Major James William Coldwell
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.)
Mr. M. J. Coldwell (Roselown-Biggar):
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of those associated with me I wish to join in the universal feeling of sorrow that has been expressed at the passing of a gentleman who was not only a great citizen of his own country but a great world citizen. Those of us who had the opportunity from time to time of meeting Mr. Steinhardt were impressed by his charm, his gentleness, and his humanitarian outlook. He came to Canada as an ambassador with a background of knowledge of our country. I believe that in the days of his youth he travelled across western Canada, and years afterwards, when he was being received by Canadian ministers of the crown and other dignitaries, he said that he had received just as hearty a welcome when he knocked at the back doors of the prairie people as he received when he came here to represent his country as ambassador.
To Mrs. Steinhardt and her daughter we wish to express our deepest sympathy, and to the United States people our grief at the loss of a great ambassador. I should like to express also our sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Julian Harrington, whom some of us also know well. The loss of their only son will be a source of great grief to them; and I am quite sure that from one end of this country to the other the death of the United States ambassador and of members of his staff under such tragic circumstances will indeed be deeply mourned.