44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 15, 2022 10:00AM
- Sep/15/22 12:00:22 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour today to stand, on both my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Don Valley West, to remember, honour and pay tribute to Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
All of us were caught by surprise at the events of last week. We knew in our heads that this day would come, but in our hearts I think we all hoped it never would. My first thoughts are to those who mourn this loss most deeply and most personally. We knew her as a beloved monarch, but condolences must first be expressed to those who knew her as mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. May they cherish in their hearts their richest and most intimate memories, even as they shared her so generously with the people of the United Kingdom, the realm, the Commonwealth and the world.
My second task is to honour her legacy. She certainly kept the promise she made at the death of her father, King George VI. More than anyone could ever have imagined at that time, she faithfully lived up to the pledge she made when she said, “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” However, her life, including 70 incredible years on the throne, was not only long. It was incredibly rich, gracious and profound.
Third, I take this moment to wish a long life, good service and a rich legacy to King Charles III, to whom now, as a member of this Parliament, I do pledge my allegiance, with historic words, that I do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III.
Queen Elizabeth set a very high bar for any head of state of any country to match. Her selfless devotion to duty was an inspiration and an example to us all. She was not only respected, which comes with the Crown, but I would say she was deeply loved by Canadians. That love, respect and admiration was born not out of her position, but because of the person she was: a woman of compassion and warmth, of grace and dignity, of mischief and joy, of wisdom and experience, and of a deep understanding of her people in Canada and throughout her realm.
I, like most members of this House, have never known another monarch. She was a constant in our lives, reigning by example, with hard work, calm under great stress and difficulty, persistence and the honouring of tradition, but always willing to adapt to a changing world.
My earliest and most persistent memories of the Queen were from Christmas day, year after year, when, for as long as I can remember, I would hear the voice of my mother ringing out throughout our house, “The Queen, the Queen,” as we were all called to stop whatever it was we were doing, gather around the television and watch Her Majesty deliver her annual message.
This is a tradition I keep: even with the Internet, I watch it on television. She had the ability to reach into our home with a message that not only acknowledged the year that she and we had faced, but also with confidence for the coming year that those challenges would be met and that all in our world would be right and well.
We saw Her Majesty mostly from a distance, even with her many visits to Canada, but I had a few opportunities to meet her in person. The first was in 1977, as we celebrated her first 25 years on the throne. The then prime minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, invited young Canadians who had excelled in the arts and sciences to a state dinner in Ottawa. Luckily for me, he also included some young Liberals, so we got in under the bar. They sent us a protocol sheet on how to meet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, and it even had a note on how to eat our asparagus. We learned that we should not use a knife and fork, but pick it up with our fingers, because that is what Her Majesty does. Who knew?
We were nervous, but as the Queen entered the room our shoulders dropped, her smile welcomed us, and each one of us had a chance to tell her our story. She listened, and she cared. To be in the presence of royalty is humbling; to be in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth was overwhelming, but in the sense that the kind of humility she brought made us at ease.
There is a story told of the Queen, which may or may not be true, but if it is not, it should be. Apparently she had a habit of occasionally escaping from her favourite home, Balmoral in Scotland. She would take her own car to visit shops in neighbouring communities. One day she went into a shop and made a purchase, and the clerk at the store said that she looked very much like the Queen. The Queen simply responded, “How very reassuring.” She might have been reassured that day, but she spent her life reassuring us, and we have been the richer for it.
This is indeed a sad day. It is also a day for celebration. It is a day for celebrating a life well spent in service to others. This House and parliaments around the realm will be filled with words of tribute and admiration, superlatives used to describe Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. They are entirely justified. She was our longest-serving monarch. She was respected around the world. She joined in our most important moments of joy, and often, with a mischievous smile, engaged with us. She gave us an example and made an example of her life for all of us on how to live a life of service, duty, dignity and decency. She was remarkable.
May she rest in peace and rise in glory, even as we say, “Long live the King.”
1039 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Sep/15/22 3:04:08 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, it is an honour to join in on this solemn and sombre occasion. It is an interesting way for all of us to gather here after a summer break, to gather in a non-partisan way to recognize and honour an individual who is worth honouring. In our world that is an increasingly rare and difficult thing.
We look back over what is, for many of us, an unimaginable length of time, 70 years being on the throne. It is an honour as a farmer from a small town in Alberta to be able to stand on behalf of the people I represent to honour someone who was so personally known, who we may not have had a personal relationship with but who was so very personally known.
I took some time over the last week to watch some of the speeches that were made in our mother Parliament, in London, at the Palace of Westminster, hearing reflections of current and past prime ministers, individuals from across the United Kingdom talking about their experiences. Likewise today, and across the Commonwealth, individuals are taking the time to honour the legacy, honour the service and honour the individual who personified so much of who we are as a people.
