Mr. Robert Oliphant (Don Valley West, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the report of the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association respecting its participation at the Bilateral Mission to the Republic of Namibia and the Republic of South Africa, held in Windhoek, Namibia and Cape Town, South Africa, February 28 to March 5, 2016.

Mr. Joël Lightbound (Louis-Hébert, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian branch of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, the APF, respecting its participation at the meeting of the Cooperation and Development Committee of the APF, held in Midrand, South Africa, from April 26 to 28, 2016.

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

Mr. Speaker, I believe that if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the following motion:

That in relation to its study on Canada Post, seven members of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates be authorized to travel to Surrey, British Columbia; Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta; Yellowknife, Northwest Territories; Moosejaw and Regina, Saskatchewan; and Winnipeg and Scanterbury, Manitoba, in the fall of 2016, and that the necessary staff accompany the committee.

The Speaker

Does the hon. parliamentary secretary have the unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?

Agreed.

No.

Mr. Gordon Brown (Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, I believe you will find consent for the following motion:

That, at the conclusion of today's debate on the opposition motion, in the name of the member for Niagara Falls, all questions necessary to dispose of the motion be deemed put and a recorded division requested and deferred to Tuesday, September 27, 2016 at the expiry of the time provided for oral questions.

The Speaker

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to propose the motion?

Agreed.

The Speaker

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Agreed.

The Speaker

(Motion agreed to)

Mr. Robert Oliphant (Don Valley West, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present e-petition 220, which received 1,166 signatures.

The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to create a national dementia strategy and to commit to a concerted effort to address the burden dementia places on our economy, on individuals with the disease, on their families, and on our health care system.

Mrs. Cathay Wagantall (Yorkton—Melville, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand again today to present a number of additional petitions in support of Cassie and Molly's law.

Individuals across Canada, from all walks of life, are standing up and saying that they want this House to pay attention and to make the choice to protect pregnant women and their preborn children.

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, I ask that the remaining questions be allowed to stand.

The Speaker

Is that agreed?

Agreed.

Hon. Jason Kenney (Calgary Midnapore, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, when I first arrived in this chamber over 19 years ago, I was filled with awe. It reminds me of what the late right hon. John Diefenbaker said, that “when you come to parliament on your first day you wonder how you ever got here. After that you wonder how the other 263 members got [here]”. That is not true in my case. I still wonder how I got here. I am still filled with wonder and awe at this place, this chamber, the tradition it represents, this temple of our democracy.

When I arrived here as a young 29-year-old rookie MP in 1997, I was filled with a sense of idealism, optimism, hope, and a determination not to sacrifice my core convictions, and I hope and believe that today I am still filled with the same idealism and motivated by the same convictions.

One of the things I learn as I grow older is that one of the most important virtues in life is the virtue of gratitude.

I would therefore like to express my gratitude to all the people who have been there for me during my time in office.

Let me begin by, of course, thanking my long-suffering constituents who, on seven separate occasions, have seen fit to express their confidence in me as their voice and representative in this place. I could never adequately express gratitude to them for this great honour, which we all in this place share.

Of course, I have gratitude for my family. I think especially of my paternal grandfather, who was Canada's most famous and greatest musician, in the 1930s and 1940s, of the big band era, who imparted to me a profound and permanent enduring love of this country. He was a Canadian nationalist who gave up the chance to go make it big in the United States on the big band circuit, because he said he always wanted to raise his boys here in Canada. He played every military base in the country during the Second World War, and he imparted to me a true wonder for the magnificence of this country, and, I must admit, has been a lifetime member of the Liberal Party of Canada. In fact, the last time I saw him, he was beginning to get a little confused, and he said, “Get Louis on the phone”. I said “Who?”, and he said, “Louis St-Laurent”.

Also, of course, there is gratitude for my parents: my father, who also imparted to me a great patriotism, a military man, a former RCAF fighter pilot, and an educator; and my mother, a gracious soul who grew up in humble beginnings but taught me much about respecting everyone.

