Madam Speaker: The hour being 5 p.m., time for Private Members' Business.
Hon. James McCrae (Government House Leader): Madam Speaker, I believe there is agreement to proceed to consideration of Resolution 44, standing in the name of the honourable member for Dauphin, and to allow all the other resolutions to retain their place on the list.
Madam Speaker: Is there leave of the House to proceed today to do Resolution 44 and retain the order as listed on the Order Paper for the other members' resolutions? [agreed]
Mr. Stan Struthers (Dauphin): Madam Speaker, I move, seconded by the member for Flin Flon (Mr. Jennissen), that
"WHEREAS Canada's most decorated war hero, Lieutenant-Colonel William George (Billy) Barker was born in Dauphin, Manitoba on November 3, 1894; and
"WHEREAS as a flying ace in the First World War, he earned a Victoria Cross on October 27, 1918 when he shot down four enemy planes during a prolonged battle in which he was severely wounded in both legs and his left arm; and
"WHEREAS following his recovery from this battle, he was taken to Buckingham Palace where the king presented him with his medals; and
"WHEREAS in all, Billy Barker was awarded the Victoria Cross, two Distinguished Service Orders, three military Crosses, the Croix-de-Guerre, two Italian Silver Medals for Valour and three Mentioned-in-Dispatches; and
"WHEREAS another well-known fighter pilot, Billy Bishop, called Barker "the deadliest air fighter that ever lived"; and
"WHEREAS when Barker died at age 35, his state funeral was one of the largest in the history of Toronto, with an estimated 50,000 people paying their respects and a cortege of 2,000 uniformed men; and
"WHEREAS despite his heroism and recognition of distinguished military service, Barker remains relatively unknown in Canada; and
"WHEREAS Manitobans would all be proud to honour this war-time hero.
"THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba join with all Manitobans in honouring Billy Barker's service; and
"BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Assembly urge the Provincial Government to consider providing funding to erect a memorial cairn on the homestead where Billy Barker was born to recognize and pay respect to his heroic war time service."
Motion presented.
Mr. Struthers: Madam Speaker, it is an honour today for me to stand and put some words on the record concerning not only a local Dauphin hero and not only a Manitoba hero and not only a Canadian hero, but certainly a hero throughout the commonwealth following his exploits in World War I as an ace fighter pilot. Lieutenant Colonel William George Barker, the resolution indicates, was born in Manitoba just before the turn of the century. When duty called Billy Barker, he did not hesitate to enlist in World War I and to serve his country.
Madam Speaker, one thing we as Canadians do not do enough of is honour the heroes of our past. We do not take the time, I am afraid, all that often to look back in our history at those Canadians who have served proudly. I do not just mean in times of war; I mean generally throughout history. I do not think we take enough time to learn of the exploits of our Canadian heroes, learn of the contributions that they have made to Canadian society or world society for world peace. I think that we owe it to ourselves as Canadians every now and then to look back and draw pride in the accomplishments of those who have gone before us. That is why I am hoping that all members of the House can join with me today in honouring Lieutenant Colonel William George Barker.
Mr. Barker had quite a past, Madam Speaker. Not only was he a war hero, but this little fact caught my attention. As a lifelong fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, I especially was pleased to note that Lieutenant Colonel William George Barker was the first president of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the late 1920s. Mr. Conn Smythe, the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, had known William George Barker in World War I and was impressed with Billy Barker's tenacity, was impressed with the courage and the risk taking that Billy Barker so exemplified and decided that this was the man that he would pick to head up the new Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club. I dare say that the Toronto Maple Leafs could definitely use another Billy Barker in their midst today in their quest to return to past glories.
Some of the other important accomplishments of Lieutenant Colonel William George Barker was his contributions to Canada's war effort in the 1914 to 1918 war, the world war that was being engaged in at that time throughout the planet. Mr. Barker, as has been noted, was the honoured recipient of the Victoria Cross. That in itself, Madam Speaker, is quite an accomplishment. We have many Manitobans--maybe I should not say many. We have several Manitobans, many for the population of Manitoba in comparison to other jurisdictions, but we have several Manitobans who have been awarded the Victoria Cross. We have other Manitobans, other Canadians, who have received the awards that Lieutenant Colonel Barker has received in his lifetime, but I want to put forward that no other Canadian has received the number of awards, Distinguished Service Orders, military Crosses, the Croix-de-Guerre, two Italian Silver Medals for Valour, three Mentioned-in-Dispatches, no other single Canadian has been awarded to that degree. Lieutenant Colonel William George Barker is Canada's most decorated war hero.
