Hon. Hedy Fry

Mr. Speaker, quite often the whole concept of retroactivity sometimes imbalances what in fact we are trying to do with a particular piece of legislation or a particular piece of policy. If we are looking at helping to get a win-win situation, in many instances with restructuring, if we go back in time enough, then we create a complete imbalance in the kind of funds that would be available to do that.

With regard to pension protection, it is difficult for this bill to deal with pensions on a whole because there is a better pension regulatory area for us to deal with that under the relevant pension regulatory system. However, there is some ability in this bill, if a person declaring bankruptcy has not been putting the appropriate money and has an arrears in placing money into a pension, for this to take precedent over payouts to creditors. The bill does take care of some of it, but it is not really the appropriate vehicle to deal with that kind of pension reform.

Hon. Don Boudria (Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, I listened attentively to her speech. She is obviously well-versed and very knowledgeable in this subject matter, as I am sure the entire House has realized. Could she tell us who has been demanding the changes to the insolvency provisions that we now enjoy? This piece of legislation will have a major impact. Perhaps she could indicate to the House who is looking to have changes in that regard, so that all members will understand where the government is coming from with some of these proposed changes.

Hon. Hedy Fry

Mr. Speaker, this whole review process was a result of wide cross-country consultations undertaken in 2001 and 2002. It also reflects input received from, as I said earlier, a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including business, financial institutions, the legal community, et cetera, people who are well-versed in the understanding of insolvency laws, as well as labour groups, students, consumer associations and, of course, academic groups. The Senate committee on banking also tabled a report in 2003. It is a combination of many years of work, listening to a broad spectrum of stakeholders, and I think it has achieved the right balance.

Mrs. Carole Lavallée (Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Vancouver Centre for her comments. I want to ask her a question about student loans. She did not mention this subject once. Yet, student debt is a very significant part of this bill. The government is prepared to reduce the waiting period from ten years to seven years, so that former students can discharge their student loan debts in bankruptcy.

The Bloc Québécois committed long ago to totally eliminating this waiting period. In reality, having a waiting period for student loan debts makes no sense. First of all, it is based on prejudicial belief that declaring bankruptcy is easy, that anyone can do it and that students are immature enough to decide to finance their education with loans and then say, “No problem, I will just declare bankruptcy and get out of debt”.

Very few students would even think such a thing. A judge could dismiss an application based on such nonsense. In fact, we know that, in the event of a bankruptcy, a judge must rule whether to allow or dismiss an application.

Furthermore, we are wondering why the change from ten years to seven years? Why not five years or three years, or even zero years while we are at it? I want the member on the government side to tell us what she thinks about this.

Hon. Hedy Fry

Mr. Speaker, over the period of the last five to six years the government has addressed some of the issues with regard to student loans from various perspectives. One of them was obviously to look at whether students were able to pay off loans if they did not have a job after they had finished university or school. We also looked at how they would be able to be forgiven their debt or not have to pay any interest and eventually, if this kept continuing and they did not make enough money or did not have enough of an income, to have the principal of the loan actually forgiven over a period of time. We address some of those issues in this bill by bringing down that timeline to seven years.

We have been working with students with regard to student loans. We have listened to them and there is no one place where we can resolve this problem. In this particular amendment we can bring the timeline down. We did it in other areas within the budget. We will continue to address the area of student loans in many other ways, not only by assisting students to pay off their loans but by decreasing the number of students who have to borrow. We will create structures, as we have done in past budgets, to allow for students who are disadvantaged economically to be able to get grants, and for disabled students or single parents with children to have access to grants for post-doctoral studies.

There is more than one way to skin that cat. The government has been well aware of that and has been looking at all avenues to assist students.

Mr. Robert Vincent (Shefford, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Verchères—Les Patriotes.

Bill C-55 is a step in the right direction and the Bloc Québécois supports it. An increasing number of workers can be protected and this bill sets out to do just that, but it can go even further. Allow me to explain.

The bill addresses the matter of wages, but it could also address severance pay, which is money set aside by workers under the conditions of a collective agreement for them to recover should the company they work for shut down. For example, under the usual provisions of a collective agreement an employee gets one week's wages for every year of service. Thus, the $3,000 in wages that workers could lose if the company goes bankrupt, is paid by the government. That is good. It is great. However, more should be done.

