Sir Wilfrid Laurier - and the 165th Anniversary of his birth November 20 - A Speech to the Laurier Club

November 20 - I spoke at noon to the Laurier Club. The text of me speech follows:

Speech to the Laurier Club
Winnipeg, Manitoba
November 20, 2006


Today is an important anniversary for Liberals and for Canadians. 165 years ago today, Sir Wilfrid Laurier was born at St-Lin, Quebec, a small community north of Montreal.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier was Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada 1887-1919 and Prime Minister of Canada from 1896-1911. Like me, when he was first elected, he was considered too nice a guy to be leader. A well known journalist put it this way “he has not enough of the devil in him.”[1]

In 1864, chosen to be the valedictorian for his class of graduates in law at McGill, he spoke of the fact that there was no greater mission than that of being a lawyer – for it was the lawyer who preserved the rights of people – it was the lawyer who repulsed the bold and upheld the weak. It was the lawyer, in Laurier’s time, more than anyone else who could push to the greatest extent the union of French and English.[2]

In 1885, Wilfrid Laurier, now a Member of Parliament, spoke out strongly against the hanging of Louis Riel. In a momentous speech in the House of Commons on March 16, 1886, he stood up strongly in support of the Metis. He said – If the hypocrites of the Conservative Party expected him to allow fellow countrymen like the Metis “unfriended, undefended, unprotected and unrepresented in this House to be trampled under foot by this government,” they had the wrong man. “That is not what I understand by loyalty; I would call it slavery.”[3]

Laurier called Riel’s hanging a judicial murder. He said “I appeal now to my friends of liberty in this House;…. I ask, when subjects of Her Majesty have been petitioning for years for their rights, and these rights have not only been ignored, but they have been denied, and when these men take their lives in their hands and rebel, will any one in this House say that these men, when they got their rights, should not have saved their heads as well, and that the criminals, if criminals there were in this rebellion, are not those who fought and bled and died, but the men who sit on these Treasury benches?”[4]

Laurier went on to say “we are a new nation, we are attempting to unite the different conflicting elements which we have into a nation. Shall we even succeed if the bond of union is to be – revenge?”[5]

Four days ago, last Thursday, on the 121st anniversary of Louis Riel’s hanging, I laid a wreath at Louis Riel’s grave. A little over an hour later, I spoke before a large gathering of Metis to note that even today, the Metis in Manitoba are being treated poorly, this time by an NDP government. When the Supreme Court ruled in the Powley case that the Metis have hunting rights, the NDP would not even sit down to discuss this with the Metis. The Manitoba Metis Federation led by David Chartrand, in the face of an unhelpful provincial NDP government, decided they had no option but to develop a responsible system – a harvester card – like a hunting license – that would allow the identification of Metis hunters and provide for rules for hunting and fishing which were more strict that the provincial government rules. They tried to get cooperation from the NDP. They were rebuffed – not once but many times. Metis hunters like Will Goodon have been charged for hunting with harvester cards.

Let us review this – hunting is a Metis right as decided by the Supreme Court of Canada. The Metis are proposing a responsible way to exercise this right in Manitoba. Yet the NDP are rejecting the Metis. Sounds familiar? Metis rebuffed by those on Manitoba’s Treasury Benches.

I have met many times with members of the Manitoba Metis Federation. I have reviewed with them their Metis Harvester Cards and the system they propose.

Instead of rejecting the Metis, we need to develop a plan for the co-management of our fish and game species in Manitoba. This will be co-management with Metis and with First Nations people (who also have hunting rights). It is and must be real co-management, with real recognition of Metis harvester cards.

It is time to recognize the wrongs that were committed in the past, and are being committed today to the Metis people. It is time to complete what Laurier began when he supported the Metis in 1885 and 1886, and subsequently.

But there is much more to Laurier – and much more that we need today to build upon.

Laurier pushed the frontiers of men’s minds and hearts. Laurier talked always of the need for reform and improvement, and yet he was capable of elegant compromises when he had to. Laurier saw the settlement and the full opening up of western Canada as the frontier of his day. He saw the building and developing of a diverse but unified country as the frontier of his time. And he saw the need constantly to reform and to improve and to confront abuses as a frontier that is always with us.

