Lester B. Pearson Centennial Dinner

I come to speak to you today about an election -- the election of 1963, of course. It was the year when I became a Member of Parliament, and Lester Pearson became the new prime minister of Canada. I arrived in Ottawa eager to change the world and my country. But Ottawa then was not the city we know now. I spoke little English and found Ottawa a very English town. It seemed so far from Shawinigan and very far from being a capital where a francophone could feel comfortable.

I was only twenty-nine, a small town lawyer and a francophone Roman Catholic. Mr. Pearson, as I always called him, was sixty-six years old, the son of a Methodist minister, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. He had lived in grand embassies and dined with Churchill, Roosevelt and de Gaulle. He did not seem like the kind of prime minister I would go fishing with. At first I thought his world was very remote from the factories and parishes of Shawinigan. But when I met Mike Pearson the miles between us quickly evaporated.

This was a man who shared my vision of what Canada could and should become. He once said to me that, "The biggest mistake we ever made in Canada was when Queen Victoria chose Ottawa over Montreal as the capital. It was a bad move because it made the capital an English city." Mr. Pearson was every bit as determined as I was to right that wrong. Very soon more people on the Hill, in cabinet, and all over the city started to talk French. He began that great effort to make Ottawa the bilingual capital it is today.

Mr. Pearson knew from his rich international experience that a democratic and liberal country's true worth is measured by how it treats its minorities and how generously it shares its riches. Mr. Pearson loved Canada -- loved it passionately. But he also knew that Canada had not always been what it should be. He knew it could be better, and I did too.

And so, in 1963, the Liberals under Lester Pearson set out on a great national adventure to make Canada the fairer, more compassionate, and more tolerant country it has become today. The journey was not an easy one. He had his challenges, just as every prime minister does. I'll resist comparing Monsieur Duceppe and Mr. Manning to Caouette and Diefenbaker. I'll even resist comparing Paul Hellyer then to Paul Hellyer now.

They were difficult times for Mr. Pearson. Unlike me, he did not enjoy the lively cut and thrust of the Commons. Our minority government situation made all of us constantly nervous. We were never more than a point or two ahead of the opposition in the polls. Mr. Pearson's popularity dipped into the teens at one point, where he joined Mr. Diefenbaker who was regularly there.

For anyone who may get upset with what cartoonists do to me, just remember what they did to Mr. Pearson then. His bow tie was always twisted, his hair a mess, his suit rumpled and his glasses falling off. It seemed that the man's style reflected the government, always in hot water over drug dealers, separatists, anti-war protests, John Diefenbaker, and even spies and sex scandals. (The end of the Cold War has made things a lot more dull on that front.)

And there was even open dissent within the party. For example, a prominent young Liberal of the time disagreed with the decision of Mr. Pearson regarding nuclear weapons and wrote to him: " I am very disappointed and saddened to see a man renege on past principles, and deny the very policies on which so much admiration and respect have been built." Fortunately, that young Liberal did not keep his promise to leave the party. Today, he is the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Lloyd is still an idealist, but a bit easier on his leader these days.

But if these were the stories in the press and the editorial cartoons of the day we know now that the main story was missed -- the story about the new country that Mr. Pearson and his government were creating. And a much better country it would become.

I was there when Mike Pearson decided that Canada would be bicultural and bilingual and reflect both cultures at the federal level.

I was there when the Pearson government fought long into the parliamentary nights for a new Canadian flag. I was proud when he put on his war medals, summoned up his courage, and announced before a hostile Royal Canadian Legion audience that Canada would never again fight a war or keep the peace without its own national symbols.

I was there when we said that Canadian immigration would be colour blind. Look around you to see what we have done and what a richer, multicultural country we have become.

I was there when Mike Pearson introduced the Canada Student Loan Plan, and made university education possible for so many more Canadians. When I was a boy, parents like mine worked long hours, mortgaged houses, and saved every penny to put, maybe, one or two of their kids through university. Only one out of fifty Canadians graduated from a post-secondary institution in the 1950s. Today it is more than one in five, the highest percentage in the world.

I was there when Mike Pearson established the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, whose ideals reflected so much the views of Maryon Pearson and her daughter, Patricia Pearson Hannah. Its recommendations formed the basis of Liberal government initiatives for decades to come.

I was there when the Pearson government brought in the Canada Pension Plan and gave working Canadians a new security that my father's generation only dreamed of.

And I was there when Mike Pearson's government decided to bring in medicare -- over the objection of entrenched interests, over the heckling of the Conservative government of Ontario, and over the opposition of richer provinces and many richer people. I was there for the introduction of the social program which has saved Canadians billions of dollars compared to their American counterparts and, quite frankly, saved thousands of lives. President Clinton must shake his head when he thinks how much healthier and wealthier Americans would be today if they had followed Canada's lead.

Yes, I was there when Canada became the more tolerant, civilized, healthier, and more prosperous country it is today. If the United Nations calls us number one today, it is because of what we did then.

Mike Pearson took us there. This warm, generous, very ordinary great man knew that great countries care for those who have little, nurture those who can do much, and bring in those who stand outside. Those were his values, his Liberal values, and they are mine.

Mike Pearson gave me a chance to prove myself in politics. I would not be where I am today without him. His great legacy is deeply important to me and to all Liberals. We honour his memory today, the 100th anniversary of his birth. But more than that, we must always consider how to preserve and enhance his legacy. We must remember, and we must also look ahead.

Changing circumstances mean that the challenges we face are different in many ways than those faced by the Pearson government. We need to find new ways of addressing new problems. But while our policies may change, our values do not. Our Liberal principles are timeless.

Mike Pearson taught me that leadership is about hard work and determination. About courage and commitment. The Canadian people do not lack for courage. The job of a leader is to present them with honest choices. And to say just as honestly, this is what I will do. The choices are not always easy, but if you are honest, if you believe in the course you set, and if you always finish the job, then people will respond. That is leadership. It is what I have always tried to provide. It is what Mike Pearson taught me.

On the eve of the 21st century, Canada is at a crossroads. We can consolidate and build on the progress we have made as a nation over the past four years. We can continue to work for a strong, united, tolerant society that embraces diversity and our two official languages. For a compassionate, sustainable social safety net. For realistic, responsible fiscal policies. For an active, independent role in international affairs. For a future in which our children and grandchildren have opportunities, not debts and burdens.

Or, we can move in other directions. Canadians will soon have the chance to express their opinions in our democratic process.

For me, the choice is clear. I always have, and always will work for the Liberal values that Mike Pearson personified.

Our country is a better place because of Mike Pearson. His life was one of those rare and special ones that changed what we are.

When he died, the minister said in his eulogy that, "The dawning of a new day in which he believed is still not with us, but he is playing his flute as he goes and we hear the sad and joyful music of humanity and follow."

Canadians -- and the men and women of this government -- still hear that music.