Workers are often last on the list. The companies and everyone else are put first and the workers come last. However, they are the economic drivers of the country. Although there are 100,000 industries, if there is no one to work in them, the economic market fails. These workers are important for our society.

In my opinion, severance pay should be an integral part of the bill. I heard the minister say that $30 million was not a lot of money. If not, then we could include the severance pay these workers are entitled to since they contributed to it. This is something that could be discussed in committee.

Workers are becoming the poorest in our society. Take for example the price of gas, which has increased significantly. When workers negotiate their collective agreement they usually get a wage increase of 2% or 3% and the employer already finds that to be a lot. However, a 2% increase on weekly earnings of $400 is an increase of $8 a week. To fill a tank of gas to go to work at the factory currently costs $10 or $15 more a week. The worker is, in effect, already losing ground. In other words, he is already poorer than he was before getting a raise.

This goes beyond the price of gas. We must also look at the price of oil. When it comes time to heat our homes, the price will have increased, which will further cut into our purchasing power.

The minister was saying yesterday, in the first five minutes of his speech, that this money could be put towards the mortgage, the car or consumer goods. We all know that the price of consumer goods will go up again because of the price of gas. Ultimately, the consumer is the one who will be footing the bill. It is not the industry that will suffer the consequences of rising gas prices, but the consumer. Once again, workers are the ones who end up paying.

I will paint a picture of the workers' situation, because it is important. We often talk about businesses, but workers are always caught in a vicious circle where they always have to pay.

For example, in terms of taxes, if a worker owes taxes to the government, the tax authorities will come after him. They are the first ones to try to recover their money. If the worker owes $100 or $200, the tax authorities will certainly harass him until they recover the whole amount. At the end of the year, when the worker files his income tax return, the government will definitely take what is owed to it before giving anything back to the worker. The worker always has to pay.

Let us draw a parallel with Mr. Coffin, who took $1.5 million from the government. He gave back $1 million, which means that he still owes $500,000. I do not think that the government will try to recover that money.

But when a worker owes even a small amount of money, they go after him right away. He gets one letter after another, and repeated phone calls. He is basically harassed.

We have a two-tier justice system, where workers are treated one way and wealthier people are treated differently, with the workers consistently being exploited.

With respect to bankruptcies, $3,000 is nice. But, when a company goes bankrupt, some of the workers who lose their jobs are older; they are over 55. They did not expect the company to go bankrupt; they thought they could work there until retirement, but things turned out differently. The workers are usually the last to know, of course. Employers tend to keep their financial difficulties and the prospect of bankruptcy to themselves. They do not share that kind of information with the workers. Very often, employers fail to pay their employees, and they help themselves to the employees' pension fund to continue their operations. If there is any money left, the workers might get a few dollars, but that is not likely, because the workers always come last.

We are asking that workers over 55 whose company goes bankrupt have access to the Program for older worker adjustment, or POWA. For those affected by plant closures, by reason of bankruptcy or any other reason, this program would bridge the gap until they reach the age of 65. At least, these workers would be protected. We must never forget that they are the country's economic engine. We tend to forget that. There is much talk about companies, but without workers, there are no companies.

As I said earlier, I am using parallels because what matters to me is the workers. I am committed to worker protection. The CBC is a fine example. Over the past six years, there has not been a single year when there was not some problem with collective bargaining at the CBC: there has been three lockouts and three strikes.

Those who negotiate these collective agreements never manage to reach agreement with the workers. This year, it is a matter of job security. That is what the CBC workers are fighting for. Job security is important these days. Workers need it to pay their mortgages, pay for their cars and provide for their families. It is hard to work without that security. A person gets up and goes to work every day, but never knows what day they may be told their services are no longer needed. With some degree of job security, people can live decently and make plans for the future. They cannot do that when there is no security.

Why would an employer have temporary workers rather than permanent ones? The answer to that is simple. Then it can assign its workers exactly as it pleases, any way at all. We are told that is the best way to run a company. Perhaps it is, from the company's point of view, but it is bad management as far as workers are concerned. They attach a great deal of importance to having a permanent job.

