Premier Williams congratulates Dr. Max House
and Sister Elizabeth Davis on Order of Canada appointments

Premier Danny Williams, on behalf of the government and people of Newfoundland and Labrador, today congratulated both Sister Elizabeth Davis on her appointment as a Member of the Order of Canada and former Lieutenant-Governor Dr. Max House on his promotion within the Order as an Officer of the Order of Canada. Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson conferred these honours at an investiture ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa today.

Premier Williams said: "Both Dr. Max House and Sister Elizabeth Davis have dedicated their lives to the service of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. With competence, compassion, courage and boundless energy, both of them took on the daunting challenges of providing and improving the delivery of health care services to our province�s families. Both were instrumental and innovative in advancing the opportunities available to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador through their exceptional work in public administration. Both have helped to improve our province in significant ways and have thereby earned our abiding gratitude and admiration."

"Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are deeply appreciative of Dr. House�s invaluable service as a general medical practitioner in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, a highly-prized neurologist and, for several years, our province�s only neurologist," said Premier Williams. "He was a driving force behind the establishment of Memorial University�s Medical School and the groundbreaking Telemedicine program that has been such a blessing for our many rural communities in particular. He also served as a skilled health care administrator and a highly-regarded professor at the Medical School where he applied his skills not only to facilitate healing, but also to help numerous others to do likewise. Many of the physicians serving our people today owe much of their training and inspiration to Dr. House. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians also fondly remember his exceptional work as our Lieutenant-Governor from 1997 to 2002."

"Sister Davis is the former executive director of St. Clare�s Mercy Hospital who accepted the mammoth responsibility of supervising the amalgamation of six of the province�s busiest health care institutions into one, a role in which she demonstrated superior organizational and communication skills as well as a great deal of patience and grace," said the Premier. "Whether at the helm of the Health Care Corporation of St. John�s or one-on-one with students as a university lecturer, she has always been celebrated as someone who gives 110 per cent and inspires others to do the same. It was no different when she served on the Newfoundland and Labrador Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening Our Place in Canada, where she helped our people to reflect more clearly on the challenges and opportunities of Confederation. In conferring on her an honorary doctor of laws degree, Memorial University praised her for demonstrating �the willingness to consult, the courage to listen, the insights to discern the right course and the faith to follow it with compassion�."

"On behalf of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, I commend both Dr. House and Sister Davis for a lifetime of gracious and exemplary service. Each of them is an inspiration to us all," said Premier Williams.

Media contact: Elizabeth Matthews, Office of the Premier, (709) 729-3960, 690-5500,
elizabethmatthews@gov.nl.ca

2005 06 10                  3:55 p.m.