Mr. Speaker, to his wife, Sandra, and his daughters, on behalf of my leader and New Democrats federally and provincially across this country, I express our sincere prayers and condolences on the loss of Mr. Gilbert Parent.
Gibby, as I affectionately called him, had lost a son at a very young age. He carried that burden throughout his entire life, but he carried it with the grace and dignity of an extremely proud father.
I remember when we came here, in the class of 1997, when Gib Parent was the Speaker of the House of Commons, we were sitting at the end. My voice was fairly loud at that time, and some people say it still is, but Mr. Parent said, “Peter, I can't hear the question because you are sitting right next to me yelling at a minister”. Bill Blaikie today says it is because of my voice that NDP members were moved down to this corner. When we continued our lambasting of a Liberal minister, he said, “Peter, if you keep it up, there is only one other place for you to go”. After that, I learned about decorum in the House of Commons.
Gibby was a man who absolutely loved to sit in what we call “the big chair”. He had grace, dignity, humour, and nobody could ever forget the twinkle in his eye when he would make a comment or suggestion to a new member of Parliament.
His portrait hangs at the back of the chamber and we all get to see it forever and ever. Mr. Gib Parent was a decent, kind, and caring gentleman. He helped an awful lot of new MPs from all parties get their first walk in life, as is said in the House of Commons. He is also known for many rulings, and those rulings will be with us for a long time.
He was present for the procedural presentation of the publication, House of Commons Procedure and Practice, which we refer to as “Marleau and Montpetit”. He was also very proud of the fact that he was one of the members who started the prayer group that met for breakfast. He took great comfort in knowing that members of Parliament and senators from all sides can find comfort and grace in prayer. Whatever people believed in, he believed there was a superior being who looked after us all.
On behalf of all members of Parliament, I express to his wife, family, and friends, and to his extended Liberal Party family as well, our sincere condolences on the loss of a great man, a man who obviously would say, on a day that we have lost three brave soldiers and others were injured, “Forget talking about me; worry about the men and women who serve our great country.”
We salute Gib Parent, offer our prayers and condolences and say to God, who now has Gib in his hands, “Take good care of a wonderful man.” He graced this Parliament. We are all honoured to have met him and are better people because of it.