Tuesday, April 25, 1967

J. Walter Dingwell: Second Kings, (Assemblyman)

Mr. Speaker, when I arose to adjourn the debate last night, it was not be- cause of the fact that I was so anxious to participate in this debate myself, but I thought the place should be open so that all Ministers of the Crown could give a re- port of their jurisdiction. Personally I would be very happy, sometimes, if this debate was discontinued entirely, this type of debate, and we get the reports from the Ministers in respect to their jurisdiction, and we continued with the other busi- ness of the House. Sometimes I wonder what this adds to the dignity or the useful- ness of the House, this debate on the Draft. However, now that I am on my feet, I would like to say a few words in this respect, and I would like to have them entitled “we count the cost. No vision and you perish, no ideal and you are lost. Your heart must ever cherish some faith at any cost, some hope, some dream to cling to, some rainbow in the sky, some melody to sing to, some service that is high." I don’t think too often as I have listened since this House came into being this session, there has been much in that context in respect to the goings on of it.

Mr. Speaker, as I rise to take part in the Throne Speech debate, recognizing need of being objective in approach, I find many things of interest and of worth, most of which are a continuation of former administrations, many of them only realized because of assistance made possible when we were in the happy position of having John Diefenbeaker in office at Ottawa. (Applause)

I would congratulate you, Sir, on having been appointed to this most important position that you dignity with gentle approach and with sincere desire to serve to the best of your ability. The Mover, in reply to the Speech from the Throne, is a man well qualified to take his place at the council table of the people and should have much to offer to this House. I would too, congratulate the Seconder who has always kept the interest, as he sees it, of the farm people in mind.

I cannot extol the merits of the Government or its accomplishments in a manner in which has been done by the Mover, for neither have I the evangelistic ability or the proofs of their accomplishments, but only hope that many of these virtues that he has attributed of them may bear fruit. You know, I thought for a moment while listening, that I had been transported into the future, as only the best is said of those who pass on, and that I was listening to their obituaries. There are some things on each I must say, as I care not a great deal what banner our government carries as long as it is a good government. 0n the opening days of this session, one of the Govern- ment’s Ministers, namely, the Minister of Health, did the House good service in his manner of answering questions, not able to do at the moment in good faith, he knew he would have other opportuities. Others have apparently shown a willingness to follow his lead. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case with all the more politically minded Members of this Assembly. The Premier, we respect the cloth, the robe he wears, the youngest Premier in Canada. «He can demonstrate a pleasing per- sonality in a golden tone of voice, a wonderful choice of words. (Applause)

Honourable Alexander B. Campbell: However!

J. Walter Dingwell: Standing at the threshold, as history will record, of the new century in Island history. I want to believe that when, perhaps, his grandchildren or mine read the record of his stewardship, it will be a good one. But I will have to caution him, if this is his destiny; he will have to put aside his mantle as political Leader and assume that of the first Minister and Premier of this Province.

Now, Mr. Speaker, some six, seven, eight weeks ago, when I thought that I would have need to address this House this is the type and the text of a portion of the address that I wanted to give to this House, because I believe sincerely that this might be a turning point. Not because it was the Liberal Government, I have sat under Governments, I have lived in this Province under various Governments, some of them good and some of them not so good. The recent one was an excellent one, (Applause) but I have never sat in Government, lived in this Province, under a Gov- ernment that apparently felt their only objective was political patronage and tearing down something that had already been built. So I prepared no more speech, so now I must ramble on and try to develop some of the thoughts that I have had since I was a

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