THE SENATE — Welcoming Remarks
December 10, 2019
Honourable senators, there have been consultations and an agreement to allow Senators Plett, Woo and Day to make welcoming remarks before proceeding to Senators’ Statements.
Is it agreed, honourable senators?
Thank you, colleagues. Honourable senators, I would like to begin by once again warmly welcoming you all back to this chamber. It’s a pleasure to see each one of you. I look forward to working together with you during this Forty-third Parliament.
I would like to congratulate our colleague, the Honourable George Furey, on his continued role as the Speaker of this house.
Senator Furey has distinguished himself as an excellent Speaker during the previous Parliament. I am certain that all senators are as delighted as I am — and that has been shown already — as he continues in this role.
I also want to recognize our colleagues who recently retired: Senators Andreychuk, Demers, McIntyre, Neufeld and Pratte. I know we will all miss their presence in this chamber, but we wish them well in their next season of life.
As you all know, colleagues, Senator Harder has announced his resignation as the Government Representative in the Senate. I want to take a moment to thank Senator Harder for his many years of service, especially for these last four years.
Senator Harder was given a caucus of 3 and expected to get 53 votes each and every time — no small task.
Senator Harder, we have had many differences of opinions and have expressed those openly, but we have always found a way of working through and around our differences. I can say without hesitation, Senator Harder, that I consider you not only a colleague but, much more important, a friend.
In that vein, I would like to thank Senators Bellemare and Mitchell for their service in their respective roles of Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate and Government Liaison.
Colleagues, I am humbled and honoured to have been chosen by our caucus to stand before you today as the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.
Today, at the beginning of the Forty-third Parliament, we find ourselves with a country that is not only divided but increasingly balkanized. As representatives of our regions and advocates for a healthy federation, our voices have never been more important.
Honourable senators, there have been many unexpected changes in this chamber since we last met. I think we were all surprised by the sudden retirement of our friend and colleague Senator André Pratte. We saw the formation of the new Canadian Senators Group. We received many notices of changes of affiliation, and we saw the Senate Liberal caucus transition to the progressive senators group, only to lose official status just days later.
This last development was particularly disappointing for me because, for a few days, the Conservative Senate caucus shared the third floor with the progressive senators group. I was looking forward to being able to refer to the third floor as the “progressive conservative floor.” Perhaps Senator Downe caught wind of the plan and decided to do something about that.
Joking aside, I think it is clear to all of us that these are unusual times for the Senate of Canada. In fact, the Hill Times referred to it as an “’unprecedented’ upheaval.” They quoted Professor Donald Savoie saying:
We’ve turned the Senate into 100 unguided missiles. Where it’s going to go is still unclear.
I could not agree more. In many ways, the Senate has always served as a ballast to the ship of state. While election results can shift the makeup of the other place suddenly and sometimes drastically, senators have always returned to this chamber after an election to find it largely unchanged. This stability and continuity has served the nation well.
There will be disagreements in this chamber. We all bring different perspectives to this house, and in the past, this has resulted in vigorous debate. This should not change, colleagues. But in the midst of that debate, let us remember that we are colleagues who share a common goal: to see Canadians flourish from coast to coast to coast — Canadians of every demographic, ethnicity, gender and economic status.
Let us remember, colleagues, that while we may disagree on the way forward, we remain united in our vision and in our passion to see a thriving Canada where no one is left out and no one is left behind. Thank you.
Honourable senators, I would also like to welcome everyone back to the Senate for the start of the Forty-third Parliament. While I’m sure we all enjoyed the pomp and ceremony of last week’s Speech from the Throne and the presence of many VIPs in our chamber, I must say it is nice to return to more familiar surroundings this afternoon, and it is nice to see His Honour in his proper chair. May I also take this opportunity, on behalf of the Independent Senators Group, to congratulate you on your reappointment to this important position.
