Joyce Savoline - Your Burlington MPP

GEORGE KERR

Hon. Gerry Phillips: I believe we have unanimous consent that up to five minutes be allotted to each party to speak in remembrance of the late George Kerr.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Agreed? Agreed.

Hon. James J. Bradley: I’m delighted to be able to speak about George Kerr, who was a good friend of many of us and who used to serve in this Legislature. The member sitting across from me, Norm Sterling, remembers George very well, as a colleague in cabinet and in the government caucus in the Progressive Conservative Party, and I remember him as a member of the opposition at the time.

I guess there are many things that you would want to say about George Kerr. You could go on for 15 or 20 minutes. He always reminded a lot of people of being the sheriff when he arrived: He was a tall, distinguished-looking individual with a bit of a stern manner. But of course, if you knew him, he had an excellent sense of humour and he fit the title of Solicitor General when he was there.

Something interesting about George that a lot of people don’t know-perhaps if they didn’t know him personally and don’t know the history of the province-is that he was, to my recollection, the first environment minister in the province of Ontario. He served under two different Premiers, Premier Robarts and Premier Davis, and was well-liked by his colleagues. I know that. But he also did a lot of great committee work. A lot of people think that they remember George as a cabinet minister, but before he got into cabinet, and subsequent to that, he was a great asset to the Progressive Conservative government of the day for the committee work that he did.

Some of us come from the municipal field, and he came from the municipal field. We probably all have something in common somewhere along the way. I remember, in 1971, moving at St. Catharines city council that we secede from the Regional Municipality of Niagara, which will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. I’ll be at the dinner when they do so, commending them of course. George did not want Burlington to be part of Hamilton-Wentworth. He was very successful: He managed to persuade Premier Davis and others. Municipal Affairs Minister Darcy McKeough was around at that time, and Darcy had a lot to say about these things. George managed to persuade them that, indeed, he should be able to keep Burlington out of the clutches of Hamilton-Wentworth, and today it has been that case as part of Halton.

He was first elected as a member for Halton in 1963, I believe, and then it became Halton West, and as the area grew up in terms of the number of people there, he became the member for Burlington South. If you’re from the Burlington area, from Halton, you would recognize him as a giant. There’s one thing that was made reference to-and Joyce will probably make greater reference to this and I won’t steal her thunder on it and she will probably elaborate on this. There was a great speech he made-I think it was at your nomination, Joyce, that he made that speech, or victory night, one of the two-when he was well on in age and he had many health challenges, but he still rallied the troops on that special Progressive Conservative occasion.

He was very loyal to the party, and very loyal to the Premiers that he served with, but he was a no-nonsense person. He was not the kind of person that could be bullied around easily; he had his views and they were pretty clear views. Now, Norm Sterling and I have both been Minister of the Environment at one time or another, and I remember he did something neither one of us did: He went for a swim in Burlington Bay to demonstrate, perhaps, that the water wasn’t as dirty as people thought. When he got in there he may have changed his mind somewhat, but he actually got in with an old-style bathing suit, and went into the bay. It was quite an event. There was a lot of media around.

He was very focused on the environment. Remember that he lived in an area that was impacted, and in those days there may not have been as many environmental controls as we see in our society today. He had those huge booming smelters in Hamilton from Stelco and Dofasco, and the smoke-as it was called then; we call it pollution now-in those days, before a lot of the environmental controls were put on, was pretty pronounced. George recognized that we had to improve a lot of things, but he recognized that improvement of the quality of air and water was very important.

As a personality, he was extremely well-liked in his riding. He was elected over and over again. Anybody who was challenging him in an election recognized that it was very much an uphill battle, not just because Burlington had a significant history of electing Progressive Conservatives, but because George himself was a man who got along with everybody. He truly was an individual who, as Rudyard Kipling said, could walk with kings and keep the common touch.

We send our condolences to the family. Even though he passed on a few years ago now, I think the family can be justifiably proud of him. We thank them for allowing him to be with us for as many years as he was, about 21.

Mr. Gilles Bisson: On behalf of Andrea Horwath and the New Democrats, I’d like to extend our thoughts to the family. Mr. Kerr, who was a member of this assembly from 1963 to 1985, exemplified what politics is all about. It’s what Tip O’Neill said; it’s local. You may think that you walk into this place and you walk with kings and have great ideas and aspirations, but at the end of the day it’s the people back home that brought you here. This is something that Mr. Kerr understood from a very early time.

