SoVote

Richard Cannings

Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
NDP

South Okanagan—West Kootenay
British Columbia
Voting Attendance: 61%
Expenses Last Quarter: $128,729.57

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 148 - Dec/14/22

Mr. Richard Cannings (South Okanagan—West Kootenay, NDP)

Dec/14/22 4:14:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise this afternoon with sadness to pay tribute to our friend and colleague Jim Carr. Jim was very much a friend and colleague to everyone here. In my experience, he was the best kind of politician, someone who truly believed in serving his community, his province and his country. He was someone who was always trying to reach across the aisle to work together with all sides and who sought to bring people together. I think some of those characteristics came from his varied career path. He used to say he was a bit of a hippie in his youth. He was even a member of the NDP for a while. He was a professional musician, playing oboe with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and was a journalist with the Winnipeg Free Press. For a number of years he was a member of the Manitoba legislature. He was also the president of the Business Council of Manitoba and an early advocate for a clean energy strategy for Canada. That is the kind of background that really allows someone to see all sides of an issue and different ways of solving problems. I got to know Jim when I was the NDP critic for natural resources and he was the minister. We travelled together several times. I did not always agree with him, but he always treated me with complete respect. To my mild discomfort, he several times introduced me at conferences as his “nice critic”. I was a bit torn about that representation, but it really did reflect the collegial relationship we had. Jim was someone who really wanted to bring people together. In 2017, he organized the Generation Energy conference in his home town of Winnipeg. Jim was very proud of that conference and how it brought together people from all over North America and, indeed, the world in his home town to talk about the shift to clean energy. In the middle of the conference he invited many attendees to his own house for a party, which turned out to be his birthday party. I do not think the conference was planned to coincide with his birthday, but it was certainly a great way for us to meet interesting people who had come to tackle some of the difficult questions of our time, all the while enjoying Jim and Colleen's hospitality. The following year, I travelled with Jim to the G20 energy summit in Argentina. There, he was very proud of the hard work he and his team put in to bring the United States on board, with a communiqué that talked of the climate crisis and the need to shift to a greener, low-carbon future. We should remember that this was in the middle of the Trump presidency. Jim moved into the international trade portfolio later that year, so I did not see so much of him after that. By all accounts, he brought the same energy and conviction to that file as he did with natural resources, having faith that parties that seemed far apart on important issues could be brought closer together with honest dialogue. He was also a great chair at meetings and made sure that the honest dialogue actually led to meaningful action whenever possible. Jim was so happy to see his private member's bill on building a green economy on the Prairies pass through the House of Commons last week. Despite his long battle with cancer, he looked great and spent time thanking all of us who had supported him. He knew his cancer was terminal, but, as he often said, “Every day counts.” Jim loved his country. He cared about his community. He went out of his way to encourage new MPs of all parties. We need more people like Jim Carr in this place and at every level of government in Canada. On behalf of the New Democratic Party caucus, I would like to extend my deepest condolences to his wife Colleen and all of his family. I would like to thank them for sharing him with us these past seven years. To Jim, I would like to say, “Farewell my friend. God speed. Shalom.”

707 words

Context: House Hansard - 97 - Sep/16/22

Mr. Richard Cannings (South Okanagan—West Kootenay, NDP)

Sep/16/22 11:53:27 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a real honour to speak this morning in memory of Queen Elizabeth II and her service to Canada. I want to begin by mentioning her last public statement just a day or two before she died. It was a statement of condolences to the James Smith Cree Nation and the town of Weldon, Saskatchewan, communities that were impacted by unspeakable violence in recent weeks. I want to extend my condolences to those communities. We hold them in our hearts. I was raised in a family of English and Scottish heritage, and while my parents and grandparents were really far from being monarchists, we did honour the Queen. I remember every Christmas Day we would stop all revelry to listen to the Queen's message to the Commonwealth on the radio. I only saw the Queen once, briefly, as part of a crowd in Penticton when she visited during the centennial celebrations in 1967. My father was a photographer. He had trunks of negatives and slides. I was going through some of them literally two weeks ago and found a box of slides of the Queen and Prince Philip in some other place. I was not sure, and with a bit of digging I found out that she had visited British Columbia in 1959, when I was only four years old. I did not attend this event, but my father and my older brother drove up to Vernon as part of a big group of Scouts and Cubs that filled the park there to see the Queen and Prince Philip. It was an indication of how important those visits of the royal family were to Canada. She made many of them, and many people I have talked to spoke of those visits. My only stronger connection to the royal family was that I actually met Prince Philip some years later. He was a noted conservationist and birdwatcher. I am a bird biologist, and I was actually brought in to help the Prince. He was doing a birdathon to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund. I guided him around parts of Vancouver a few years ago. That was a great honour. It was quite interesting to hear his comments. I was trying to show him some rare birds and I remember him saying he could see those from his bedroom window. They were interesting to us, but apparently not in downtown London. It was just a fact that Prince Philip was acting to promote conservation around the world while being non-political. The royal family has always played a role in supporting causes it thinks are important. I appreciate that, and it can influence politics while remaining non-political. I was interested to hear former prime minister Brian Mulroney's comments about the Queen and the part she played, especially with regard to South Africa and the ending of apartheid. He was at a Commonwealth meeting where Prime Minister Thatcher opposed the boycotts and opposed the freeing of Nelson Mandela, but the Queen quietly supported these actions. While being very tactful and diplomatic, the Queen made it clear that she thought it was important that the Commonwealth get behind the ending of apartheid and move on. That really changed history. I will close by mentioning the historical role the British monarchy has played with regard to the indigenous people of Canada. One of the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is to issue a royal proclamation on reconciliation. I was also listening to the radio the other day and heard my friend and neighbour Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, grand chief of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. He was asked to comment on the passing of Queen Elizabeth and the accession of King Charles. He finished his comments by saying that he was cautiously optimistic about the possible role that King Charles could play in reconciliation, saying, “I think he'll surprise us.” I will close by saying that it is no surprise that the passing of the Queen has brought on such a sense of loss for so many Canadians. She served for 70 years, serving each day with a strong sense of duty, and always served with such impeccable dignity. May she rest in peace.

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Member of Parliament

Richard Cannings