There is my staff, dozens of staff, who have also been long-suffering in working with me. Anything I have achieved is thanks, in large measure to them. I know all of us would not be able to perform our public service without their participation.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to thank you and all of your predecessors, along with the clerks, the pages, and all the people in administration and security, who make the institution of Parliament work. Without them, we would not be able to speak on Canadians' behalf.

I would especially like to thank the people who so patiently taught me Canada's founding language, French.

Let me thank the public servants with whom I have worked. In the 10 years I was a minister in cabinet, I learned to grow, year by year, a deeper respect for the tremendous professionalism of our public service, in particular in my last year in the government as minister of National Defence. There could be no greater honour than to work with our men and women in uniform, who are the greatest Canadians.

Let me thank all of the parliamentary colleagues with whom I have worked. I have been blessed to have friendships across party lines. I wish I had had more, but sometimes, we all know, the stress and impatience of this life impairs those relationships. Even within caucus there are still people I have been here with for 15 years or longer who I do not know as well as I ought to.

One of the counsels I offer to all of my colleagues is to take that time. There is always a reason to be rushing around; take the time to know the people around us. I remember being in this place 18 years ago when a late friend, Shaughnessy Cohen, expired on the floor on the House of Commons. I think it reminded us all at the time that whatever our disagreements, we are all in this together as proud Canadians and must respect one another accordingly.

I would like to thank the leaders with whom I served.

Let me thank, in particular, my leader when I arrived in this place, Preston Manning, who brought to this place new ideas about democratic reform and fiscal responsibility that I think have made an enduring contribution to our public life.

Let me thank the former prime minister, the right hon. Stephen Harper, for the opportunity to serve Canadians in his cabinet in many important and worthwhile capacities.

Allow me to say a word about this institution, which I revere. John Diefenbaker said once:

One moment [Parliament] is a cathedral, at another time...it ceases...to have any regard for the proprieties that constitute not only Parliament, but its tradition. I've seen it in all its greatness. I have inwardly wept...when it is degraded.

Like any institution, it has its ups and its downs, but ultimately, it is made up of the people who serve within.

I appeal to all my colleagues, from all partisan traditions, first and foremost, to respect this institution and this chamber as a place of deliberation. If I have not always lived up to that standard, if I have ever aggrieved fellow hon. members, if I have not always lived up to the highest standard that I expect of us in this place, I apologize. I think we can, collectively, do better. I really, truly do.

I would, as a helpful suggestion, encourage members of this place to watch question time at the Westminster mother Parliament. They will see quick, pointed, thoughtful questions; typically, substantive answers; no boorish heckling; and no applause.

I will accept the applause today.

I think there are ways we could improve the decorum of this place to match the expectations of Canadians.

I have had the great privilege of having served roughly half my time here in government and half in opposition. My counsel to opposition members who have never been in government is to understand that sometimes in government there are no good choices. Sometimes, infrequently, in government, there are very difficult trade-offs to be made on extraordinarily complex issues. While there is a constitutional responsibility for the opposition to hold the government to account, there should also be an understanding of, sometimes, the irresolvable complexity of issues with which members of any government must deal. I think there should be a degree of understanding and patience that flows from that.

Similarly, to those who are in government, I say to a lot of the new members who have never been in opposition to please understand that when members of the opposition are asking tough questions that they think are crossing the line or are unfair, please understand that they are not bad people; they are good parliamentarians. They are doing their job to hold the government to account.

I hope that we can renew the best traditions of this as a deliberative place.

Finally in this point, I remind us all that this is the ultimate expression of our unity in diversity. I have never believed, as a tenured minister of multiculturalism, that it is adequate simply to celebrate our diversity. I think we must aspire to unity in our diversity, especially in this place. One of the great parliamentarians of the 18th and 19th century, Edmund Burke, said this:

Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests; which interests each must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates; but parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole; where, not local purposes, not local prejudices, ought to guide, but the general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole. You choose a member indeed; but when you have chosen him, he is not member of Bristol, but he is a member of parliament.

We should all remember that.

