Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank a man whose community is very important to him and whose career is coming to an end. After working at Radio-Canada for 41 years, today, Michel Picard is retiring, thus ending a remarkable career in the media.
Michel is known for his professionalism, volunteer work and warmth and, over the course of his career, he attracted the interest of an ever-growing number of people who watched and listened to his programming on Radio-Canada.
I would like to recognize and thank his wife, Brigitte, for agreeing to share him with us for so many years.
Although tomorrow is the first day of his retirement, Michel plans to remain closely and actively involved in our community. By way of evidence, I will be seeing him tomorrow at lunchtime as he judges a pancake-eating contest taking place near the Vanier sugar bush—North America's only urban sugar bush—as part of the 28th edition of the Maple Sugar Festival.