Senator MacDonald, you haven’t lost your touch at doing a dance.

Your Honour, I want to say this to each and every person here: Don’t give up.

Colleagues, this is undoubtedly a special day for me. This is my last speech in a chamber that I love and that I will always love.

I must admit that I am both nervous and emotional. I want to thank the leaders and each and every one of you, honourable senators, for your kindness and comments.

Your Honour, before I begin my speech — which, I must say, was very difficult to put down on paper — please allow me to send a message to a special someone in Moncton, New Brunswick. My granddaughter, Ézakielle, is celebrating her ninth birthday today. Papi and Mamie will come see you dance and will be with you soon.

Your Honour, thank you for the opportunity to acknowledge the many people in the gallery of the Senate of Canada and those listening online. In particular, I would like to thank Lorraine Soucy, Suzanne’s sister. The Soucy family has also been instrumental in shaping my career. Lorraine and family, thank you. I see you with your two children, and I have seen other family members. Thank you for being here.

I would like to share some highlights from the beginning of my journey as a parliamentarian serving the public.

I was born to a single mother in the small town of Saint-Léonard, New Brunswick, on April 14, 1949. My mother had two children, Shirley and Percy. We lived with our grandparents and yes, we were all on what was then called welfare.

I must admit that I never imagined I would be standing before you this afternoon to deliver a speech in the Senate of Canada as a senator from New Brunswick, appointed by Prime Minister Harper, the 874th senator of Canada since Confederation. Colleagues, my mother, Marie, often told me and my sister that, to get off welfare, we had to go to school and get a high school diploma if we could. I think that was her way of telling us that we needed to pursue our education and respect the people around us.

My mother often said that only the good Lord can take away what you have between your ears — to go further you need a diploma.

I have to say that I quickly understood that I needed to build bridges and form friendships and those would be essential tools for the future. They are tools in the toolbox.

I’ll also admit that I used my first student loan to bring water and sewer services to our little house. At the time, my mother thought that I had moved on when I went to college.

During the first 18 years of our lives, my sister and I always got food hampers at Christmas and Easter. Our family was very grateful for the generosity of our little town of Saint-Léonard toward the most vulnerable.

What’s more, my grandmother and my mother often told us to give back to our community. That message was instilled in us growing up and there’s no doubt in my mind that it became the spark that ignited my political and parliamentary career.

I started out on this path very early on. From 1965 to 1969, I was involved in student council at the Saint-Léonard high school. From 1969 to 1972, I served as a member or president of the student council at Collège Saint-Louis in Edmundston.

Between 1972 and 1974, I was at the Université de Moncton campus in Moncton, where I pursued my involvement in the student council alongside an MBA.

Honourable senators, it was 1970 to 1973 when I was asked to put in place an action committee to stop the transfer of our high school in Saint-Léonard to another town. People responded dramatically and remarkably, and the members of our committee knew that it would have been disastrous to lose our high school. Believe you me, our public demonstrations were very compelling to the new government of the day, and they did change their mind.

I’d now like to talk about my life in politics from 1982 to 2008.

Dear friends and honourable senators, it wasn’t until 1982 that I said yes and took the plunge into public life. As you’ve heard, my team ran in seven elections, winning six. I lost one of them. It was with great respect that I accepted the verdict of the people back home in 1987.

Your Honour, esteemed colleagues, I salute the first Brayonne woman elected to represent our northwestern region in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick. Honourable senators, I never would have thought that she and I would both become New Brunswick senators. To my fellow 1987 candidate, let me once again congratulate you on your journey as a parliamentarian. I’m proud to tip my hat to you once again, Speaker pro tempore.

Your Honour, honourable senators, I was reminiscing in the last two weeks and couple of months. I will admit to you that, yes, my political life of more than five decades was certainly shaped by leaders who, one, understood dealing with people; two, understood politics and being independent; and three, understood partisanship. I want to share with you that I have learned to work with some of the best leaders of my time. I think of premier Louis J. Robichaud, premier Richard Hatfield and one of the youngest elected premiers in New Brunswick, premier Bernard Lord, as a Conservative. I think of prime ministers like the late prime minister Brian Mulroney, prime minister Stephen Harper and prime minister Jean Chrétien.

Colleagues, honourable senators, I also want to thank you for the many touching messages I just heard from so many of you and from the Senate leaders. Thank you so much for your tremendous generosity.

I’m sharing some highlights with you today, and I’m turning the page on another chapter of my public life, which really began over 57 years ago, not to mention that I was only 18 at the time.

