Alumni Oration

"Tradition and Conservative Thinking Have Fettered Progress in Maritimes" Telegraph Journal (23 May 1966). (UA Case 67a, Box 2)

While the Maritime provinces are "rich with native ability," it is "clearly evident that traditional patterns and conservative thinking" have in the past, "fettered progress" in the area, a Montreal surgeon, Dr. Darrell D. Munro, said here Saturday.

And, he said, quite plainly, it is up to Maritimers themselves, by making use of "imagination, foresight, desire, sound planning and dedication," to put the area on the par, economically, with other areas of Canada.

If residents of the Maritime Provinces have "legitimate and defensible claims," Dr. Munro said, they should "fight for them."

Dr. Munro, who was born in Fredericton and who graduated from the University of New Brunswick here in 1941 with a bachelor of science degree, was the speaker at the annual dinner meeting of the associated alumni of the university, held in McConnell Hall on the UNB campus.

"Traditionally," Dr. Munro said in his address to the members of the Associated Alumni Society of the University of New Brunswick, "the Maritimes are considered to be a forgotten and neglected part of Canada with respect to industrialization and economic prosperity.

Exported Talent

"Traditionally, the Maritimes have exported much of their native talent in the business world to other parts of the country.

"Traditionally, many indigenous Maritimers lament and belabor the point that the Canadian economy elsewhere has blight their prosperity. If you have legitimate and defensible claims, then fight for them.

"It is well to appreciate," Dr. Munro said, "that accomplishment elsewhere is probably reasonably directly related to imagination, effort and application of tough realistic business and political measures."

Quoting Leo Durocher to the effect that "nice guys don’t win ball games," Dr. Munro said: "The Maritimes are rich with native ability. It is clearly evident that traditional patterns and conservative thinking have fettered progress in the past.

"Imagination, foresight, desire, sounding planning, and dedication," he said, "are as essential in the economic sense as they are in scientific research, and a willingness to take a chance is a prerequisite to gainful enterprise.

French-Canadians

Dr. Munro paid tribute to the ability and initiative of the French-Canadian people of the Province of Quebec.

"It is all very well," he said, "to have a heritage from the United Empire Loyalists, or the farm or the Maritimes, or the English west. It is time we dropped some of our smugness and woke up to the fact that we are a bustling nation of many different races.

"The French-Canadian," the speaker said, "now has challenged some of our long standing traditional thinking. Let us accept the challenge, accept the movement that will not and must not be stopped. It is destined to gain momentum until it levels off at an equitable competitive balance.

"French-Canadian medicine in the large centres today," Dr. Munro said, "is equally as good as our medicine and in some specialized cases it is better. Practically without exception the leaders in the French0Canadians medical field have trained in the renowned centres in the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark.

"They have returned to establish themselves amongst their profession in the city (Montreal) and have in the process become completely bilingual.

"Decided Disadvantage"

"It is only because necessity for advancement has forced them to do this," he said, "that many of them have become so fluently bilingual. It is unfortunate that the English-speaking Canadians have not, of necessity, been forced to learn the French tongue because of these factors. This has been a decided disadvantage to us."

Elsewhere in this address, Dr. Munro recalled several humorous incidents which occurred at UNB while he was a student there. He also paid tribute to several former professors, some of them now dead.