But, Madam Speaker, I do not want to just judge Lieutenant Colonel William George Barker on the merits of his wartime contribution, because there was more to the man than just his accomplishments during World War I. There was more to this man than the continued service that he gave to our country even upon the end of the First World War in 1918. Mr. Barker teamed up with another Canadian flying ace, Billy Bishop, and toured the country, providing entertainment, providing air shows, put together the first company that provided air shows for the benefit of Canadians. He ultimately was at one of these air shows in Toronto where Mr. Barker's plane crashed in 1930, and Mr. Barker died in that crash.
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The end of Mr. Barker's life, unfortunately in Canada at least, was widely reported and was widely reported throughout the Commonwealth. Where I think we have let down Lieutenant Colonel William George Barker is in the aftermath of his life, and, partly to our discredit, we have not taken the time to pass on the legacy of Mr. Barker to those who are younger.
This is something I think Canadians need to reflect on, not just in the case of Mr. Barker but I think over and over again. We forget to learn the lessons that these heroes of ours teach us, and we forget that there is a generation upcoming that needs to hear of these exploits, who need to hear of these contributions, who need to have these kind of role models before them to encourage them to make a positive contribution to our society.
Again, Madam Speaker, I must admit, being the member for Dauphin and being someone who knows the descendants of Mr. Barker, some of his brothers and sisters and the families who are now working so hard to revive the memory and the contribution of Lieutenant Colonel Barker. I must admit, I am a little biased in this. That is something that I say proudly, something that I think all of us, not just from Dauphin but all of us as Manitobans, can proudly say that we have had people in our midst who have made a great contribution, who have fought for our country, the principles that the country believes in, who have had the courage to fight for the things that we believe in in this country.
Recently in Dauphin we had some excellent celebrations of Mr. Barker's contributions, celebrations of his life. We have renamed our airport in honour of Lieutenant Colonel William Barker. There was already a street in town, Barker Street, named after the lieutenant colonel. There was already a school named Lieutenant Colonel William George Barker Elementary School.
The significance of Mr. Barker's life is not something that should be passed over I think, Madam Speaker, the importance of his contributions in more recent times. We have begun to make recognition of his contributions in World War I and his contributions to Canadian society and in no small part due to a man by the name of Wayne Ralph who put together Barker V.C., a book which chronicles the life of Lieutenant Colonel William George Barker, all aspects of his life, the great contribution that this man made to Canadian society at the turn of the century and up until his death in 1930. I think that not just the people of Dauphin, but the people of Manitoba owe Mr. Ralph a great big thank-you for the work that he has done, the research that he has done, into putting forth Lieutenant Colonel William George Barker as a true Canadian hero.
Madam Speaker, I believe that all members of the House will have no problem in supporting the resolution that I bring forth today. I think that it is high time that we start taking seriously the contributions made by our heroes in the past, and that if we do move forward with a resolution such as the one that I have introduced today, we as Manitobans can take great pride in knowing that we have elevated one of our true Canadian heroes to a level upon which we can all be proud, and which will serve a great use for the betterment of Canadian society in providing yet another role model for younger people in Manitoba and throughout Canada to emulate, to look up to, and to learn from.
Ultimately, what Lieutenant Colonel William George Barker stood for was the principles upon which our country were built and the principle of peace, a principle which countries throughout the Commonwealth understood 40 and 50 years ago, the principle which many countries of the world accepted, the principle of peace that many other countries of the world recognized in Billy Barker, something with which I wish would happen here in Canada. I think we can make that start today here in the Legislature of the Province of Manitoba.
So, with those words, I invite all members of the House to join me in supporting this motion and recognizing a true Canadian hero. Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.
Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Environment): Thanks to the honourable member for Dauphin, we are reminded today about someone whose contribution to Canada was extremely significant and one who deserves to be appropriately remembered.
When I read over the resolution and some of the accompanying information, my first thought was, gee, I wish I could have known this person. He sounds like a genuine hero, and we all want to associate ourselves with heroes. I do not blame the honourable member for Dauphin or anyone else for attempting to promote a better recollection of people like Lieutenant Colonel William George Barker. [interjection] We will talk about that later. The CCF came along afterwards.
I have had discussions with the honourable member for Dauphin (Mr. Struthers), and his House leader and members of my caucus, and we are very supportive of what it is the honourable member for Dauphin is trying to achieve here. I think that this resolution will be passed with a minor change, which I have discussed with the honourable member for Dauphin. I think we agree that the Historic Sites and Monuments Board, a federal agency, is the appropriate one to arrange for the right kind of commemoration of the contributions of Billy Barker.
