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House Hansard - 290

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 18, 2024 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
  • Mar/18/24 4:00:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to offer my deepest condolences to the entire family of our former prime minister, to Mila, Ben, Mark, Nicolas and Caroline. I had the very huge honour, in a very unlikely event in the life of a very passionate non-Conservative, to serve as a member of the staff team for the minister of environment and ultimately, over the years, to become a friend of Brian Mulroney's. I have never said this to the family, but I used to have this recurring dream after I resigned from the office. There was a certain amount of bad blood from other Conservatives, but never from Brian Mulroney, about my leaving over my minister doing this little thing called breaking the law. I had this recurring dream that I kept running up to Brian Mulroney to say, “I hope you know I love you.” It was weird, because I did not know I felt that way when I was having this dream, but I had it over and over again. Then we became friends. We became friends when I felt compelled, as the executive director of the Sierra Club, to write articles saying, “Look at this legacy. Hello.” I was on the jury for who was the greenest prime minister, and it was not close. This was in 2005. It was not like there were a lot of prime ministers who had that kind of record. In thinking about my remarks today, I have decided there is no way I can actually speak to each of the accomplishments of the Mulroney government and of Brian Mulroney quite personally, of his personally picking up the phone and putting the negotiations to stop the logging of Gwaii Haanas and of him putting them back into play by calling Bill Vander Zalm. This was hard work and heavy lifting, and it was personal. Where it came from I cannot tell, but I know it was profound, real and personal on issue after issue, so I have decided the only way I can get through them is to list them. I can hardly editorialize on the accomplishments, because they are so many, but let us start under the category of underpromising and over-delivering. There is the multinational effort to deal with acid rain, to actually solve the issue, and to make it our single top bilateral issue at every meeting with the President of the United States of America. Then it was the ozone layer. We did not just put in place some ideas. Brian Mulroney quite literally saved all life on earth when Canada stood up and organized the Montreal Protocol and saved the ozone layer, so that it was not just no longer being eroded but was repairing itself. I was never so proud as when I saw him at the 30th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol in Montreal, when he even mentioned me in his speech. We were there at the same congress where it was negotiated in September 1987. The Montreal Protocol is an astonishing accomplishment for this country, but it was Brian Mulroney personally who delivered it. The first international conference on the climate crisis was in the last week of June 1988. Late prime minister Brian Mulroney opened it and gave a speech that brought the house down and brought scientists from all around the world to their feet to cheer. Stephen Schneider, one of the leading climate scientists, said, “My God, this is our Woodstock.” Prime Minister Mulroney and Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway opened that conference, which was the first one, but then the work kept going. There was the work to acknowledge and support the World Commission on Environment and Development and its landmark report, “Our Common Future”, to lead the United Nations in creating the Earth Summit for June 1992, and to lead, with heavy lifting, to deliver the treaty for the protection of biological diversity. One of the hallmarks I was going to mention is what Brian Mulroney did, not just in standing up to his enemies, which is easy, but in standing up to his friends. When he saved the biodiversity convention, and he did quite personally save it when George Bush tried to kill it, he was standing up to his friends. When he stood up to throw South Africa out of the Commonwealth, he had to stand up to his friend, Maggie Thatcher, whom he loved, because it was wrong to ignore apartheid and let South Africa be a member of the Commonwealth family. He stood up against his friends. He stood up to Ronald Reagan on acid rain, and he delivered an agreement between Canada and the U.S. that actually ended the scourge of acid rain pollution in Canada. He banned lead in gasoline. He banned alachlor, the herbicide that was carcinogenic. He brought in the environmental legislation we still have, some of which has been tragically repealed. He brought in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. He brought in Canada's only federal water policy and created new institutions, only some of which we still have. He brought in the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. He created the International Institute for Sustainable Development. He created the post of ambassador for the environment. He did the early work that led to the creation of the Arctic Council. He brought in the Great Lakes water quality agreements, multilateral agreements between many levels of government, provincial and federal. He brought in the national parks, one after the other. Quttinirpaaq, which we then called Ellesmere, was created on Ellesmere Island. There was Gwaii Haanas. We talked earlier today in the House of the news of what has been done with the Haida Nation and acknowledging its sovereignty. Brian Mulroney flew to Vancouver Island to sign the deal with then premier Vander Zalm. I will never forget Pat Carney, another dear friend we lost this year, saying to all the men gathered there that a lot of what they had done in their political careers would be forgotten, but this would last and always be remembered. Gwaii Haanas National Park, Canada's Galapagos, was personally saved by Brian Mulroney. Yes, all the Haida elders blocked the logging roads and got arrested. We cannot take a thing away from their courage, but the personal courage of the elders who blocked the logging road would have come to a historical footnote if Brian Mulroney had not been willing to get a deal and get Bill Vander Zalm back to the negotiating table. There were also the Grasslands National Park, the Pacific Rim National Park, Georgian Bay Islands National Park and the early work on the Rouge Valley. Making poverty history was the best international development funding record Canada has ever had. The closest we have ever come to the Pearson target was under Brian Mulroney when we still had the Canadian International Development Agency. Our funding commitments under Brian Mulroney were the most generous of Canada's whole history on international development. He stepped up to respond to the Ethiopian famine. The problem is that with this kind of résumé, not only can we not pad it, we cannot even list it and not run out of time. How did he do all this? He had skills and talents. With him being Irish, I can only suspect he actually once physically kissed the Blarney stone. There is no real way to explain how he could charm the birds out of the trees, but he sure as heck could. He could make people laugh. I loved his jokes so much. I feel like that old joke where someone can just give the punchlines and the family will know which ones were the best: “Do you know who I am? I am the man who gives out the butter.” These were great jokes. His comic timing was perfect. One thing about Brian Mulroney's humour, and he was a great at it, is that there was never a joke at anyone's expense. There was never a cruel joke. If there was ever a joke at someone's expense, it was his own self-deprecating humour at his own expense. There was the time back in 2005 when he missed the first award dinner for his being the greenest prime minister. He talked later about being in hospital and some old guy, who looked pretty rough, looked at him and said, “Did you used to be Brian Mulroney?” At people's lowest moments, he could make them laugh. I just cannot say enough how grateful I am and how deeply honoured I am. There is no explaining the generosity and kindness of his heart. When I had low moments now and then, I could not believe it when my office would tell me former prime minister Brian Mulroney wanted to talk to me on the phone. I thought they were kidding me. I would love to tell everyone what he said because it is so darned funny, but I really cannot repeat it. Dear Brian Mulroney, there are no pearly gates anywhere near this place, more like a bat out of hell, one would say, but I know where there's a proper welcome, open arms and angelic choirs, for someone who deserved and deserves to come home. God bless him, his family, his children, his grandchildren and all who loved him. He lived well, and he loved this country. Let us continue to try to meet that example of a good-hearted, kind-spirited, generous and brilliant Canadian.
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