Now, I want to say I didn’t serve here-Mr. Kerr left in 1985; I got here in 1990-but who could grow up in the 1970s-never mind, I was grown up by then. But who could go through the 1970s-I wish I grew up in the 1970s-and pay attention to Ontario politics and not know the name of George Kerr? He was one of those people who was a little bit bigger than life because he marched to his own drummer. He was a proud Conservative who served under various Premiers in the Conservative Party here when it was government, but he understood that he had certain things that he wanted to do and that at the end of the day independence is not a bad thing as long as it’s measured within the confines of the political party. This is something that I understood very early on, because I remember being a young adult at that time in the 1970s, when the first Minister of the Environment to be appointed in Ontario was George Kerr, and it was fitting because he moved the envelope forward beyond where it was at the time and started setting up some of the debates that we’re having today in regards to issues around water, air and emissions that go on.

From 1963 to 1985 is a long time in politics. Obviously, along that time his family, his wife and kids, three children that they had together, paid the price for him to be here. There are very few people who are fortunate enough to serve in this place over 20 years, and obviously 22 years in the Legislature means to say that often he was not there for his children when they needed him at particular events or issues going on in the family. We have all suffered that in this Legislature, as we well know. Often his wife was left alone to deal with some of the issues that had to be dealt with. To his family we say, thank you for lending us your father, not just to the Legislature but to Ontario, to the politics of Ontario and making this province a much better place.

George, as I said at the beginning, sort of lived to his own drummer and he sort of set something up. He may not have been the first one, but he’s the one that I first remember. I don’t remember the details to this, so I may be corrected by other members of the assembly, but I remember that when he was Solicitor General there was an issue about impropriety. I don’t remember what it was all about. George Kerr did what ministers of the crown should do, and George Kerr said, “I will step aside and allow an investigation to happen,” and he went around to make sure that an investigation did take place. Eventually his name was cleared because it turned out there was no impropriety, but he understood that, as a minister of the crown, ultimately he had the responsibility to do the right thing. As I remember it, he was one of the first, if not the first, elected official in cabinet to have done that that I can remember. I don’t know if it happened prior, but I can tell you that in my early memory he was one of the first. He went back and served again as Solicitor General and served in a number of other posts in the Conservative government, and understood that at the end of the day, the buck stops here. I think that’s something that we should all remember.

So to his family, to his friends, and to Deborah Frame, who is here, who grew up with him and knew him as a personal friend over the years, certainly a person of memory, a person of integrity and a person who served this Legislature and the province for a long time and left one real big legacy to the people of Ontario-we say to George Kerr: Thank you and God bless.

Mrs. Joyce Savoline: I am going to be sharing my time with the member from Mississippi Mills.

Today, I stand here with all of you to remember the life of George Kerr. In Mr. Kerr’s own words in his maiden day speech, he said, “It’s with a feeling of privilege and some pride that I am able, as a new member, to speak for the first time in this assembly.” We all know what that feels like. To George, it meant the world. He was passionate about it.

Mr. Kerr served the residents of Burlington South from 1963 to 1985. That’s an era that we will never see again. Mr. Kerr had a tremendous record of accomplishments. These were times when visionary and creative leaders like George Kerr could trail-blaze, and trail-blaze he did. He was the first-ever environment minister not only here in Ontario, but in Canada. In addition, he served as Minister of Colleges and Universities, the Provincial Secretary for Justice-I have the Bible he swore on when he became the minister that day-and also as Solicitor General.

Some may say that George Kerr is best remembered for his Ministry of the Environment tenure. I can tell you that his constituents remember George Kerr best for what he did for them, each individual person in Burlington. George Kerr always had time for his constituents, and there wasn’t anything you couldn’t talk to him about. George was just a great listener. He was a tremendous advocate for our community. Time doesn’t allow me to go through the long list of examples, but I will give you a couple.

Mr. Kerr successfully resisted the inclusion of Burlington, as Minister Bradley said, in the formation of the Hamilton-Wentworth regional government. As great a city as Hamilton is, that accomplishment was a great piece of influence that led to the success that Burlington is today.

In 1975, Mr. Kerr infamously wore that old-fashioned, horizontally striped bathing suit with the shoulder straps and all-if I remember the picture, I think he may even have had one of those rubber caps on-and he dove into Burlington Bay for a swim. The swim was as a result of a pledge he had made, and he was a man of his word. He had made that pledge five years earlier. He had said that the bay would be clean enough to swim in in five years, and although he publicly admitted afterwards that the bay wasn’t clean enough to swim in, if you knew George Kerr, you knew he wasn’t the type of person to go back on his word. So, clean or not, he went in for his swim.

Aside from all his accomplishments as an MPP, George was a kind and compassionate man. He and Mim were a loving couple, and they were inseparable.