Perhaps this program should have another name, something like “protection of workers' money”. It ought to cover all the money workers stand to lose if a plant closes because of bankruptcy. That is important. These people need all that money in order to continue to live decently.

When some plants close down, their workers start off on EI, then move to welfare, and finally end up selling their homes and having nothing, although they may have worked for 30 years.

This is, therefore, a valuable and good bill. I feel that $3,000 is a step in the right direction, but I do think that the government could do more for workers who are, as I have said, the ones who drive the economy.

Mr. Gérard Asselin (Manicouagan, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member for Shefford on his fine speech. He took the time to prepare well so that he could speak on behalf and in the name of working people. He concluded by saying that this is a good bill. It is good, but not excellent.

There is a stage that it must still go through, namely consideration by the parliamentary committee where the opposition parties will present amendments. We will see how much goodwill the minister has after the Bloc Québécois makes amendments to improve the situation of employees in bankruptcy cases.

It was said that this is a step forward and that the minister introduced this bill. The department that created this loosely knit Bill C-55 has dropped a few stitches. We are going to fix that and make a few amendments in committee. Then we will see how much good faith the government has. My colleague in the Liberal Party just said that they consulted widely and listened. However, this bill does not correspond exactly with what workers want in case of bankruptcy.

Wages should be protected. Some people have sacrificed weeks and even months of wages and found themselves facing bankruptcy. Their wages were completely lost. An employee's pension fund should be protected, that is to say, the part paid by the employee and the employer. This is something that they negotiated in collective agreements.

We should ensure that people have immediate access to employment insurance, with no waiting period. We should also make sure that POWA, the program for older worker adjustment, applies right away insofar as training or temporary assistance is concerned while people wait for their pension entitlement. One hundred percent of everything these people have invested over many years in the company pension fund must go in. It must be placed in a specific fund, a guaranteed fund, and paid out at 100%.

I would like to ask the member for Shefford my question. I see that 10 minutes are not enough in view of all his knowledge, research and dedication to working people. The member for Shefford could easily have given us a 40-minute presentation. But he was allowed only ten minutes. I would like him to explain the essence of the amendments he wants to make in order to fix Bill C-55 and make it a real bill for the working people of Quebec.

Mr. Robert Vincent

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question. I will expand on my remarks. I say that all wages and all other sums owed to workers must be protected in case of a bankruptcy for which they are not responsible. Managing the business is the employer's job, and the workers are dependent on the way that job is done. When bankruptcy comes, there is nothing they can do about it. However, they should not have to pay for it.

As I mentioned earlier, many collective agreements provide for severance pay, which is one week's pay for each year of service. Why would workers, who paid directly for that, give that money back to the employer? I do not think that this is what we are trying to achieve here. The government wants to protect workers and their money. The employer's role is to manage the business. If the business is poorly managed, workers should not have to pay because the employer did not do a good job. That is why, in committee, we should take a close look at all the financial aspects and all the money that the workers stand to lose. They should not lose any money at all.

Mr. Stéphane Bergeron (Verchères—Les Patriotes, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, to begin with, if you would permit me, I would like to warmly thank my colleague from Shefford. I thank him for his concern in permitting me to express myself today on this bill. I also thank him for being so flexible, for at first I was supposed to speak ahead of him, but gradually we reorganized things. So very great thanks to my colleague from Shefford.

It is with some emotion that I take the floor today on Bill C-55, an Act to establish the Wage Earner Protection Program Act, to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies' Creditors Arrangements Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. Not only is this bill important to me, but this is probably one of the last speeches I will give in this House. I therefore ask the indulgence of the Speaker and my colleagues should I ever digress.

We must be very aware of the fact that when there are brutal closures or bankruptcies of companies, the fate of the workers is often tragic. Their families have to suffer the consequences of this as well.

Thus far, these employees do not rank very high in priority among the creditors when the time comes to wind up a company's remaining assets. So, as was mentioned earlier, we find wages and severance allowances unpaid, and, sometimes, pensions lost or heavily mortgaged. After working all their lives for one firm, often these people find themselves without resources, without a pension fund, and often with a reduced likelihood of returning to the labour market.

