1963 Fredericton Convocation
Lesage, Jean
Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.)
Orator: Cattley, Robert E.D.
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L to R: Colin B. Mackay, Jean Lesage
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Source: Joe Stone fonds-UA RG340, 1963 (#5662)
Citation:
CONVOCATION, OCTOBER, 1963
JEAN LESAGE
to be Doctor of Civil Law
In the Hon. Jean Lesage prophets discern a new Canada in embryo. It needs no second sight to recognize, already out of the shell, a new Quebec.
It is a Quebec which has sprung from the matrix of a proud but isolated past. Clamorous fledging, it is now demanding a justice of statute not symbol, of fact not flag, of deed not word. Destiny, or what a cynical critic has termed a nice sense of timing, brought him from Ottawa to become both Premier of his resurgent province and its most reasonable advocate. Lesage, the politician, has been through the fire of two provincial elections and has emerged Lesage, the statesman. From Quebec of the tourist, Quebec the source of cheap labour and raw materials, he is tearing down the barrier of legend and exploitation - one might in current parlance term it the "Homespun Curtain" - and is substituting the harsh and open challenge of finance, education, and industry. But, as he dutifully implements his electional platform, he avows a united Canada at heart.
His path is strewn with more rocks than roses. He has dominated his provincial opposition. Can he dominate and bend to the national weal those volcanic forces which are at once his dynamic and his peril? It will take, in Ottawa and in the nine sister provinces, true Canadians, men of his vision and stature, to accommodate this new young giant within the bounds of an old and already strained Confederation.
Monsieur le Premier Ministre de Québec: Nous autres de la province de Nouveau-Brunswick, dont près de la moitié parlent la langue française, souhaitons avec ferveur que vous guidiez votre peuple du Québec jusqu' à l'heureux et total accomplissement de leurs aspirations et de leurs efforts. Ainsi pour nous tous rendrez-vous meilleur le Canada. Puissiez-vous être, Maitre Lesage, un maître plus sage et certainement plus fort que le jeune mais puissant ours que vous tenez si fermement par la queue!
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
JEAN LESAGE
to be Doctor of Civil Law
In the Hon. Jean Lesage prophets discern a new Canada in embryo. It needs no second sight to recognize, already out of the shell, a new Quebec.
It is a Quebec which has sprung from the matrix of a proud but isolated past. Clamorous fledging, it is now demanding a justice of statute not symbol, of fact not flag, of deed not word. Destiny, or what a cynical critic has termed a nice sense of timing, brought him from Ottawa to become both Premier of his resurgent province and its most reasonable advocate. Lesage, the politician, has been through the fire of two provincial elections and has emerged Lesage, the statesman. From Quebec of the tourist, Quebec the source of cheap labour and raw materials, he is tearing down the barrier of legend and exploitation - one might in current parlance term it the "Homespun Curtain" - and is substituting the harsh and open challenge of finance, education, and industry. But, as he dutifully implements his electional platform, he avows a united Canada at heart.
His path is strewn with more rocks than roses. He has dominated his provincial opposition. Can he dominate and bend to the national weal those volcanic forces which are at once his dynamic and his peril? It will take, in Ottawa and in the nine sister provinces, true Canadians, men of his vision and stature, to accommodate this new young giant within the bounds of an old and already strained Confederation.
Monsieur le Premier Ministre de Québec: Nous autres de la province de Nouveau-Brunswick, dont près de la moitié parlent la langue française, souhaitons avec ferveur que vous guidiez votre peuple du Québec jusqu' à l'heureux et total accomplissement de leurs aspirations et de leurs efforts. Ainsi pour nous tous rendrez-vous meilleur le Canada. Puissiez-vous être, Maitre Lesage, un maître plus sage et certainement plus fort que le jeune mais puissant ours que vous tenez si fermement par la queue!
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
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