Mr. Speaker, today I want to pay tribute to Claude Béland, a great Quebecker who left us on November 24 at the age of 87.
As president of Mouvement Desjardins from 1987 to 2000, he embodied everything that is most noble and admirable about Quebec.
A passionate advocate of co-operation, he is one of the reasons the co-operative movement is more entrenched in Quebec than virtually anywhere else in the world.
He was a true humanist who believed that the economy should serve the people, not the other way around. He was nothing like the cold and calculating bankers we encounter far too often in the world of finance. He loved Quebec and belonged to that great generation we know as the architects of Quebec's Quiet Revolution, and to whom we will always owe so much. He was the noblest embodiment of our finest qualities.
Thank you, Mr. Béland. You still inspire us, now and for many years to come.