The happy couple had three children who Mr. Kerr involved in all his campaigns. Campaigning was in George’s blood. Just a couple of months before he passed, it was a thrill to have him show up on a cold February morning at one of my by-election rallies in 2007. He then followed me to make visits to long-term-care homes and spoke passionately about what he knew government should be.

I can still see him slouched in his chair with his ever-present pipe in his mouth, the smoke circling around his head, and his dog nearby.

He served with honour and integrity, and it was my great privilege to call George Kerr my MPP, but also my friend.

Mr. Norman W. Sterling: I, like Mr. Bradley, was a member here in 1977 when George Kerr was a member here, and of course he was a member until 1985.

I got to know George quite well. He was a cabinet minister, a party man, but, as Mr. Bisson has said, he had an individuality about him. He was almost impish at times in terms of what he might do or might say.

One story I want to tell you was when he was Minister of the Environment; I was told this story about six or seven years after it happened in 1977. In the 1977 election, as Jim and I would remember better than others, the Wabigoon River in northern Ontario was a big issue. There was the discovery of significant mercury poisoning in that river. George Kerr was the environment minister at that time, and I was told this story by his former deputy, who became my deputy in 1983.

George was approached by the press about this mercury in the Wabigoon River. George said to the press, “Don’t worry about the mercury. It’s going to flush out in 21 weeks.” His deputy minister came to him after he made this statement to the press and said, “Mr. Minister, where did you get this information that the mercury is going to be flushed out of the river in 21 weeks?” George said to his deputy minister, totally disregarding whether or not it would be flushed out, “Well, if I had said it was going to be flushed out in one or two years, they would never have believed me.”

He was a real character in terms of what he did, but he absolutely loved his life here, loved what he was doing and loved the people. When his daughter, Margot, was asked about him when he passed away in 2007, she said, “He treated everyone equally and listened to people. He always had time for anybody. We could have a dog catcher and the Premier over for dinner the same night, and he wouldn’t have thought there was any difference.”

Mayor Cam Jackson, who succeeded him as MPP for Burlington, said that George Kerr thought about people first and politics second, and it’s in that vein that I want to talk about the problem he ran into in August 1978, when he ultimately asked to step down as Solicitor General.

During that period of time, as you may remember, or as people who were involved in politics may remember, federal minister John Munro was embroiled in a tremendous publicity-oriented scandal where he had actually phoned a judge to give a character reference with regard to somebody who was appearing in front of that judge. The papers were full of it at that time.

What happened to George Kerr was that he had a constituent come to his office. This was a member of a visible minority who was suffering from mental illness and who didn’t have any kind of influence in the Progressive Conservative Party and didn’t have a great influence in George’s community or whatever. But the kind of guy that George was, he wanted to help this particular individual-he was charged with an offence; I believe driving while under suspension.

Even though he was Solicitor General and should never have done it, George picked up the phone and phoned the Milton courthouse asking to speak to the prosecuting attorney, to warn him about the fact that this particular individual had talked about taking his own life and George was very, very concerned for him.

Unfortunately, the request to find the crown attorney went over the loudspeaker, someone picked it up and the news got out that George had called the prosecuting attorney. Along with the scandal that was taking place with regard to John Munro calling a judge, the stories got mixed and the press was relentless, as was the opposition at that time.

I was also involved in the following inquiry that took place. It was kind of an odd inquiry. I don’t think we’ve had one ever since. It was actually a parliamentary inquiry, in camera, headed up by Arthur Maloney, who was then the Ombudsman. I was inside the room as a member of our caucus dealing with that inquiry. I never felt so sorry. I guess I learned about how mean this process can be to a politician who, in my view, should have been admired for what he did for somebody who was struggling tremendously in his community. He went to bat for that particular individual.

His resignation coincided with a Progressive Conservative annual meeting that was taking place here in Toronto. When George Kerr was introduced, I had never heard such a standing ovation and cheering. It went on for 20 minutes for George Kerr. That’s how much he was loved by the party and respected by the people.

I can only say that, although those of us who have practised law, as I have, and George, who practised law-maybe he should have known better, but I don’t think that I have witnessed in my almost 33 years here in the Legislature any resignation in which anybody, as a cabinet minister, could have walked away more proud than George Kerr did in this situation.

He was one of my heroes and remains one of my heroes, that he could put aside all of his political ambitions to help out a constituent who was in deep trouble. He’s a man to be admired. I loved him very much, and we thank his family for his contribution to this Legislature.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all members who took part in the tribute to Mr. Kerr. I will ensure, on behalf of all members of the House, that transcripts of the Hansard and a DVD of today’s proceedings are forwarded to the family.