Laurier had a sense for who we are as Canadians and he was able to express it – which he did as follows:

“We are Canadians. .. We may not assimilate, we may not blend, but for all that we are the component parts of the same country. We may be French in our origin – and I do not deny my origin, I pride myself in it – we may be English, or Scotch, or whatever it may be, but we are Canadians one in aim and purpose.”[6]

As Manitobans, we are Canadians. But in the more than a century since Laurier spoke these words, the frontiers that are critical to our survival and growth as Canadians have changed, and the responsibility for tackling and solving many of these frontiers has changed.

I have already talked of one of the most critical frontiers of our world today in Manitoba – the need to develop responsible and effective co-management strategies with aboriginal people in Manitoba. This applies to hunting and fishing. But it applies even more to health care – and to our environment – and to our economy – and to the future of young people in Manitoba.

And this is a frontier where the most critical need for leadership today rests with the provincial government. For though the broad strokes of economic and environmental management may come from the federal government, it is the provincial government which deals with the nuts and bolts of health care, with the nuts and bolts of the environment and the economy and the future of young people in Manitoba.

When I first sought to become a politician I ran federally, because I thought, mistakenly, that the answers needed to come primarily at the federal level. But hands on experience have taught me very differently, and I am now acting at the provincial level, because that is where the action really is – that is where we can make the greatest difference for those of us who live in Manitoba.

Let us look briefly at the NDP. The NDP have deceived you – and they have deceived all Manitobans.

For seven years, they have said they would fix health care – They have not.

For seven years, they have said they would clean up Lake Winnipeg – yet the algal blooms are worse than ever.

For seven years, they have said they would fix our roads and highways – yet this year, our roads and highways have had more problems than ever.

For seven years, the NDP said they would keep young people in Manitoba. They have not. The statistics on interprovincial migration are as bad as ever this year.

The NDP have said they wanted more democracy, and yet time and again, they deny democracy – unless of course it is in the federal jurisdiction like the wheat board.

And, this is very important, – do not be deceived by the Conservatives. As we watch them closely in the legislature, it is apparent they will do and say anything if they believe it will get them elected. It was the Tories who set up the Crocus Investment Fund – and now recognizing their own guilt, they are ready to provide government compensation to investors. When it comes to health care – we must remember the devastation of the 1990s in health care when they were in power – and nothing today suggests they have any coherent view of how to fix health care – except some increased level of privatization. When it comes to the environment, they have offered little – except recently a rebate on hybrid vehicles. It needs to be seen for what it is - an attempt to grab votes – not a coherent environmental plan. And when it comes to roads, young people, aboriginal issues and more – they did poorly in the 1990s – and it is doubtful they would do any better today. Do not be deceived by the provincial Tories. The Tories say they will not raise tuition fees – but no one believes this – They have no credibility.

Let us look now, as Laurier would, at the new frontiers for today in Manitoba – and in each case you will see – as with the issues around building effective co-management, that it is we as Liberals who are far and away best positioned to take on these new frontiers.

The provision of a health care system in Manitoba which provides quick access to high quality health care services when they are needed – is a frontier that the Tories in the 1990s and the NDP since 1999 have both failed to deliver. In today’s NDP world, cars and airplanes are treated better than people. When I take my Toyota to Val Thompson’s Frontier Toyota, whoever checks me in with one identifying name – knows immediately the health problems of my car – and only has to add the most recent history. With an airplane in Manitoba, even with a small airline, there are meticulous records kept, and as with my care – major efforts are made at every step to prevent future problems. And yet for those who need to go to an emergency room and be in a hospital, information is asked again and again and again and again, and often there is nowhere where there is the kind of complete overview and the effort at preventing health problems that is needed. This is where we need the fighting spirit of Laurier.

I could go on and on. When they need it for political spin, the NDP act. When they see a chance to cut a ribbon, the NDP act. When things are so desparate, that they are falling apart the NDP act. But they have little vision or view of how to build a great health care system.

I will give you one more example. Recently, we learned Manitoba is losing one of the international medical leaders of our day – an expert in sleep disorders – Dr. Meir Kryger. I am convinced that we are losing this incredible individual because the NDP have no concept of how to build excellence – and no concept or understanding of why investing in early detection and treatment of sleep disorders and the research effort to support it, is preventive medicine – preventing the myriad of problems that arise when people can not get a restful sleep.