Finally, on this point of Parliament, when I give people tours around this place, I like to remind them of an allusion to history that should govern our actions. John Diefenbaker referred to this as a cathedral and it looks like that purposefully, not accidentally. When the early mother parliaments began to meet in the chapter house of Westminster Abbey, they grew too large and they had to move to the actual chapel of St. Stephen's, a place where the monks came several times a day to pray in chapel rows facing one another, so the reason we sit in these seats opposite one another is an actual historical echo of the monastic foundation of the first House of Commons. Let us remember that, if monks could sit there in harmony chanting the Psalms, certainly we could try to emulate that harmony a little bit and not just the discord that we hear in this place too often.

I have a word for my colleagues is this. I leave them with great confidence for the future of the Conservative Party of Canada. This is a party that has gone through a difficult election in recent months but has emerged with great strength and confidence, thanks in no small part to the brilliant leadership of the hon. Leader of the Opposition.

As a last word about this country, which we all serve—this magnificent country with limitless potential—as I worked as minister of immigration, citizenship, and multiculturalism and welcomed refugees to this country, I was reminded of the words of Desmond Morton, a great Canadian historian and a former NDP candidate. He said that Canada is made up of people who have been on the wrong side of history. That includes our first nations at the time of European contact.

That also includes French Canadians at the time of the conquest and Acadians, with the great upheaval and the tragedy of what happened to them.

It includes the United Empire Loyalists; English Canada was founded by refugees, including some of my ancestors, who came here from the American Revolution. It includes those who saw Canada as the North Star through the Underground Railroad, who escaped slavery in the United States to achieve freedom in this country, sometimes with the scars of slavery on their backs. There were the Highland clearance Scots, who founded Cape Breton. There were the famine Irish, including some of my ancestors—and members can see that the Kenneys have recovered from the famine. There were Jewish victims of the pogroms before the Second World War, in the early 20th century, and the victims of the Shoah, who came after the Second World War. There were the eastern Europeans, the men in sheepskin coats who fled political oppression to pursue new opportunities in settling the Canadian Prairies; the Hungarians of 1958; the Czechs of 1968; and the Vietnamese of 1979. With the Chinese premier here today, we should also remember the Uyghurs and Tibetans and Falun Gong practitioners and those who stood at Tiananmen Square. There are so many others right to this day: the Syrian refugees whom we welcome; the 25,000 Iraqi refugees who came through a program that I established; the gay Iranians and men and women of all backgrounds. All of them in their own way were losers of history, yet by becoming Canadian they have become winners of history.

All of those people would have cause to live in a spirit of bitterness and recrimination but, instead, have decided not to forget their tragic past, to remember and memorialize it but move forward with hope in the future, as Canadians with a common sense of responsibility for one another.

I close my two decades in this place by quoting the words of former prime minister Diefenbaker, when he introduced the Canadian Bill of Rights. In expressing a sentiment that applies to all of those losers of history who have built one of the greatest countries of history, he stated:

I am a Canadian, a free Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship God in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.

The Speaker

Before I call upon the next speaker, I hope the House will permit me to thank the hon. member for Calgary Midnapore for his remarks, particularly his expression of his hopes for this place. I recall sitting in opposition back in my partisan days when he was a minister and having great respect for him. I know that he clearly loves this place, but I must mention the respect that I felt for his determination to be here, as much as possible, throughout the debates on bills within his responsibility, something I would encourage all ministers to try to do whenever they can. That is admirable.

I have certainly respected and enjoyed his participation in debates in the House throughout the time we have both been here together, which has been quite a while. I want to wish him all the best in the future and trust that he will come back and visit us often.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

Hon. Rona Ambrose (Leader of the Opposition, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, let me say right off the top that I hate following him as a speaker. No one will hear me use the word “monastic” in my speech.

It is an absolute joy to rise today as Leader of the Opposition and a proud Conservative, with all of us here today, to pay tribute to our very good friend and long-time colleague, the member for Calgary Midnapore.

It is no exaggeration to say that he is regarded by all of us on this side of the House as an elder and mentor, although he is still pretty young. He has seven years on me as an MP, but it goes without saying that he is much older than I am.

When we think back two decades, the things he has seen in his career boggle the mind. He remembers an upstart young MP named Bob Rae joining the House, rescued from the downtrodden Ontario NDP. He remembers the time when one would have had better luck finding Franklin's ships in Alberta than a Liberal MP. Do not worry; we will fix that.