Colleagues, in the months since we rose in June 2019, all of us have been busy in our respective regions doing outreach, meeting with community leaders, Indigenous groups and other stakeholders to talk about the work of the Senate and collecting information on the needs and challenges of our communities in order to bring them back to this chamber so we can advance some of these issues in the Forty-third Parliament. It is inherently our job to represent our regions. I was so proud, as I reviewed the news clippings through the summer, to learn of all our colleagues who were doing this work with such diligence.
It’s particularly important that we remember our role in representing the less-well-represented on this day, which is, of course, the seventy-first anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; a document that has a very strong Canadian pedigree, and one to which this chamber in particular pays special attention in our deliberations.
I want to again welcome our new colleague, Senator Loffreda, and I will take this opportunity to welcome Senator Bellemare back to the ISG. If I may, I would also like to recognize the contribution of our colleagues who left the Senate or who retired this summer: Senators Andreychuk, Demers, McIntyre, Neufeld and Pratte.
The impact of our retired and departing colleagues will be long remembered and long cherished.
I want to also take the opportunity to recognize and celebrate the outstanding work of Senator Harder, who served not only with effectiveness and efficiency as the Government Representative in the Senate through the Forty-second Parliament, but also did so with grace, dignity and class. The fact that we had such a successful last sitting of Parliament, getting through so much legislation, making as many amendments as we did and doing all of that without the government having to resort to time allocation, is particularly impressive.
I think that owes much to the work of Senator Harder and to, of course, his two able colleagues, Senator Bellemare and Senator Mitchell. It was a pleasure working with you, Senator Harder, in the leaders group. It was a pleasure working with Senators Bellemare and Mitchell. We hope you will stick around for a long time because we continue to look forward to working with you on other issues.
Colleagues, there has been some movement in our ranks over the last little while, which Senator Plett has already described. However, these movements are trivial compared to the fact that whatever group or whatever caucus we may sit in, we are, first and foremost, senators of the Upper Chamber of Parliament and we remain colleagues one and all.
To the new group that has been formed, the Canadian Senators Group, I bid a very warm welcome. I want to express the willingness and desire of the Independent Senators Group to work closely with the CSG, and particularly leaders Senator Tannas and Senator Verner.
At the start of a new Parliament with relatively little government business on our Order Paper, we have an opportunity to take a closer look at the rules and practices of the Senate so that we can try to improve where improvements are needed. In particular, I believe that there can be progress made in the area of increasing, enhancing and entrenching the equality of all senators and the equality of all Senate groups.
I believe there is an opportunity for us, particularly in the first few weeks and months of the new Parliament, to look at how we can also better improve the functioning of our Senate so that we can be a chamber that takes all the time we need to deliberate, to make decisions and to debate, but do it in a way that makes good use of our time. I look forward to having these further discussions in the weeks to come.
Let me conclude by saying that it’s a delight to be back and we’re very much looking forward as the ISG to working together with all the groups and with all senators. I wish us a very successful Forty-third Parliament.
Honourable senators, in my brief remarks, I would like to first echo the comments of Senator Plett and Senator Woo. On behalf of my colleagues in the progressive Senate group, I too would like to take a brief moment to welcome everyone back to this chamber, however briefly that may be. I expect we will only be here for a few days more, but it feels like a long time since we were all together. It is nice to be back at our desks again, rather than the benches we experienced last week.
Much has changed over the last several months. In fact, two new groups have formed since we last assembled: the Canadian Senators Group and the progressive Senate group. The Forty-second Parliament was a challenging time for all of us and for the government as the changes the government introduced to our institution began to take effect.
The Forty-third Parliament will, in my view, be even more challenging, particularly with a minority government in the other place. But with goodwill and open lines of communication between us, anything is possible. We are showing what can be done when we work together as we deal with the estimates and supply bill over the next few days.
I know that senators are all anxious to get back to work. The progressive senators in this group are certainly eager to do so and we look forward to working with all of you in the new Parliament.