One of today’s frontiers – is the challenge to be good stewards of our environment – actually cleaning up Lake Winnipeg – actually reducing greenhouse gases. The NDP are all talk – but they have accomplished little. With greenhouse gases, I told them many times in the legislature that they had to pay attention to agriculture – but they will not listen and our greenhouse gas production goes up – largely because of increased agricultural production of the highly potent greenhouse gas – nitrous oxide. With Lake Winnipeg, while the NDP are fixated on buffer strips – which are likely to have minimal effect in our flat Manitoba environment, we are introducing legislation to remove phosphorous from dishwasher detergent – a simple change – which will reduce phosphorous in Lake Winnipeg by 2%. Real Liberal results.

A great city, which Winnipeg is, needs a great capital region. Rather than bring people together to achieve a great capital region – and effective planning, the NDP are shoe-horning the OlyWest Hog Plant inside our city, and their efforts are already causing a substantial loss of high tech jobs – and they will cause more if they persist. As Liberals we would work with the rural municipalities around Winnipeg to develop an agri-industrial park where operations like OlyWest can be appropriately located so that residents of Winnipeg can barbeque outside on nice summer evenings. We are past the time when hog plants should be built inside cities. Hog plants are located outside Brandon and Neepawa and should be similarly outside Winnipeg. We want to build a modern, exciting high tech Winnipeg, not a smelly NDP Hog Town. This can be a win-win for everyone.

The Brain – the mind – is a new frontier for today. We need to understand that crime – is a brain problem – a problem of a disordered mind – sometimes an organically disordered mind – as with a youth with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome – sometimes a disordered mind as a result of a disordered upbringing – and sometimes a temporary aberration of youth that needs attention and discipline. The NDP and the Tories see crime only as an issue at which they can throw dollars and policemen. We need a broader view – we need to improve the mental health of Manitobans – and we need to focus efforts all the way through our society – from research on the brain to improving our understanding and delivery of parenting and education. A person is a person is a person. How many of us know that mental health is improved by exercise – by an environment with better sunlight – and by better nutrition. We have paid too little attention to integrating and applying the knowledge we have to improve the way we live and work. Our system, under the Tories and then under the NDP has become dysfunctional because we see only the crime, the police and sirens – not the whole system.

I can go on and on – but you get the picture. Our economy, tourism, attracting young people to Manitoba, and keeping our young people here, improving our roads and highways, improving our post-secondary education system, the need for a new era in agriculture – the potential of northern Manitoba – but I will stop here.

As Liberals, we are builders – we have an understanding of how the components of the world in which we live come together. We see the challenges of the frontiers of today – in terms of people – in terms of what we can do to improve our province and our country. We will build in the tradition of Laurier. We can put in place the needed co-management approaches. We can ensure every Manitoban has quick access to high quality health care when needed. We can be outstanding stewards of the environment and actually reduce Manitoba’s greenhouse gases and actually clean up Lake Winnipeg. We can build a great capital city and a great capital region. We can put a focus on the century of the brain and improving mental health for Manitobans.

Manitoba has had four great Liberal provincial governments – under Greenway, Norris, Garson and Campbell. They were fine governments – of which we can be proud. It is time, once again, for a Liberal government in our province. We are needed, as Liberals, to step forward. I ask for your help – as we work together and follow in the footsteps of Laurier in Manitoba and Canada.

Thank you – Merci - Meegwitch

[1] Bliss, Michael: Right Honourble Men: The Descent of Canadian Politics from Macdonald to Mulroney. Harper Collins Publishers Ltd., Toronto, 1994, p 32.
[2] Schull, Joseph: Laurier, The First Canadian. Macmillan Co. of Canada Ltd., 1965. p 7.
[3] LaPierre, Laurier L. Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Romance of Canada. Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd. 1996, p 142.
[4] LaPierre, Laurier L. Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Romance of Canada. Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd. 1996, p 141.
[5] LaPierre, Laurier L. Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Romance of Canada. Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd. 1996, p 142-3.
[6] [6] LaPierre, Laurier L. Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Romance of Canada. Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd. 1996, p 147-8.