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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 297

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 10, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 297 - Apr/10/24
Mrs. Dominique Vien (Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, CPC)
  • Apr/10/24 3:24:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, of course, our party joins our colleagues in saluting the longevity of our colleague from Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel. I would also like to point out that our colleague started out as a Conservative. All joking aside, I think we need to emphasize what a demanding job it is to be a member of Parliament, to hold public office and serve the public, in terms of time, self-sacrifice and selflessness. I will have been doing this for 20 years in about two years' time, and I know how difficult and how time-consuming it can be. Our colleague has been doing it twice as long, for nearly 40 years. That is a lot of self-sacrifice. That is a lot of sacrifice on his part, of course, but also on the part of his family. That is why we also need to acknowledge his family today, including everyone who has stood by him and supported him over the years. Obviously, we are all taking notes, because we would all like to achieve such a record of longevity. However, it does not happen as often as we would like. In the Quebec National Assembly, which is where I came from and where I sat for nearly 15 years, it was said at the time that the average lifespan of a member was about six years. That just goes to show how much the member for Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel has defied the statistics. I congratulate him on behalf of all my colleagues. I will close with this: After all these years, I bet the Bloc Québécois member knows Canada's national anthem by heart.
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