It is imperative that this Parliament consider the tragic situation of these employees who are the victims of brutal corporate closures or bankruptcies. It is high time that we did so.

A number of my constituents experienced such a situation when the Aciers Atlas plant closed in Sorel-Tracy. In fact, the Aciers Atlas retired steelworkers' association contacted me to ask Parliament to pass legislation to deal with this problem. That people should be lobbying for this is nothing new. The Steelworkers have been pressuring parliamentarians for months to look into this glaring problem. This was due in large part to the worrying situation of a number of steel plants, particularly in the Hamilton region.

After that, our colleague from Winnipeg Centre introduced Bill C-281, a bill we supported 100%. We must admit we even helped our colleague prepare the bill.

Obviously, we are extremely pleased to see the government step in with Bill C-55. In this way, we are assured that the existing legal framework will be improved in order to protect workers and ensure that they are among the preferred creditors when a company is dissolved.

As was said earlier, we support the principle of Bill C-55, but it still contains a number of irritants and gaps, particularly with regard to the concept of secured creditor. The Government of Quebec should be consulted as to how this new legislation may work with the provisions of the Civil Code.

A few moments ago, my colleague from Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert spoke quite pertinently about the waiting period that students face before being allowed to discharge their student loans through bankruptcy. This is another area of concern with regard to Bill C-55, as is the issue of penalizing individuals receiving EI benefits, who may be taxed on the benefits they receive when a company is dissolved.

We will have to ensure that a number of amendments and improvements are made to the bill in later stages, so that it is able to truly respond to the very legitimate expectations of workers and pensioners of companies that may one day close.

As I said earlier, I am very happy to speak on this issue. It is clear just how important it is to me.

As I said, I will be leaving this place soon for another arena where I hope I will be able to continue to serve and to meet new challenges.

I would like to take the few minutes I have left to thank all my present and former colleagues in this House. It has been a great privilege and honour for me to be able to sit in this House and be surrounded by extraordinary people here to represent their constituents in Canada and in Quebec.

I would like also to say goodbye to everyone here, House staff, clerks, security personnel and so on. I have particularly fond memories of the late Major General Cloutier, with whom I worked closely during my time as chief whip for the Bloc Québécois.

I also want to acknowledge and thank the legal advisors, and in particular Diane Davidson, an extraordinary woman now working with Elections Canada. These legal experts provide such devoted services to parliamentarians. Then there are the maintenance staff, the support staff, the food services people, the mail room employees, the pages, the researchers and Library staff, in short, all personnel of the House, past and present, who make it possible for us to do as worthy and efficient a job as possible of serving our fellow citizens.

I wish to mention the efficient, competent and devoted staff of the Bloc Québécois in general, and in particular the ones who have worked with me since 1993, who have made it possible for me to do this exciting job of representing the people of Verchères and Verchères—Les-Patriotes in the House of Commons. Words are not enough to express my great appreciation for their devotion, which has made it possible for me, I hope, to do my job as effectively and appropriately as possible.

And then there are the countless volunteers who have worked in the federal riding of Verchères and later Verchères—Les-Patriotes, the ones who have made it possible for me to be here for four terms, a total of some 12 years.

I wish to pay particular tribute to my family, my wife Johanne and my daughter Audrée-Anne. Without them, I could never have fulfilled this mission for the past 12 years.

Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if I did not express my equally warm and heartfelt thanks to the people of the federal riding of Verchères and Verchères—Les-Patriotes, who have showed their faith in me in four elections, who invested in me and reiterated their confidence in me. There is no way I can fully express my gratitude for the touching support they have manifested in me on four occasions, starting in 1993.

I thank them for allowing me to go through the exciting adventure of representing them in the House of Commons. I hope I always lived up to their expectations.

Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)

Mr. Speaker, prior to asking a question about the specific bill that we are debating, let me simply say that when someone of such long tenure and long standing respect in the House of Commons chooses to leave and announces that in this place, it is almost like losing a member of one's family.

I can remember the day I first met the member for Verchères—Les Patriotes and how gracious he was to me as a newcomer in the House of Commons. I met him at the opening cocktail party to welcome newly elected members of Parliament and he at the time was the whip for the Bloc Québécois. He was gracious, friendly and welcomed me into what became that very unique relationship that we enjoy as members of Parliament. I am really quite moved by his announcement today that he will not be seeking re-election and will be leaving this place. I can speak for the members of our caucus and say that we will miss him. We will miss the dignity and the respect that he brings to this House.

