Mr. Speaker, the members of the Bloc Québécois were saddened to learn of the death of the hon. Gilbert Parent, the Franco-Ontarian who was our Speaker from 1994 through 2001. I had the honour and the pleasure to get to know him as an MP and as a minister.
A man of principle, a man of courtesy and respect for his opponents, he was also a man of extreme competency and efficiency. He was a man of ideas as well. He left the mark of his initiatives on the departments of Youth, International Development and Labour.
I also had the pleasure of getting to know him personally. Just by chance, one of his friends lived in my region and once in a while gave me mail or documents to pass on to him. After question period, I would make it my duty to go and hand these to him personally, and each time he would invite me for a chat. Hon. members will understand that his Franco-Ontarian vision of the future of Canada and Quebec differed greatly from my own, but he was extremely welcoming and we had some long discussions. I must admit, however, that he was a very straightforward man as well, and when he had something to say, he did not beat around the bush. You knew his point of view right away and there was no doubt about it. I have lasting memories of those personal meetings with this great man.
Of course, I also knew him as the Speaker, an impartial man who cooperated with all parties and all members. When he was made Speaker, he did not have an easy job before him. There was a new government and two new parties: the Bloc Québécois formed the official opposition and the Reform Party was the third party. What is more, of the 295 members, 205 were new MPs. As one might guess, he often had to make decisions, some of them difficult ones. Each of his rulings, however, was always met with unanimity in the House.
So, au revoir to Gilbert, au revoir to the exceptional human being that he was, au revoir to the devoted member of parliament, au revoir to the competent Speaker who served this House so well.
In closing, I wish to offer my condolences and those of the entire Bloc Québécois caucus to his family and friends. Knowing his love of literature, I will close with these words by Alexandre Dumas, “Those whom we have loved and lost are no longer where they were, but they will always be with us, wherever we may be.”