Mr. Speaker, I had not intended to enter this august Chamber tonight to speak, but I was moved to tears by the splendid orations, Ciceronian in style, and I think we are all indebted to the member for Elk Island for that moving account of life on the prairies in an earlier age. His eloquence swept across the House. I can assure him that outside the Chamber grown men and women deputies were in tears. It was a moving and eloquent address. We are all indebted to him and we can assure him that the northern provinces of Canada, the northern regions of our western provinces, did him right when they gave him this hand-carved statement, the constitution of his association, which he founded and upon which he left his imprint, his style, his personality. It stands on his coffee table, as he said, as a constant reminder of what it is to be a Canadian.
One reads the rules, one studies what is carved, if not in stone, carved in wood, and one provides inspiration for generations of children.
This may not be mathematics in the new style, but it is certainly mathematics in the old style, back to the 19th century. We are indebted to the member for Elk Island.
Mr. Speaker, you were very indulgent to him because you were also I think moved by his oratory. I distinctly heard him utter words—