In regard to the bill, I know the Bloc Québécois shares the view of the NDP that the bill does not really address the big issue of huge underfunded pension plans. I would like the member to expand on his views. Does he share with us the view that it is fundamentally wrong for a company to be able to continue operating by scooping from the company pension plan and therefore leaving a shortfall when the company does collapse?

Mr. Stéphane Bergeron

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his kind words. Many of my colleagues expressed their good wishes as soon as I took my seat. I like to think that the hon. member represents the view of many of our colleagues in this House and I thank him for it.

That said, he raised a very important question. As previously mentioned, this bill seems like a step in the right direction, but a number of deficiencies remain, including some I pointed out a few moments ago.

I must point out that our colleague from Winnipeg Centre just touched on another major gap in this bill. As I was saying earlier, although we are in favour of this bill in principle, it is very important that we make a number of changes and improvements to it in later stages. Then we could find all the provisions we would like to have in a bill to protect workers and retirees in the event of a bankruptcy or the abrupt closure of a company.

I call on our colleagues, especially those in the government, to be open to the concerns and proposals that will be presented in committee and at report stage, so that we can bring about a bill that Canadians and Quebeckers can be really proud of.

Hon. Don Boudria (Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, my question will actually be a comment. It will not concern the subject matter of Bill C-55. Instead, it will be directed, through you, at the man.

A few weeks ago, I gave a speech which, apart from the fact that it was much longer, said essentially the same thing as what our colleague told us today. I too would like to say what a pleasure it has been for me to work with him. I am speaking for myself and, as the longest serving member of our caucus in the House of Commons, on behalf of all my hon. colleagues, I am sure.

Over the years, he has filled many positions within his party, as have I in mine. We have both been officers of this House. I am sure that I speak on behalf of all parliamentarians in saying that he has always discharged his duties in a very dignified manner.

When he arrived in this House, he was among the youngest parliamentarians. As surprising as it may sound, 12 years later, he is 12 years older, and others are now younger than him. Granted, there are many more who are younger than me. Some parliamentarians were not even born when I arrived at the House of Commons in 1966. My hon. colleague opposite could probably be included among them. I understand that he was 1 year old.

This was just a comment to say that, at any rate, as far as I am concerned, he has been a good member and a good colleague. If I were to ask anything of him, it would probably be this. In his remarks, he mentioned the volunteers working within political parties. I am not being partisan. This goes for all parties, without exception. I think that volunteers are the great heroes of democracy. They work hard; during election campaigns, they head off to the headquarters with their lunch boxes as if they were going to work, to give their time, and they give a lot of it. They ask for nothing in return, besides an opportunity to participate in this exercise in democracy.

Are they not the real heroes of democracy? I respectfully submit that these are the great heroes of democracy to whom all of us, parliamentarians and other elected officials, even those who are not elected but who are less involved than these people, the citizens of this country, owe a debt of gratitude.

Mr. Stéphane Bergeron

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank you because you are being very lenient about time.

Naturally, I want to thank the hon. member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell and tell him that the feelings are mutual. It was a great pleasure to work with him when he was the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and I was the chief whip of the Bloc Québécois. We had to work quite closely together. Generally speaking, even though there were moments of intense disagreement between our two political parties, people always approached each other in a cordial and civilized manner. This allowed us, despite our disagreements, to maintain, at least until the most recent election, some decorum in this House, a decorum the public most certainly could be proud of. Decorum has probably diminished over the past few months and with good reason.

That said, I think my colleague from Glengarry—Prescott—Russell is quite right to stress the importance of the work of volunteers. We all know certain democracies—no need to look far—where money is the driving force and large numbers of handsomely paid employees run election campaigns. In Canada and Quebec, there is a spending ceiling and rules on political party funding, and we cannot afford highly paid staff for an election campaign. What we have are people who offer their services and give their time and energy because they believe in the cause, because they believe in their political party and because they believe in the person representing their political party.

