Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of our party to pay tribute to Alan Macnaughton who was the Speaker of the House from 1963 to 1965. He was first elected in 1949. He stayed in the House for seven terms until 1965.
Even though I did not know him personally when I came here in 1968—of course the member for Windsor West was here at that time—I heard about Mr. Macnaughton's reputation, which was a very positive one. He had a great influence on members on both sides of the House of Commons.
The reason he stepped aside in 1965 was to make way for a gentleman who some people may have heard of from the riding of Mount Royal, a fellow named Pierre Elliott Trudeau who became the member of parliament for that riding at that particular time.
When Mr. Macnaughton was the Speaker of the House, we should remind ourselves that it was only for two years but it was during a very difficult time in terms of being in your chair, Mr. Speaker. That was the other time in history when we had five political parties in the House of Commons like what you have today, Mr. Speaker. This makes refereeing this place a bit more difficult.
It was also during the days of the famous Diefenbaker-Pearson debates which became rather acrimonious at times and, as I understand, very heated. Mr. Pearson had just won the election from Mr. Diefenbaker in 1963. Mr. Macnaughton, who was respected by both sides of the House, was made the Speaker of the House of Commons by the prime minister of the day, Lester Pearson.
It was also a time when the House had a very divisive debate on the flag. I understand the debate went on for weeks and weeks before the days of time allocation or closure. Mr. Macnaughton made a very controversial but wise ruling at that time to split the resolution in two. He made his mark as a Speaker after only two years in the Speaker's chair.
He was a lawyer and a very successful business person. He was a very learned person, a very good academic and a very fine gentleman.
On behalf of our party I express our condolences to his family and to his many friends. He was a great Montrealer, a great Canadian, a great Quebecer and a great member of the House of Commons for 16 years.