THE SENATE — New Senator
Congratulations on Appointment
November 7, 2023
Honourable senators, on behalf of the Government Representative Office, or GRO, I would like to welcome Rodger Cuzner as the newest member of the Red Chamber. Senator Cuzner is an experienced parliamentarian and most recently a diplomat representing Canada as our Consul General in Boston.
As a proud son of Nova Scotia, Senator Cuzner has worked tirelessly with industry and business in promoting the tourism sector in his province. He’s also an avid hockey fan and former coach of Team Nova Scotia at the Canada Games.
Now, without putting too much pressure on Senator Cuzner, colleagues, let me point out to you that Senator Cuzner was twice voted “most collegial member of Parliament” by his colleagues. I hope that his good nature is contagious and rubs off on all of us as we approach the busy and somewhat hectic season.
Senator Cuzner, I know that your experience as a parliamentarian and advocate for your region is a welcome addition to the Senate of Canada. Welcome.
Honourable senators, on behalf of the opposition and the Senate Conservative caucus, I am pleased to rise in this chamber to welcome our new colleague, a long-time Liberal parliamentarian, the Honourable Rodger Cuzner of Nova Scotia.
Senator, I am truly pleased to extend to you a very warm welcome to the Senate of Canada. I look forward to our future political debates in this chamber.
I also welcome the fact that Prime Minister Trudeau has removed the fig leaf from his Senate appointments and is now openly appointing partisan Liberals to the upper chamber.
Canadians do not buy the claim that Prime Minister Trudeau’s Senate appointment process is any better than what previous prime ministers did in the past. Because at the end of the day, regardless of the process behind how names are brought forward — whether it involves a list of 50 names or 3 — it is the Prime Minister who chooses who will be appointed. After eight years in power, the only real change to Prime Minister Trudeau’s selection process is that it now costs Canadians more money.
Senator Cuzner, you are a well-rounded politician, and your experience speaks to your commitment to serving our country and making it a better place. I want to recognize that even though we are from two different political parties, when senators are genuine about their political alliance, their friendships are honest.
I look forward to getting to know you better. As Senator Gold pointed out — even though he had the wrong name — Senator Cuzner, you have twice been voted the most collegial member of Parliament by your colleagues and were also described by Maclean’s magazine as “Parliament’s sense of humour.”
You, sir, are a great addition to the Senate family.
Canadians have increasingly been looking to the Senate for hope — hope that their voices are heard and the severity of the affordability crisis will be a priority for all parliamentarians.
Senator Cuzner, people across our beautiful country need reassurance right now, and to see common sense in Ottawa. They need to see parliamentarians take on their duty to work and fight for their best interests. I am proud to be part of the Conservative team that aims to do that.
Senator Cuzner, please know that Conservatives look forward to working in collaboration with you on ways to improve the lives of all Canadians.
On behalf of the opposition and the Conservative caucus, I want to warmly welcome you to the Senate of Canada.
Colleagues, Honourable Senator Cuzner, I am pleased to welcome you among us today as a new colleague, after you proudly served your fellow Cape Bretoners in the other place from 2000 to 2019.
Your impressive political longevity is all the more exceptional considering that you received almost 75% of the vote in your last election. I am happy to see you today as you pursue your commitment to serving your community and our country in the Senate of Canada.
Senator Cuzner served as parliamentary secretary and went on to hold numerous other important positions as a parliamentarian in the House of Commons.
Before returning today to public service with your nomination to the Senate, you entered the field of diplomacy and held the very strategically important position of Consul General of Canada to New England. This experience will also serve you here because a diplomatic touch is always welcome at the Senate of Canada.
More than anything, I believe that your parliamentary experience in the other place will energize our discussion in this chamber. In this modern Senate, we pride ourselves on our diverse origins and professional backgrounds, and once again, I concur with Senator Plett on the relevance of your appointment, but for different reasons.
I do not believe that senators should be penalized for having previously held an elected public office. On the contrary, I believe such expertise helps us in our role as a complementary chamber to the elected House of Commons. I am happy that we can count on your experience and wisdom as a former federal MP. As such, you will add your voice and perspective to those of the 15 senators who were once elected representatives either at the federal, provincial, territorial, municipal or community level. All 15 of them are members of our various caucuses and groups.