The Department of Culture, Heritage and Citizenship of the Province of Manitoba shares my view on this. The Manitoba Heritage Council, which gives advice to this government, unanimously has agreed that a request for national commemoration through the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada was the most appropriate avenue to pursue. With a small change of one word in the last paragraph of this resolution simply changing the word "provincial" to "federal," we will have achieved a consensus that we can all agree with in this Chamber and actually pass a resolution.
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The reason we can do that is simply because of the heroism of Billy Barker, the sense of history that he brings to us and that his record brings to us. Sometimes I think it is too bad that so much time elapses before appropriate recognition happens, but people like Billy Barker do not care about things like that. That is my understanding. He would probably--I do not know him, but I say I wish I did--be the last one to be suggesting that these sorts of things ought to be happening, and those are the very people whose memory deserve it the most.
So this is why I am very enthusiastic in supporting the resolution very thoughtfully put forward by the honourable member for Dauphin (Mr. Struthers), and I will be moving an amendment to make this resolution supportable by, I expect, all honourable members in this House.
So I move, Madam Speaker, seconded by the honourable member for St. Vital (Mrs. Render), that Resolution 44 be amended in the last paragraph by substituting the word "federal" for the word "provincial."
Madam Speaker: It has been moved by the honourable Minister of Environment, seconded by the honourable member for St. Vital, that Resolution 44 be amended in the BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED clause, the word "Provincial Government" be deleted and the word "Federal Government" be substituted.
Motion agreed to.
Mrs. Shirley Render (St. Vital): I am pleased to rise in support of the resolution as amended, and I am pleased that the member for Dauphin brought forward this resolution.
I will just say a couple of words because I think the member has already spoken about Lieutenant Colonel Billy Barker, but members in the House might be interested in knowing that the Canadian contribution in World War I, particularly in the air, was just a huge one. It was out of all proportion to our population, but, interestingly enough, Canadians fought as colonials. We did not have any service of our own. It was not until the dying days of the war that the Canadian government finally got around to putting together a couple of Canadian squadrons.
If the record is correct, apparently the minister of the militia, Sir Sam Hughes, when he was approached in the early days of the war by John McCurdy, who was an aviation inventor, John McCurdy suggested the formation of a Canadian air service. Sam Hughes reportedly said that the aeroplane--and that is a-e-r-o-p-l-a-n-e, because that is how the word "airplane" was spelled in those days--is the invention of the devil. I wish I could remember the rest of the quote, but it is something like the aeroplane is the invention of the devil and it will never play any part. That may have had an effect.
One of the reasons why there was no Canadian air service formed at the beginning of the war because this very powerful military man, who was a cavalryman, saw the horse really as the prime mover and shaker as far as wars went.
So Billy Barker is really an unknown. Again, just for members' interest, there is a very good book that has just been published on Billy Barker by an author of the name of Wayne Ralph. Wayne Ralph himself is exmilitary, formerly with the Department of Transport, and is now a writer. If my memory is correct, Wayne Ralph saw the tomb of Billy Barker in Toronto. Billy Barker was not buried under his own name. He was actually buried in the tomb of his wife's family, and he wondered why this very decorated World War I hero did not rate a tomb with his own name, and that got Wayne Ralph going on the search for why he wrote the book, which is called Barker, V.C.
It is a very interesting story, and I would well recommend everybody here to read up on one of Manitoba's heroes, a Canadian hero. As an aviation historian, I am most interested in seeing our past pilots honoured. So, Madam Speaker, I am very happy to support the amended resolution on Billy Barker. Thank you.
Madam Speaker: Is the House ready for the question? The question before the House is Resolution 44 as amended. Is it the will of the House to adopt the resolution as amended?
Some Honourable Members: Agreed.
Madam Speaker: Agreed? [agreed]
Hon. James McCrae (Government House Leader): I am just not clear. Did we get the amendment passed, so the Votes and Proceedings will show that, so--
An Honourable Member: Yes, we did.
Mr. McCrae: Okay.
Madam Speaker: My understanding, yes--[interjection] That is why I was confused when the honourable member for St. Vital (Mrs. Render) stood after I had had the agreement on the amendment.
Madam Speaker: So is it the will of the House to adopt the resolution as amended?
Some Honourable Members: Agreed.
Madam Speaker: Agreed? Agreed unanimously. The resolution is accordingly passed as amended unanimously.
Mr. McCrae: Shall we call it six o'clock, Madam Speaker?
Madam Speaker: Is it the will of the House to call it six o'clock? [agreed]
The hour being 6 p.m., this House is adjourned and stands adjourned until 1:30 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday).