Mr. Speaker, the official opposition is honoured to pay tribute to Carlo Rossi, who passed away April 11, 1998. Carlo came to the House of Commons in 1979. He sat as the member for Bourassa for nearly 10 years. In his previous life he was a dedicated police officer with a career distinguished by fairness.
His word was his bond in police work. I was fascinated to hear the story of how he would negotiate with hostages. If he had given his word to a criminal who had taken a hostage, that word was good. If he made a promise he stood by that promise. He brought the same basic rules of fairness to his work here in parliament. Members have told me that when he made a deal it was in fact a deal.
As a decorated police officer he brought a fresh perspective to parliament, a perspective that showed how closely he had dealt with both criminals and victims alike.
Mr. Rossi was an ideal politician, with his experience as a police officer and his life experience, without the restrictions imposed by political parties. On behalf of my party I would like to extend our condolences to his family. This is a great loss to Montreal and to Canada.