Mr. Speaker, I stand today to pay tribute to the late Robertson Davies, one of Canada's most treasured writers.
Bridging Canada's two solitudes, a headline in the Quebec media reads:
"With Robertson Davies, Canadian literature has lost one of its titans".
This sentiment accurately describes Robertson Davies' status: a monument to Canadian literature.
Robertson Davies was to me a person of another world. I knew him by reputation only. When I first heard him on the radio I was impressed that he appeared as interested in hearing the opinions of others as in expressing his own. Acknowledged the world over as a great man of letters, Robertson Davies was also a man of the people.
Canada and the world are much the better for his presence and for being the beneficiaries of a great literary legacy on his passing.