Of course he, along with the members for Battlefords—Lloydminster and Calgary Forest Lawn, were the very first boys in short pants, way back in 1997. I am sure they were trying to catch on to the boy band craze in the late 1990s. Nearly 20 years later, the member for Calgary Midnapore has probably seen it all.

With a career like his, it is difficult to know where to start, but perhaps I will start with what many Canadians already know about him: his unending energy and commitment to Canada's newcomers. During the 2011 election, the member for Calgary Midnapore became well known to households around the country as the outreach minister, always being present in communities that were often an afterthought during elections.

Even today, there are few in Canadian public life who have a better sense of the historic forces that have shaped Canada's cultural communities. From our diaspora peoples to the Canadian government's acknowledgement of the terrible past injustices, he has often been the loudest voice and the most constant champion.

However, whether those at home knew it or not, that reputation was not lightly earned.

His reputation for hard work and late hours helped him earn the distinction of being Canada's longest-serving immigration minister. It was under his leadership on the file that more new Canadians were permitted to join the Canadian family than under any minister of immigration before him.

For both those who need Canada's protection and those who were concerned about widespread abuse, his leadership was the overdue correction the country had been waiting for. Much-needed reforms shrank backlogs and refugee claimant processing times from years to weeks. As a result, those legitimate refugees who needed Canada's help the most received it faster, and those abusing the system were turned away or discouraged from targeting Canada in the first place. He launched the first refugee settlement program, directed at bringing to Canada persecuted gays and lesbians, particularly those from Iran and the Middle East. He ensured that refugees who had nowhere else to turn knew that Canada was a welcoming place.

In short, it was a generational shift in the efficiency and operation of Canada's immigration program, and thousands of new citizens will remember and thank him for it. As I say, that was the work behind the scenes.

In his interactions with new Canadians, he is as warm and as welcoming as the locals. The ease with which he fits into a room led him to earn the nickname “Smiling Buddha” from Chinese Canadians. His colleagues never dared to try that one on him, but as he is leaving we might entertain it. I am told that once on a walk-around in China, former prime minister Harper, seeing a large statue of a grinning Buddha, pointed at it and dead-panned, “I see Jason Kenney is as popular here as he is in Canada.”

He brought this same unmatched work ethic along with him to the role of minister for economic and social development. What we most admired was his advocacy for students and young workers in the skilled trades, which I believe will prove prophetic as we continue to fight for good jobs, and especially jobs that cannot be outsourced, for the next generation.

As Canada's minister of defence, the member for Calgary Midnapore carried the banner for our armed forces proudly, especially when our allies needed Canada's assistance. Only a few months into his tenure, Canadian troops were sent to Ukraine as part of an effort to improve the military police presence, training, and resources available to our allies.

The member for Calgary Midnapore also took over from his predecessor the lead on Operation IMPACT, which was Canada's use of air strikes against the ISIS threat in Iraq and Syria. It was a job that demanded clear eyes and clear authority, which he delivered.

Here in Parliament, I think we could all agree, including members opposite, that the member for Calgary Midnapore never arrived without a keen interest and a deep knowledge of the subjects that drove him.

For example, we all know how proud he is of his role in the founding of the former Office of Religious Freedom, an institution the previous government viewed as a critical tool for the protection and support of those still persecuted for their beliefs around the world.

His defence of the Office of Religious Freedom in the House earlier this spring was partly oratory and partly a history lecture, which it usually is when he speaks, calling upon such figures as John Diefenbaker, Pope John Paul II, Pakistan's minister of minority affairs, and Parsi Zoroastrians, and I am not sure who that is. It was one of his quintessential performances that we have come to know and love, knowledgeable, passionate, and forceful, and that has always been his approach.

As a parliamentarian, he has been a model of rigour and determination, and for all of that he has been honoured by his peers in this place and elected as the hardest-working parliamentarian, the most knowledgeable parliamentarian, and at another point, the best overall member of Parliament.

His accolades also include the Moral Courage Award from United Nations Watch for his advocacy for victims of tyranny, particularly in Iran and Syria; and recently, the Order of Merit from President Poroshenko of Ukraine for his staunch defence of Ukraine's sovereignty.

