Mr. Speaker, the City of Montreal wanted to honour Marcel Pepin by naming a street after him where dozens of affordable houses are being built in the Rosemont area.
Marcel Pepin was the president of the CSN from 1965 to 1976 and chair of the Angus revitalization committee when the plants, better known as the Angus Shops, closed their doors for good.
Marcel Pepin, a progressive union leader and sovereigntist, died in 2000. Instrumental in the Quiet Revolution, he helped build modern-day Quebec. He grew up in a modest home and became an icon in the union movement, devoting his life to the advancement of the working class. To his dying day, Marcel Pepin spoke out publicly in defence of the rights of Quebec, the less fortunate and workers, whether they were unionized or not.
As a former secretary general of the CSN, I salute his memory and the Bloc Québécois joins me in congratulating the City of Montreal on this initiative to keep the memory of this great fighter alive.