In closing, I think I could not agree more with my colleague in saying that the true heroes of democracy in Canada and Quebec are those who give freely of their time to causes they believe in.

The time for questions and comments has expired.

Hon. Don Boudria

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. When I gave a certain speech not that many weeks ago, the House was generous enough at the time to extend questions and comments considerably. I would like to ask for the same thing to be extended now because I see another hon. member who no doubt wants to ask a question or make a comment. Without knowing what he is going to say, and with the same generosity, perhaps we could extend questions and comments by 10 minutes. I would seek that consent.

Is there unanimous consent?

Agreed.

Mr. John Duncan (Vancouver Island North, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, because he has indeed read my mind and I think the will of the House right now.

In a sense, we have just heard a farewell speech from our esteemed colleague from the Bloc. He is someone who has travelled widely and also has had many overlaps with other members over the 12 years he has been here. I have been here that same length of time. I also know that some of the newer members have a strikingly high opinion of all of their dealings with the member for Verchères—Les Patriotes.

I have some very vivid memories of the member, particularly from the trade portfolio when I held that portfolio as critic, and also from some international travel. They say that we do not really know someone until we travel with them and then we see them warts and all. Those of us who have been put on the same bus,on the same airplane or in the same routine, very often in a strange or foreign land for an extended period of time, get to know each other very well. I would say that the member for Verchères—Les Patriotes has indubitably passed all those tests.

The respect that the member carried had a personal impact on me. There was a point in time when there was a document produced by him which was sent to all members of Parliament. I read that document, which was a very lengthy document, and I could tell that he had poured his heart and soul into writing it. It was basically an analysis and a description of the expulsion of the Acadians. I know there is a personal family connection for the member and I knew that this was something he thought about for a long time. I complimented him on the quality and calibre of the writing. It certainly provided me with a point of view I highly respected, one that touched my heart. This is the kind of member of Parliament that we have been blessed with in this place for the last 12 years.

I feel compelled to wish my colleague good fortune in where he is going. I know that my colleague from Blackstrap beside me could not help but notice the passion that the member brought to the job and to his endeavours.

At this time, if the member for Verchères—Les Patriotes wishes to respond to my non-question, he would be more than welcome to do so.

Mr. Stéphane Bergeron

Mr. Speaker, I will be brief. I must say that it is starting to be somewhat embarrassing to have to reply to every compliment paid to me. I am deeply touched and moved by so much praise.

I am also touched by the generosity of the House, which has agreed to extend by 10 minutes the time for questions and comments to allow members who may wish to pay me tribute to do so. Those who will be speaking next may have something other than praise to say, who knows. That said, I thank my hon. colleagues for being so kind and graceful to me.

I would be remiss if I concluded these remarks without thanking my hon. colleague for what he said and telling him how much I too appreciated the opportunity of working together on the issue of international trade. He should know that it was a great pleasure for me to work with him on those occasions when, for instance, we went on trade missions outside Canada.

Mrs. Carole Lavallée (Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, I too wish to add my voice to this chorus of praise, and at the same time reassure my colleague from Verchères—Les Patriotes that we have only praise for him.

Incidentally, as labour critic, I must tell him that I feel quite honoured by this diversion of the debate. We were debating Bill C-55. I view as a privilege the fact that the member for Verchères—Les Patriotes would chose to make this very touching announcement while we are considering a bill dealing with the interests of workers.

My colleague from Shefford, who is the deputy labour critic, is asking me to convey the message to him that he too feels very honoured.

It is very likely that the member for Verchères—Les Patriotes had a good reason for choosing to make this announcement during the debate on Bill C-55. The fact is that he is himself an indefatigable worker. I have known him personally since 1993, when we had the pleasure of working together. He has always worked very steadfastly and rigorously.

As we know, rigour is the trademark of Bloc members. Our batting average is very high, still our colleague from Verchères—Les Patriotes outdoes us. He has always had dignity as a leitmotif in whatever he did.

Finally, I must add that he was the Bloc Québécois whip—I do not remember for exactly how long. And a highly efficient one too. My colleagues and I are grateful to him for that.

I know that the Bloc will find the time and place to pay tribute to him more appropriately. At this time we will just tell him how much we all regret his departure.