SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 293 - Mar/21/24

Mr. Terry Duguid (Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Special Advisor for Water, Lib.)

Mar/21/24 3:31:17 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I was not aware, until today, that the hon. member for Elmwood—Transcona would be giving his farewell address. I just have a few comments, as others will, but I really just want to very sincerely thank him for the incredible service to the House and to his community. I am a fellow Transconan, born and raised in Winnipeg but with most of my formative years in Transcona. I lived right across the street from his grandfather. Literally, I could look in their side window. I did not, but I could have. Of course, I knew his father very well and often shared a plane ride or two with him. I can tell members that he was so proud of his son and the great parliamentarian that he had become in just a few short years. I was a classmate of his uncle, so I was intimately connected with his family, a great Transcona family who was very much beloved, as the hon. member is now. The place we come from, a working-class suburb, a railway town, really, I think the hon. member would agree, made us very sensitive to the needs of working people and to the aspirations of the middle class. I still call Transcona home. I am not going to go on. I just want to, again, thank the member for his contribution to the House, to my province and to our country. He is an intelligent, thoughtful and always well-prepared member of the House. I wish him well. I know his service will continue for the country but, very importantly, for the province we both love, Manitoba. I wish the hon. member well.

282 words

Context: House Hansard - 293 - Mar/21/24

Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Mar/21/24 3:36:06 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I do not know about the rest of the members, but I am just not going to get over missing this member for a very long time, probably never. One reason, and he knows this, is that I loved his dad so very much. His dad, Bill Blaikie, was a grand friend and a voice for this planet. I remember his dad talking about climate change in this place in 1986. He was brave and courageous and a man of great heart. The member for Elmwood—Transcona is a chip off the old block. He is someone who speaks with knowledge and speaks with profound understanding of the Westminster parliamentary tradition. There is probably nobody else in this place who gets as passionate about confidence conventions as the member for Elmwood—Transcona does. I had a great privilege over the last little while. I really disapprove of heckling, and I have never heckled not once. I would not have liked it if the member had heckled, except at the very end there; that was primo. I just have to say that I did benefit from his sotto voce comments, a running commentary on the theatre of the absurd. I was privileged to be one of the few people who could hear it. It did not violate the rules, and it did not travel all the way up to the Speaker's chair. All I can say is that I have been very impressed so far with Premier Wab Kinew. I am going to some day forgive him for drawing this fine member out of this place. There will be a hole left by the absence of his voice, not to mention the Address to a Haggis. He will have to come back. There is no doubt. We cannot do Robbie Burns night dinner around here without a Blaikie in place. I will look forward to that somehow in some way, but godspeed. I love him. I am going to miss him something fierce, and I thank him for his service to this country.

347 words

Context: House Hansard - 293 - Mar/21/24

Mr. Jagmeet Singh (Burnaby South, NDP)

Mar/21/24 3:38:34 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I am rising today with a bit of mixed emotion. As I pay tribute to and express gratitude for my dear friend and colleague, the member for Elmwood—Transcona, I am both excited for the opportunity that this presents for his family and for the province of Manitoba, and also deeply saddened by the loss that it is going to mean for me as a leader and for us as a team. I want to acknowledge right off the bat that his late father, Bill, and mother, Brenda, did a great job. They made not just a great human in the member for Elmwood—Transcona, but great humans of all of their kids. One would think when people have a number of kids that they might miss here or there, but every single one of them are incredible, so a big shout-out to the great work done by some fabulous parents. I think about this speech almost as a résumé, so that it is on the record what this great member has accomplished. For folks who do not know, we talk sometimes about the idea of a poet warrior or a philosopher warrior. This is a philosopher electrician, someone who has a master's degree in philosophy and is a Red Seal electrician, someone who combines the idea of being a worker and who has worked on the front lines as a proud member of IBEW with the heart of a philosopher. He brought that to this Parliament. That already is something pretty phenomenal. Think about the way he has done his work. I have to say that he brought in a particular element that is very unique to the Prairies. It is a prairie pragmatism that comes from having been in a province where we know that, for the past five decades, the majority of that time the province was governed by a New Democratic government that ran and governed on the principles of compassion, competency and getting stuff done. That is very much what we can see in the member for Elmwood—Transcona, this principle of having deep compassion and care. We heard it in his speech. He cares deeply about workers. He cares deeply about people, but he also wants to get things done. He has played many roles on our team. He was the caucus chair. Most recently, he was my critic for finance. It would be difficult to find another finance critic, from any opposition but particularly from the fourth party, who has played such an outsized role in shaping our country. He has been integral to a committee that has been set up to ensure that the Liberals follow through on commitments we forced them to do, and he has been integral to making these things happen. He has played a fundamental role in shaping our country when it comes to bringing in and negotiating record-breaking, history-making dental care and pharmacare programs, programs that are going to save and improve the lives of millions of people, ensuring that people have access to needed medication, as well as access to dental care, which we know has direct impacts on health. He has been integral to making that happen. We have forced the Liberal government to make significant changes. I can say, with confidence, that I could not have done that work without having the member for Elmwood—Transcona there. I also want to share that, as someone who has a young family, I know the incredible sacrifice that is involved. I also want to take a moment to acknowledge Janelle and their two incredible kids, Robert and Noah. My thanks to them for sharing their pops and partner with us. It has made a huge difference in the lives of Canadians. I hope they know how much it was worth it. I know sometimes it maybe did not feel like it when he was so far away, but it has made a huge difference to this country. Losing the member for Elmwood—Transcona is going to certainly feel like a loss, but it is also an opportunity. I always like to look at the positive side of things. We know that he will not be far away. It is a neighbouring province to Ontario, so we can get over there pretty quickly if we need to. He is also going to be continuing to do great work to ensure that the people of Manitoba receive significant and important investments from the federal government, so I acknowledge that great work. I want to acknowledge the Premier of Manitoba for having the vision to recruit such an incredible member. I am a little bit sad, but I think Premier Kinew did a great job because the member is an incredible addition to any team. I think he did the right thing for his province. I just want to touch on some other interesting notes about the member for Elmwood—Transcona. I had never actually been to an Address to a Haggis before in life. The first time I went to one was when I was invited by the member for Elmwood—Transcona. I did not realize, first of all, that he would have such an epic presence at this event. I did not realize he was such a great bagpipe player, another thing that should be added to his résumé. I did not know about his humour, because I have always thought of him as this philosopher and a hard-working member of the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Then I heard him break out into a Scottish accent, which I did not know was a thing, and just regale the crowd with incredible humour. I thought, “This is an incredible package: a philosopher, electrician, member of Parliament, and someone who can play the bagpipes and regale a crowd in a Scottish accent.” It was an incredible experience. I thank the member for everything he has contributed to this Parliament. I thank him for the work he has done on our team. Our movement is better because of him. He has done his father, mother and family proud.

1040 words