Honourable senators, I rise today to pay tribute to the Honourable Senator Francis Fox, who passed away on September 24 at the age of 84.

Senator Fox was appointed to the Senate by the Right Honourable Paul Martin in 2005, and he served in our august chamber until 2011, when he retired for family reasons.

When I arrived in the Senate in 2009, my office was in the Victoria Building, right next to Senator Fox’s. We were destined to meet because Francis had also been elected as the MP for the federal riding of Argenteuil—Deux-Montagnes in 1972 and re‑elected in that same riding in 1974. He owned a building next door to my law office on Saint-Eustache Street.

After a short hiatus from active politics in 1978 and after a redrawing of the electoral map, Francis was elected as the MP for Blainville—Deux-Montagnes in 1979 and then re-elected in 1980, after Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau returned to politics.

When those who knew him think about him, the image of a true gentleman immediately comes to mind. Francis was a brilliant, charismatic, generous and extremely compassionate man. He alternated between three outstanding careers.

After studying law at Université de Montréal, Harvard University and then Oxford University, he began a brilliant career as a lawyer with a prestigious Montreal firm. He then went on to make a name for himself as a federal politician. Senator Fox served as principal secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and, a few years after being elected to the House of Commons, he was appointed as solicitor general of Canada in 1976. Re-elected in 1980, he became the Minister of Communications until 1984 and was responsible for many new federal cultural policies, including the creation of Telefilm Canada. He was also instrumental in introducing the landmark Access to Information Act. Finally, he would serve as Secretary of State for Canada from 1980 to 1981, during which time he introduced and pushed through the legislation that made O Canada our national anthem.

Senator Fox also made a name for himself in the business world, notably in various management positions at Rogers Communications, even serving as president for Eastern Canada.

I’m certain you’ll agree, colleagues, that Senator Fox’s record is remarkable and his legacy to Canadian society unquestionable. I offer my sincere condolences to his large and beautiful family, especially to his wife Viviane Case, a talented artist from the Montreal area, to their two children Julianna and Daniel, and to his many friends and colleagues.