To my great surprise, I had the opportunity to meet a premier whom my mother and grandmother greatly appreciated, the honourable senator and former premier of New Brunswick, Louis J. Robichaud, in 1967 in our region, northwestern New Brunswick.

At home, I often heard my grandmother and mother say the following:

You can go to college, Percy, because with equal opportunity for all, you’ll be entitled to scholarships to go to college in Edmundston.

That’s the path that my grandmother and my mother had envisioned for me.

I must admit that I never thought this was the beginning of a great career in active politics. Believe me, I have no regrets.

Yes, 1967 was a turning point in the life of Percy Mockler and in my political career.

Your Honour, dear colleagues, before I conclude, before I speak about my journey and life in politics, it is appropriate to begin with a very special thank you that I want to share with you. As I continue to share comments, suggestions or observations in five decades of life in politics, it is now appropriate to recognize and say thank you to many people who have impacted my road map in serving the public.

My first thank you goes to my partner, my spouse —

 — the love of my life, Suzanne. There is no doubt in my mind: Our family and political pilgrimage over a little more than 51 years of marriage, and counting, wouldn’t have been possible without Suzanne.

There is no question that none of this would have been doable without her in my life since our high school days in Saint-Léonard in 1967-68.

Still, I admit that I missed some sports activities, like hockey with the three boys, Shawn, Kevin and Jessy, during their years at home.

I also have to admit that when our daughter Cindy took part in plays or cheerleading and did her best Spice Girls impression, Percy wasn’t always there, but Suzanne was.

To my children, thank you for understanding, and thank you for the legacy you gave me when you made me a grandfather. It’s the most important title I have, and I’ll continue to wear it with pride and love.

I’d like to share a little story with you. On June 24, 1986, Princess Anne of England visited Madawaska Weavers in Saint‑Léonard, the same day that Suzanne gave birth to our daughter. That’s why Cindy is named Cindy Anne Mockler.

Fifteen years or so later, Cindy said to me:

Pap, I heard you once met Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

That’s true. Then she asked me:

If he had been the one visiting Madawaska Weavers, would my name have been Cindy Boutros Boutros-Ghali Mockler?

That, honourable senators, is the kind of conversation and family event that we still laugh about today.

I confess that it is with pride and humility that I say the following to Suzanne: Thank you so much for tolerating my absence and for sharing me with the public. It was hectic from time to time, but, together, we gave it our best shot. Suzanne, for me and our family, you are the Rock of Gibraltar, in other words, a strong, reliable mother, grandmother and wife, an exceptional, extraordinary confidant. As we say in Saint-Léonard whenever I arrive on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday: Thank you, Mamzedoo.

Honourable senators, in the spirit of gratitude, I would be remiss if I did not thank the Right Honourable Stephen Harper for having placed his trust in me by recommending me for appointment as senator for New Brunswick in December 2008.

I always tried to do my best with regard to my responsibilities as a senator. If I may, I’d like to talk about a few of the issues that the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper managed so successfully, issues that influenced and will continue to influence our history.

The people of Canada will always remember the major projects under the Harper government.

Yes, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada that was officially established on June 1, 2008, with the purpose of documenting the history and lasting impact of the Canadian Indian residential school system.

Second, it’s important to remember that it was your government, Prime Minister Harper, that recognized Quebec as a nation.

At the same time, you recognized Acadians as the people of Acadia. These are issues that I followed very closely and that I appreciated enormously under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In the same vein, I’d also like to acknowledge my good friend, the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, who himself managed three major issues of importance to the people of Acadia.

Under his leadership, New Brunswick became a permanent government of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. We will always remember when New Brunswick’s Bill 88 was enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, recognizing the equality of the two founding peoples, as debated by Premier Richard Hatfield and Senator Jean‑Maurice Simard.

Let us remind ourselves also, as authentic Canadians, that we will not forget the creation of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, or ACOA, that has since become a magnanimous tool for creating and enhancing our economic development and quality of life in all of Atlantic Canada.

I also want to recognize another man who greatly influenced my political and parliamentary career, and that is Bernard Lord, who served as Premier of New Brunswick from 1997 to 2006.

He made me minister over several portfolios while he was in office. Together, we completed three big projects with the people of New Brunswick.

Building New Brunswick’s Education and Early Childhood Development agenda that produced one of the best programs in all of Canada, building a more caring and compassionate society. An adoption program and a foundation that we entitled “Every child needs a family.”

In 2002, we passed a new Official Languages Act in New Brunswick. I am grateful that the now late Louis J. Robichaud, who spearheaded the New Brunswick Equal Opportunity Program, was there with us when the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick passed that legislation.

