Mr. Speaker, at a meeting of Equal Voice this morning the achievements of Ellen Fairclough were recognized.
When Mrs. Fairclough died this week many younger women may not have recognized her name but Ellen Fairclough blazed a trail for women in this House.
She was called Hamilton's real first lady, the first woman to represent Hamilton in Ottawa, the first woman cabinet minister and the first woman to head Hamilton's Hydroelectric Commission. She fought to prevent discrimination in the Unemployment Insurance Act and was the first woman to be acting prime minister of Canada for two weeks in 1958 when she was the most senior cabinet minister in Ottawa.
However she did more. Mrs. Fairclough fought for equal pay for women, for extending the right to vote for natives and for ending an immigration policy that favoured whites.
I join with my colleagues, particularly the member for Hamilton Centre, in praising the fine work of Ellen Fairclough.