If I were a more daring person, I might even suggest the member for Calgary Midnapore learned how to be the best overall MP at the knee of our friend, the current Liberal Minister of Public Safety, for whom he once served as an aide early in his career. If my colleagues on the other side of the House might roll their eyes while I heap praise on a Conservative, they can thank the Liberal Minister of Public Safety for helping to put him here in the first place.

As an Albertan, I know well the kind of devotion that Albertans can inspire in their public officials, and in return for his hard work, they sent him back to Ottawa seven times, often with historic margins of victory. In fact, he used to like to tease Mr. Harper about his margins of victory being bigger than his. Clearly, my friend for Calgary Midnapore is also very brave.

We have always valued his advice. I have always valued his advice, and I know others here will say the same.

He is a friend to all of us on this side of the House. He has a streak of Irish stubbornness, as he should, and also that Irish sense of friendship.

He has an infectious laugh that we will all miss echoing through this chamber. Many who have passed through his office in these last two decades see him as a role model, a mentor, and a loyal friend.

Luckily for all of us, his time in public life is just starting a new chapter as he enters the rough and tumble world of Alberta provincial politics. We wish him luck and good health in that pursuit. We hope he finds some time to keep up his reading.

It is my honour to thank him on behalf of our entire caucus, including members past and present for his work on the Conservative cause for all Canadians. He is not dying, Mr. Speaker, he is just going to Alberta.

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the official opposition started off by being somewhat hesitant because she was following the former minister of immigration and what he classically does in a very effective way is to deliver very passionate speeches to the House. I have witnessed that for the last five years. I do commend the member on his sheer ability as a parliamentarian to be able to deliver the types of speeches that he does inside the House.

Today we bid farewell here in the House of Commons to a parliamentarian who has personified passionate engagement, both in opposition and in government, for almost two decades. It is fair to say that the member for Calgary Midnapore has done a great deal to define the direction of the Conservative Party of Canada. I must say at the same time that he has done this while providing directions to journalists across this country to every banquet hall celebrating Diwali and Chinese New Year.

Long before he sacrificed his sleeping pattern to his responsibilities with the Harper government, he was already an unapologetic frequent flyer working tirelessly for Stockwell Day's leadership campaign. If one could say anything about his political longevity in comparison to Mr. Day, it is that the member has proven it pays not to pack a wetsuit.

Let it also be said, however, that the member for Calgary Midnapore revealed to all of us a great talent for engagement with Canadians in his role as minister of citizenship and immigration and multiculturalism. One reporter noted he had cultivated a Bieber-like following in some communities. All Canadians thank him for this work.

Now, given the hon. member's years on the road and here in Ottawa, it is perhaps no surprise that we have learned he would like to pursue a line of work closer to home as the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. For many of us who have worked with him over the years this comes as no surprise. He has always been a passionate Albertan and a tireless advocate, not just for his constituents but for those across the province.

Let me in all seriousness note his work on the ground during the Calgary floods of 2013 and his passionate support of those Albertans currently undergoing difficult economic challenges. This is all the proof anyone needs of his commitment and his eloquence on behalf of those whose voices have to be heard and whose concerns must be addressed.

We Liberals may have had policy differences and disagreed on a number of fronts with the member over the years, but none of us here has ever doubted his passion, his focus, his tireless work for the people of Calgary Midnapore and indeed all Canadians. He has always been an exemplary politician and parliamentarian. On that note, on behalf of all my Liberal caucus colleagues, I wish him the very best in the years ahead.

On a personal note, one of the things that I truly respected about the member while he was a minister was that he always seemed to take the time to be present here inside the chamber. I know because I was in the chamber listening when the bills and issues relevant to his ministry were up for debate. A lot can be learned from that. I always sensed a deep amount of respect by the member for this institution. That is something I will always remember. He did a great service as a parliamentarian, first and foremost, and I respect that. All members of the House, and Mr. Speaker you alluded to it in your comments, respect the way in which he gets engaged inside the chamber.

We wish the member for Calgary Midnapore all the best in his next challenge and thank him for his many years of work on behalf of all Canadians.