At the same time, the Lord government gave New Brunswick its first cultural policy, something that our artists really needed.

Honourable senators, as a proud Acadian, Brayon and francophone, it was the greatest privilege of my life to represent my town of Saint-Léonard and Acadia. The Acadian flag is woven from the colours, customs, ways of speaking and stories of every little corner of Acadia and its people.

Through the customs of an Acadian woman from Saint-Louis-de Kent like my long-time friend Senator Rose-May Poirier, or my friends Senator René Cormier from Caraquet and Senator Réjean Aucoin from Nova Scotia, we all make our own little contribution in this chamber. I’m certain that our Acadia is unique in the world and that it will continue to shine in this illustrious chamber through its representatives and with your help, honourable senators.

As for the work here in the Senate, I must admit that certain debates got a rise out of some of us, but we must never forget that our responsibilities as parliamentarians and senators are enshrined in the Canadian Constitution, while respecting the regions we represent from coast to coast to coast.

Of course, some of the most important debates for me concerned the medical assistance in dying bill, the cannabis bill, and the federal bill on modernizing the Official Languages Act, Bill C-13.

I salute Senators Cormier and Poirier for their leadership.

Your Honour, I have learned during this period in public life that people do not care who we are until they know what we care for.

I have been blessed in this chamber to have the opportunity to make so many friends and work with senators on both sides of the aisle. I have always said that friendship, loyalty, principle and commitment, you cannot buy that at Costco. It is always a work in progress.

I also remind myself that in public life, the shortest route between point A and point B is not always a straight line.

I want to you to know that I never could have imagined that I’d be leaving the Senate of Canada as chair of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance.

I want to commend all the members of the committee for their outstanding dedication. I really appreciated you, and I learned what teamwork meant from you at our meetings, when we had to write reports that reflected our population’s needs regarding the budget of Canada.

I’m proud to say that our reports had an impact on the government, which considered our recommendations, our observations and, in some cases, even our amendments to the Canadian budget.

Your Honour, as chair, we tabled 50-plus reports in the Senate Chamber. I constantly witnessed that all the senators on the Finance Committee have a common denominator — I call it “T.A.R.P.” or transparency, accountability, reliability and predictability of the Canadian budget submitted by any government. We can improve it; I believe, yes, we can.

Consistently, I want to share with you, Senator Marshall is on the right track when her —

 — when her and the committee members require from the government a better time frame to table the budget or table performance indicators, and we gave that message at my last meeting last night. It is about accountability for all at all times and to mitigate government performance regardless who forms a government.

As I conclude, honourable senators, I have been privileged to work with all of you and, no doubt, it is about people and politics. Independent or partisan, we must remember that we work in a democracy.

I have appreciated working with four leaders of my Conservative Party in the Senate: Senator Marjory LeBreton, Claude Carignan, Larry Smith and now Senator — leader — Don Plett. Each has their own style that I respect and have respected.

As for Senator Plett, my friend, I want to tell you that the toughest job in democracy is being the leader of the official opposition. But for you, Leader Plett, you remind me of the saying of Sir Winston Churchill, who once said:

. . . it is better to be both right and consistent. But if you have to choose — you must choose to be right.

There is no doubt in my mind you are right. Senator Plett, thank you for your leadership and your openness. Even though we all know you are not independent, at times you show us that you are rightly partisan. I respect that, and that’s democracy.

Honourable senators, we all know that we couldn’t do the work we do in the Senate without the support of our staff. The exemplary dedication and professionalism of our political staff and those who work in administration are commendable. To all those who are here and who give us the support we need to do our work, I salute you. Thank you so much.

As the chair of two Senate standing committees, I’ve had the pleasure of working with many clerks, analysts and other support staff. I can’t take the time to thank each one of you individually, but I do want to express my sincere thanks for all your advice and exemplary work for Canadians. I salute you. You are proud Canadians.

To all the Senate staff and Library of Parliament staff, thank you very much for your dedication and professionalism.

As for my staff, Diane Thériault-Michaud, Yvon Long, René “Moe” Sirois and Jean-Paul Soucy, I must admit that, without you, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish nearly as much politically for all Canadians and for New Brunswickers. You’re amazing. Thank you for everything. I’m going to miss you so much, but please keep your cell phones on.

Thank you to all those who have played an important role in my journey.

To the people back home listening to us now, thank you for your support and cooperation all these years. You’ve always supported me, and together, we’ve always worked to make our region, our province and our country a better place to work, to live, to raise a family and to reach out to society’s most vulnerable.

Your Honour, I did walk with the tallest in my political career, on many continents, but I will admit to you that I did work for the smallest in our communities.