What a great pleasure and honour to welcome our two new colleagues here in the Senate. I know that this brings back memories to us all of when we were first sworn in. It’s so wonderful to have you with us.

Both Senator Keating and Senator Cotter bring a lifetime of professional experience and devoted public service to this chamber. By now, you have read about them in the press and others will have more to say about their professional accomplishments. But in the brief time that I’ve come to know them, I can say one thing with absolute confidence: They bring the right spirit, the right devotion and a deep understanding of the parliamentary process, the public policy process and the legislative process, and, most important, they bring to this chamber that which we all share —

— a dedication and commitment to Canada, to ensuring that the Senate can fulfill its constitutional role and promote the well-being of Canadians.

I won’t presume ever to speak on your behalf — this is a chamber of independent senators — so I will speak only for myself and for the members of the Government Representative office. Welcome to the Senate. We’re so happy to have you with us and we’re counting on you to help us improve the way that we do business on behalf of all Canadians.

Honourable senators, it’s a pleasure for me to rise today to welcome two new senators to this chamber. Senator Cotter and Senator Keating, I, too, speak as an independent senator, but I am also speaking on behalf of an entire Conservative caucus.

I would like to offer my warm welcome and congratulations to both of you on your appointment to the Senate of Canada.

We all remember that day very well: the phone call from the Prime Minister, the flicker of uncertainty as you wonder if you are the victim of a prank call and the dawning realization that this is actually happening in spite of being surreal.

But it’s all very real. The Prime Minister has placed his confidence in you by recommending your appointment to the Governor General. And here you are today on this memorable occasion as you take your seat in this chamber for the first time. Savour every moment of it with the family and friends who are here to celebrate with you. It is a day to remember. It will be short-lived.

In the coming months and years, you will find this journey you have embarked upon to be both fulfilling at times and frustrating at others. Public life is not easy. And in a country as diverse as ours, as Canada, there will always be those who disagree with you, no matter what position you take or explanation you offer.

Of course, I have never experienced this myself, but that’s what I’ve been told.

In all seriousness, along with the great honour of being appointed to this chamber, there comes great responsibility. The oath that you just took was the same oath taken by the very first senators 153 years ago at Confederation. It has not changed. In my mind, this illustrates the trust that has been passed on to us from previous generations.

We are not just stewarding the dreams of those who are alive today but also the hopes of those who went before us. It is our duty to remember both and to serve honourably and with humility, as I am certain both of you will. You each bring an impressive list of credentials and accomplishments, and your wealth of experience and expertise will be of great value to this institution and to the nation.

We welcome you to this chamber as fellow senators and look forward to working with you in the months and the years ahead. Welcome.

Honourable senators, it is my pleasure, on behalf of the Independent Senators Group, to extend a very warm welcome to our new colleagues, Senator William Brent Cotter representing Saskatchewan and Senator Judith Keating from New Brunswick.

With these appointments, the Senate is inching ever closer to gender parity. We now have 48 female senators and 52 male senators.

Senators Keating and Cotter have been leaders in advancing reconciliation in Canada. In New Brunswick, Senator Keating was the provincial Chair of the Working Group on Truth and Reconciliation. Senator Cotter, in turn, is a member of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada Advisory Committee on Implementation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. He is also a former Deputy Minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs in Saskatchewan.

Senators Keating and Cotter have had distinguished careers in law. Each has served as their respective province’s Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General. Senator Keating is a pioneer in the legal field. She was the founder of New Brunswick’s Women in Law and the first woman to be New Brunswick’s Deputy Minister of Justice. In 2002, she was appointed Queen’s Counsel.

Senator Keating was also the 2015 recipient of the Muriel Corkery-Ryan Q.C. Award of the Canadian Bar Association’s New Brunswick branch, granted to recognize the outstanding contributions of an individual to the profession.

Senator Cotter is a leading scholar in the field of legal ethics in Canada. He was awarded the Canadian Bar Association of Saskatchewan’s distinguished service award, the Teaching Excellence Award from the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan as well as the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal.

Senators Cotter and Keating, we welcome you to the Senate family, and we welcome your families to the broader Senate community. As you work long hours and deal with weighty and arduous matters, their support will be so important to you, as we know support is so important to all of us here. We look forward to working with you as colleagues and friends in the years ahead.

I’d like to add just some brief comments, on behalf of the Canadian Senators Group, to you, Senators Keating and Cotter.

Although I would like to say, starting off, that Senator Cotter’s appointment raised some eyebrows amongst the legal community in the Senate here, it turns out that Senator Cotter, Senator Wetston and Senator Black (Alberta) all graduated practically together from Dalhousie law.

We will wait for the other lawyers in the room to press for proportionality with their alma mater.

But in all seriousness, you are two eminent Canadians. It is our privilege to welcome you today to this chamber with your skills and your perspectives, particularly as senators from the outer regions. You are fellow soldiers. We need your perspectives, we need your skills, and we look forward to working with you. On behalf of the Canadian Senators Group, welcome.