Hon. Roméo Antonius Dallaire: Honourable senators, a ceremony was held this morning in front of the National War Memorial. The Minister of Veterans Affairs invited the members of the House of Commons and Senate committees on veterans affairs to attend in order to pay tribute to Canada's veterans on behalf of all parliamentarians.
I think our minister is a good guy. He is from Lévisand he seems to have some common sense. I thought it was a really nice gesture, and I hope this will be repeated and built upon next year, in order to give parliamentarians the opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to our veterans. After all, parliamentarians, along with the executive branch, are the ones who decide when to send our soldiers into situations where they risk being injured or killed.
My question is this: when I look at this and look at how things are reported on Radio-Canada and TVA in French, and on CBC in English, I see that anchors on English-language networks have been wearing the poppy since November 1. Everyone wears it.
I know that people in this field have a code of ethics and a dress code, and since it is an organization that falls under federal jurisdiction, I would have thought that the people who deliver the news to the public would be instructed to wear a poppy beginning on a specific date.
Can the Leader of the Government tell us, first of all, why not everyone at Radio-Canada wears a poppy and, second, if they will be instructed to wear one?
[English]
Hon. Marjory LeBreton (Leader of the Government): Honourable senators, I agree with Senator Dallaire on one thing: Minister Blaney is a good guy from Lévis. I am sure the honourable senator saw this morning at the ceremony with the memorial ribbons, as we saw yesterday in the ceremony here in the Senate chamber, that he is profoundly moved by the stories he hears and the work he is doing on behalf of our veterans. He talks about excursions to the battlefields with obvious emotion. He is a tremendous Minister of Veterans Affairs.
The announcement that he and Minister MacKay made this morning about the memorial ribbons allows families to wear a ribbon in recognition of the support of their fellow citizens for the efforts of their loved ones.
With regard to Radio-Canada, honourable senators, I will not comment. I would hope that all Canadians, who live in a free and open society, wear the poppy in recognition of the sacrifices of the men and women who went into the battlefield to protect our rights and freedoms. I would hope it would be a given that people would want to wear the poppy in honour and recognition of those wonderful citizens of this country.
Honourable senators, thanks to our veterans and those who fight for us, we do live in a free country. In a free country, we do not go around and order people to do things from on high; we would hope they would make that freedom of choice on their own.
Senator Dallaire: Honourable senators, I believe wearing a poppy at this time of year is part of the dress code of a federal public servant who is speaking to all people of the country and reflective of a policy of the country, meaning we are respecting our veterans, and that they would, if not imposed — find whatever word you need — recognize and respect the wish of the federal government to recognize the poppy as appropriate dress when they are in front of the cameras at this time of year. These are not their personal beliefs; this is them simply being the mouthpiece of news. I would hope the leader would reconsider that aspect.
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Hon. Marjory LeBreton (Leader of the Government): Honourable senators, just to finish the honourable senator's recommendation that all public officials should be mandated to wear a poppy, again, the honourable senator is a highly respected military person and I would invite him to seek an audience on Radio-Canada to make that point directly there.
