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Petitions to Parliament
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Petitions to Parliament Following is the text which formed the basis of a petition to the House of Commons. The Hon. Ralph Goodale presented a petition of this type to the House on June 9, 2006. A similar petition has been completed for presentation to the Senate of Canada.
_________________________________________________________________ Rt. Hon. JAMES G. GARDINER – Recognition Petition
TO THE HONOURABLE HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED WE, THE UNDERSIGNED CITIZENS OF CANADA, draw attention to the House of Commons to the following: WHEREAS the CBC (with financial contribution from Telefilm Canada) has supported the development of Prairie Giant: the Tommy Douglas Story, has aired the film to 800,000 Canadians, and is broadly distributing the film to Canadians and to schools, and WHEREAS the film demonstrates untruthful telling of Canada’s story, particularly Saskatchewan’s history, and WHEREAS, through creation of fictional events and through the false attribution of historical events and personal characteristics, the film defames the Rt. Hon. James G Gardiner, who served the Government of Saskatchewan and Parliament with great dedication and distinction from 1914 to 1958, and WHEREAS the Rt. Hon. J.G. Gardiner contributed to the social fabric of Canada by his support of multi-ethnic diversity, as exemplified by his actions from 1926 through 1934 when immigrants were being challenged by political organisations including the KKK, and by his support of old age pensions and tax-supported health care delivery, and contributed to the economies of Western Canada through the development of the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement, the creation of the Saskatchewan Power Commission, and through his leadership with the PFRA and the PFAA; THEREFORE WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, petition Parliament to recognise the Rt. Hon. J.G. Gardiner’s many contributions to the people of Canada. WE FURTHER call upon Parliament to recognise that the film should not be considered an historical film due to its many inaccuracies concerning the development of medicare and the history of Saskatchewan, and due to the personal characteristics attributed to the Rt. Hon. J.G. Gardiner being contrary to known facts. WE FURTHER call upon Parliament to urge the CBC to recall all DVDs distributed through their educational sales program, to replace the name of Jimmy Gardiner (voice dub) in the film with a fictional name; or to place a Warning at the beginning of the film stating that the history and personal attributes associated with the Rt. Hon James Gardiner are fictional and are contrary to known facts, and to flag all errors throughout the film. WE FURTHER call upon Parliament to recognise the contributions of the Rt. Hon. J.G. Gardiner and to honour the history of Canada by creating a Facts and Errata document which addresses the historical inaccuracies of the film, presents study points for distribution to all schools which have received and may receive the Giant DVD, and which could be distributed to citizens who have received the Prairie Giant DVD. Signature Address (Print name and full address including postal code)
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