Mr. Speaker, we were dismayed to hear about the passing of my friend Claude Ducharme who died yesterday in Paris, where he was attending a union convention. Mr. Ducharme was vice-president of the FTQ, head of the Quebec chapter of the Canadian Auto Workers and member of the board of directors of the FTQ's compensation fund.
He espoused the cause of the workers and fought relentlessly for the implementation of decent working conditions. Fernand Daoust said of him that he was a great unionist who helped give the union movement a respectable and credible image.
All the members of the Bloc Quebecois join me in extending their deepest sympathies to Mr. Ducharme's family and thank him for having devoted himself with so much conviction to the well-being of Quebec workers.