Mr. Speaker, I served in this House with Bill Scott for 14 years. I did not know him particularly well. I do not know what kind of a sense of humour he had but he might have seen some irony in the fact that for someone who served here for 28 years, he had at that moment more colleagues in other parties, Reform, Bloc and the NDP than he had in his own party as a result of the election that he chose not to run in.
I remember him as a humble man who did his constituency work extremely well. I think his constituents attested to that time after time after time. He is a lesson to all of us who think that the bravado, the rhetoric and the theatre of this place has something essential to do with the job of a member of parliament. It is certainly a part of what makes parliament tick but we know there are good members of parliament who are not part of the daily theatre of this place and who are content to do a good job on behalf of their constituents, to work behind the scenes and to render a service to their constituents and to their country.
All of us are very honoured to pay tribute today in particular to the memory and to the work of Mr. Scott. On behalf of my colleagues in the NDP, I extend our condolences to Mr. Scott's family and pay tribute to his long career of service to parliament and to his constituents.