimouski—Mitis came into our committee. I have had a very good relationship with her over the last two terms. I asked her quite openly what the big fuss was over the flags at the Olympic games celebration.
The member responded in what I thought was quite a constructive way. She put a bunch of pictures on the table which I wish we could display to Canadians. She was not objecting to the Canadian flag per se. When the initial comments were made she was referring specifically to that avenue where representatives of all countries were in the Olympic village and the Canadian presence, which we celebrate, outnumbered the presence of any other country by about 20:1. My colleague from Scarborough Centre was there and he concurs with this.
There is a sense that the member asked whether it was distasteful to have this many flags. Those remarks were blown right out of proportion. I know some people will stand up and say that I am in bed with the separatists. If members choose to take that line of thinking, then that is their privilege in this House. It is very important that we understand the origin of this member's remark. I believe quite frankly that the member was not spitting on the flag, she was not jumping on the flag. She was merely making a comment about whether this was artistically the right thing.