Introduction
Ronald Alexander Stewart (born 13 April 1927 in Beeton, Ontario) was a Progressive Conservative party member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was a wholesale distributor by career.
Member of Parliament
Stewart was first elected to represent the district of Simcoe South electoral district in the 1979 federal election. He served as a backbencher in the short-lived government of Joe Clark, serving as a government member on a number of committees. He was re-elected in 1980 and, in 1983, was made critic for small business by Brian Mulroney.
Re-elected to a third term in 1984 federal elections, Stewart was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and, following a 1986 cabinet shuffle, was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Supply and Services until his retirement from politics in 1988.
Ideology
Stewart was a socially-conservative member of the PC caucus, espousing religious and traditionalist viewpoints in House of Commons debates. During a 1986 debate regarding Burnaby MP Svend Robinson's motion to allow gay and lesbian Canadians to serve in the RCMP and Armed Forces, Stewart vigorously opposed the motion, saying "Homosexuality is anti-biological. It is anti-medical, anti-biblical...It is anti-family and it is anti-social." Stewart followed these comments with a lengthy speech wherein he claimed gay and lesbian people were more prone to disease, tainting the nation's blood supply, and "slavishly [devoting] themselves to self-aggrandizement."
A critic of bilingualism, Stewart would heckle fellow MPs who would strive for linguistic parity. On one occasion in the House, Stewart heckled Hamilton Mountain MP Ian Deans, who had requested tax laws be provided in French, by shouting that he should have requested they be translated into Portuguese as well.
In 1988, Stewart and fellow Progressive Conservative member Jack Scowen openly disagreed with their party leader, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, when the government was supporting efforts to translate Saskatchewan provincial legislation into French in response to a Supreme Court of Canada ruling. Scowen and Stewart believed such efforts for the province's 23,000 Fransaskois would be expensive and unnecessary.