Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Frank Howard, who passed away recently on March 23.
Frank was first elected to the provincial and federal governments in 1957 and served this place for 17 years as the representative for Skeena.
He was a logger and a trade unionist. He fought as a lead advocate for modernizing Canada's divorce laws. Equally as important, he fought to bring the vote to first nations people in this country for the first time.
He believed that average, ordinary working Canadians could achieve the highest levels of office and effect change. He believed in the courage of one's convictions, and that a smart intellect and a strong principled character could make change happen in this country.
He was a courageous man and offered me advice from time to time that I greatly appreciated.
We will all miss Frank Howard. He was a great man and a great parliamentarian.