I stand here today to honour that individual, Her late Majesty. There was a note that really stood out to me from one of the speeches made in the Palace of Westminster, that rings true to me as a Canadian and a member of the Commonwealth. The statement was made to the world that Queen Elizabeth was known as the Queen, but to us she was our Queen. It is that personal connection that has been talked about so much over the last week or so, with so many individuals and constituents reaching out to share their stories about how they saw or interacted with Her Majesty in earlier years.
A campaign volunteer shared the story of how, when she was a little girl, having survived scarlet fever, she had the opportunity to sit beside and be encouraged by Her Majesty in the small city of Lethbridge during one of her early tours.
I heard from others who looked to her Christmas messages. I and many around the world will miss having the opportunity to listen to those encouraging messages, whether they got those words in times of crisis or whether they had the opportunity to celebrate. Many received a message for their 100th birthday. I know my late great-grandfather received that message from Her Majesty. As a former Brit who emigrated to Canada to farm, it was an incredible powerful moment.
There are so many, I would suggest millions, of personal connections, and that is profound in a world that is increasingly not personal.
That leads me to the next observation that I would make, and that is that Her Majesty was so unbelievably present, not only as a monarch, as our Queen in the midst of a changing world, but present with every individual she met. That is a trait that I honour today. When she was with somebody, whether in a hospital, speaking with a veteran or making a joke about her age, as has often been the case, especially as many of the leaders she has interacted with have been significantly younger than her, she was always so present in the moment of interaction.
She was present in all of our lives in so very many ways, such as when she would look at a television camera. She was an early adopter of some Canadian technology known as the Blackberry, although it is not necessarily modern technology anymore. She used a Blackberry to interact with her family members and stay connected with the world. She was unbelievably present.
I have another observation that I believe is profound and worthy of honour from today's perspective.
My wife and I often have a conversation about who, whether past or present, we would love to sit down and have coffee with. When Danielle and I have these conversations, it's figures from long past, some individuals who are alive today and some who have more recently passed, but always it seems Danielle and I will come back to wanting to spend time with and to hear stories from our Queen.
On a practical level, she became Queen when Winston Churchill was prime minister, in a country ravaged by war, which was rebuilding and had significant economic challenges. Just days before she passed away, personifying the definition of service, she swore in her 15th British prime minister. It is hard to imagine the perspective associated with that. Having heard anecdotes from different British prime ministers over time, including some who went into the job not quite sure how they thought about the monarchy but learning quickly that its value as an institution, her value and that of the perspective she shared was so profound that it was worthy of being listened to, we honour our late Queen today.
We have a system of government that is quite different from that of our neighbours to the south. Through Hollywood and television, I would suggest that it is not necessarily always as well understood as it should be. However, prior to being elected, I was asked a question by a student who happened to have watched a movie that was popular at the time, which had to do with some of the founding documents of the United States. A comment was made about why they would hold those documents in a nuclear bomb-proof bunker. The student asked me this question, which was somewhat of an observation: “Why is that necessary? If that's necessary for them in the United States, why is that not necessary for us?”
My reply, and I share this observation with the House today, is that while the United States is a republic with strong constitutional documents, and of course the history associated with that, in Canada we do not necessarily have that. Although we have written aspects of our Constitution, much of it is unwritten, and I hope that we in this place understand that. A lot of that tradition is not necessarily in a document like that of our neighbours to the south, but rather in the personification of the institutions that we have.
A big part of that is Her Majesty, whether it is her life of service, from that of a princess, to being a veteran, to of course the monarch we know, and being a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, an aunt and an influence to so many. So much of our country, nearly half of the time our nation has existed, was fostered and has grown under her rule. These are powerful things for a woman who stewarded, I would suggest, one of the toughest jobs in the world. On a practical note, while many monarchs and monarchies around the world were dissolving, falling out of touch or being taken away altogether, we saw her impact remain.
As we have come to the conclusion of the second Elizabethan era, as has been observed by many in this place with touching tributes from most parties represented here, we have reason to pause and reflect about what that means for each and every one of us. It means those personal interactions and the impact they have on our institutions, from the mace, representing the power of the Crown being transferred to the people and pointing towards the government, to the coat of arms, and to everything we touch as members of the Commonwealth and having a Westminster-style democracy.
On a personal note, I will conclude with this. The Queen had a powerful and very strong faith. That certainly has been an inspiration to me in my faith journey, so I will note a couple Bible versus here today.
Psalm 78:72 says, “And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skilful hands he led them.” I cannot think of a better comparison to bring to this place today to note how well the Queen led her people over these last seven decades.
Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counsellors there is safety.” The counsel our Queen provided during times of upheaval and during times of peace speaks to the influence and mark she has left on our nation.
On behalf of Danielle, my boys and myself, and the people of Battle River—Crowfoot, I pay honour to our Queen in the people's House of Commons here today. I wish King Charles every success as our King. With that, and with what I know would be our Queen's wishes, I say God save the King.
1475 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