You will, however, notice that our style of debate differs from that of the House of Commons. The Senate, as you know, is a place of sober second thought, a less partisan complement to the elected House of Commons. I wish you the best in adapting to your new role.
Senator Cuzner, in my name and those of all the members of the Independent Senators Group, I wish you a warm welcome to the Senate of Canada. We look forward to working alongside you. Thank you, meegwetch.
Honourable senators, I’m pleased to rise on behalf of the Canadian Senators Group to welcome you, Senator Cuzner, to the Senate of Canada. As others have mentioned, you are no stranger to Parliament Hill. We’re looking forward to working with you.
With the announcement last week of five new senators from Atlantic Canada, there have now been 1,000 people in the last 155 years — since 1867 — who have been appointed to the Senate. That’s a remarkable milestone we should all reflect on — over its history, 1,000 people from every corner of this country who have been called to sit in this chamber.
Interestingly, just over 300 of those 1,000 people appointed to the Senate also served as members in the House of Commons, though it has been over a decade since this last happened.
I think the appointment of an experienced parliamentarian to this place is an asset, and it’s a tradition that, when balanced, should be welcomed. A truly independent Senate welcomes Canadians of all political perspectives, because a diversity of thoughts and experiences is critical to our duty to represent Canada’s distinct regions and minority communities.
Senator Cuzner, we look forward to working with you and seeing you apply your well-known affability and unique insights as an experienced parliamentarian to your work as an independent senator from Nova Scotia. Again, welcome to the Senate of Canada.
Honourable senators, I am truly delighted to join the other leaders today in welcoming our newest senator, a fellow Cape Bretoner and someone I have had the pleasure of working with for a number of years in service of Nova Scotians.
Senator Cuzner — that’s going to take a while to get used to, but I love it — on behalf of the Progressive Senate Group, it’s wonderful to see your public service continue as we welcome you to the upper chamber.
I think we all know about Senator Cuzner’s long career as a member of Parliament, and I thank Senator Gold for putting those highlights on the record. I daresay we also all know he’s a fierce partisan — that is, for his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs. But we’ll forgive him for that as the team has caused him to suffer long enough. But maybe this year will be different, Rodger — hope springs eternal.
Senator Cuzner may be best known for his sense of humour, quick wit and good-natured demeanour. As others have said, his colleagues in the other place certainly felt that way, twice voting him the most collegial MP. I have no doubt that you will earn a similar reputation here.
In your farewell speech in the other place, you certainly demonstrated your ability to tell a great story — in fact, you shared several. You reminded your colleagues, “I took my responsibilities seriously but I never took myself seriously.” With that in mind, I will do my best to retell one of my favourite stories: a tale of rescue.
This story takes place back in 2009. Two Nova Scotian MPs, who were also roommates, were on their way home on a Wednesday night when they spotted something unusual. Was it a dog? No. It was a beaver, standing on its hind legs, in the middle of Sparks Street. Obviously, Senator Cuzner and Mark Eyking couldn’t abandon this great symbol of our country, so when they couldn’t get help from emergency services, they decided to tackle this challenge on their own.
It took about an hour of careful wrangling, and holding up traffic, but they finally succeeded in returning the poor beaver to the Ottawa River. Not unlike anyone else who has spent quality time with these two gentlemen, the beaver was reluctant to leave his new friends. But with a final slap of his tail on the water, away he went. I love this story because not only does it make me laugh every time I think of these two trying to coax a beaver to follow them in downtown Ottawa, but I also feel like it describes Senator Cuzner perfectly: always ready to lend a hand, eager to find solutions and able to get along with even the wildest of creatures.
Senator Cuzner, if you’ll forgive me, I’d like to quote you one more time. You once said:
. . . I measure success by how you can improve the lot of Canadians. When we all get together and try to do the right thing, then that’s possible.
Rodger, you have made a career out of working to improve the lot of Canadians, particularly Nova Scotians who are lucky, indeed, to have you continue to work in their service in this new role.
On behalf of the Progressive Senate Group, it’s my pleasure to officially welcome you to the Senate of Canada. We look forward to working with you, Senator Cuzner.
