We all remember our first day in this magnificent chamber. I remember being impressed by the remarkable people I was meeting, including Percy Mockler, Nancy Greene Raine and Frank W. Mahovlich, to name just a few.

Some time later, I learned that Jean-Guy Dagenais would be joining us on the Conservative bench in the Senate. The first time I met him, I knew right away that I was in the presence of an incredible man, a good and pure Quebecer. I’m so proud to have served our beautiful province with him.

I’ve had several opportunities to work closely with Jean-Guy over the years. He quickly demonstrated that he was the kind of man who could gauge a situation and take the necessary time before reacting. He always knew how to interpret these situations, some less pleasant than others, with the sense of humour we know so well.

Jean-Guy is not your typical leader. When his colleagues at the Sûreté du Québec chose him to represent them in 2004, he easily demonstrated that he was up to the task, and he proudly served as their voice until 2011. He guided them by being a strong, solid yet discreet leader.

In all aspects of his work, Senator Dagenais has shown that he is a solid team player who can be counted on. His innate integrity and steadfast modesty often made my job as leader of the opposition in the Senate easier. Thank you, Jean-Guy.

I never doubted that Jean-Guy would be by my side to support me in difficult situations, and I was very happy to celebrate our collective victories with him.

Jean-Guy always knew how to surround himself with good people. We can’t pay tribute to this great man without mentioning Richard, Mireille and Luce for the support they have given Jean-Guy over the years. In addition, on behalf of all Canadians, I would also like to thank his wife, Danielle —

— great job, Danielle —

 — for the sacrifices she made so that Senator Dagenais could sit in the Senate, with us and for us.

Jean-Guy, dear friend, I wish you a retirement that’s everything you hoped it would be. After working for so many years in the service of others, enjoy the free time that is finally coming your way to relax in sunny Florida. May your retirement bring you health, happiness and the good things in life.

Goodbye, old friend, and thank you.

Colleagues, as soon as I entered the Senate a little over 12 months ago and joined the Canadian Senators Group, Jean-Guy took me under his wing and gave me the benefit of his support, generosity and sense of humour.

Week after week, Senator Dagenais never failed to ask the Government Representative a question on a topic that mattered to him. He immediately gave me his spot on the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages. He didn’t just welcome me, he embraced me wholeheartedly.

As a former defence lawyer and journalist, I was often at loggerheads with police officers and union leaders, but now I was supposed to serve alongside a senator who had once been both. It was his kindness, not his words, that changed my mind about unions and police officers.

During his career with the police, this senator was the one who was always suspected, and rightly so, whenever someone was the butt of a joke or a prank at his police detachment or among the staff when he was a union rep.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and here’s the one I have in mind: Senator Dagenais in his Rolls-Royce, dressed in his suit, hat and bow tie, together with his wife, heading off on the road to retirement. He’s the epitome of the gentleman senator, not Maurice LeBlanc’s gentleman thief, Arsène Lupin.

Before I sit down again, I’m going to check my seat to make sure that his last act in the Senate wasn’t to play a prank on me after the little secrets I just shared with you.

I forgot one detail about the image I still have in my head. As the Rolls-Royce glides past me on its way to Florida, there’s no sign on the trunk that says “Happy retirement.” Instead, there’s a big organ on a stand in the trunk because Jean-Guy has another string to his bow. He’s also an organist, and there’s no way he’d leave his favourite instrument behind as he embarks on his retirement.

Jean-Guy, my friend, good luck with your new endeavours, and long may you live.

Thank you. Meegwetch.

Honourable senators, there are some people who, when we first meet them, we feel as though we have nothing in common and we wonder what we could possibly talk to them about, since we seem to be light years apart. This was how I felt about my prospective professional relationship with Senator Dagenais.

I have to say that I don’t always share his views or agree with the premises of his questions and speeches in the Senate. I’m pretty far removed from the world of policing, where he worked for so many years. I’m not so fond of cars that I wash them three times a day, and I’m also not particularly fond of travelling back and forth to Florida.

When I thought about it, I felt that, other than music, the only other thing we might have in common was the same barber, but I cut that thought short since there was not much to talk about there.

Knowing that we were going to go on a ParlAmericas mission to Paraguay together and that we would be sitting next to each other on the long flight, I wondered what I could talk to him about.

Well, honourable senators, I learned that you do not need to talk if you are travelling with Senator Dagenais. He will take care of the talking. He will talk to you the whole way, and he will repeat his stories once, twice or three times to make sure that you remember them.

Whether he’s talking about his treasured cars, his past as a union steward, his beloved dog or the unconditional love he has for his wife, Danielle, his generosity knows no bounds.

If you want to get some rest during the trip, wear a mask, put on your headphones, pretend to snore or fake a heart attack. Basically, use every possible means to head off to dreamland as fast as possible, because the senator may be terse in this chamber, but on the road, the stories and anecdotes flow so quickly and steadily that it’s like a tsunami moving the little white house in Lac-Saint-Jean.

Resigned to listening to his stories during this trip, I finally went into listening mode. It was then, colleagues, that I realized that behind these stories and anecdotes lay a kind, sensitive person, full of goodwill and affection for human beings, a senator with an immeasurable love for the French language and Quebec culture, as well as endless solidarity for all the francophones and Acadians in this country.

I remembered how that solidarity shone through when he sat on the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages, particularly as a member of the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure, when we were studying the modernization of the Official Languages Act. As chair of that committee, I could always count on his support and presence when I needed him.

It was while flying from Montreal to Asuncion that I had this revelation and finally understood who Senator Dagenais really was.

Senator, dear Jean-Guy, as you embark on this new stage of your life, I wish you a well-deserved retirement. Above all, I hope you meet many attentive listeners who will love listening to your stories, because those stories are the key to understanding what an amazing person you are.

Thank you, Senator Dagenais.