Hon. Jean-Guy Dagenais: I’ll be away tomorrow, so I wanted to say a few words today ahead of my colleagues to mark, in my own way, the Honourable Dennis Dawson’s retirement.

I have to admit that I think 73 is pretty young to be retiring, especially since I actually turned 73 last Thursday and I don’t feel even remotely ready to leave, much to the chagrin of some.

Senator Dawson’s decision to retire now is a very personal one, but it certainly doesn’t mean he’ll stop being active and never make an appearance in the back rooms again. He’s not the type to sit around doing nothing. He never backs down from a fight, even the fight he won against throat cancer.

Senator Dawson is a politician through and through. It’s what he did for almost 50 years.

Let’s talk about his life. After graduation, Dennis Dawson was elected school board trustee and later became chair of the Commission des écoles catholiques de Québec. At 27, he was one of the youngest Liberal MPs in Canada, and he represented the riding of Louis-Hébert for seven years before losing his seat to the Progressive Conservative candidate, a teacher from Chicoutimi by the name of Suzanne Fortin-Duplessis, who later joined him here as a fellow senator.

This harsh setback was certainly not about to extinguish the Honourable Dennis Dawson’s political passion. Our colleague and friend had already figured out that one could be very, very, very active in politics without being elected, so he reinvented himself as a government relations specialist, better known as a lobbyist. He never once stopped serving his party, the Liberal Party, even going so far as to attempt a comeback 20 years later in the 2004 election in the riding of Beauport. Defeated by the Bloc Québécois, this star candidate was asked by Prime Minister Paul Martin to serve Canadians in the Senate.

I have to say that he has done it very well for 18 years.

Today, I think it’s important to specifically recognize Senator Dawson’s commitment to the never-ending fight to have the French language respected in our country, here in Ottawa, and in certain international diplomacy arenas where French and English are equal official languages. Bravo and thank you for your commitment.

Outside of this chamber, the Honourable Dennis Dawson was always one to bring together francophones working together here on Parliament Hill.

I’ll never forget the memorable luncheons where he warmly welcomed me into his select group of politicians, political staff and friends. Around the table at Le Parlementaire restaurant, which the Honourable Dennis Dawson presided over with deftness and humour, everyone could let go and drop their political affiliations for a moment in the name of forging friendships.

Thank you for these magical moments that produced fantastic exchanges and even political ribbing like we saw in 2014 when Justin Trudeau removed Liberal senators from the party’s caucus. I’m sure that was a difficult moment for a Liberal who was forced to end his career under the progressive banner, which suits him very well I might add.

Thank you very much, Dennis, for your commitment, your devotion and especially your friendship. I wish you good health and good luck in your future endeavours.

In closing, if you don’t come back to see us here in Ottawa — which I doubt — then rest assured that we’ll see you in Quebec City.

Thank you, my friend.

[English]

Hon. Jean-Guy Dagenais: My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. I want to come back to the problem of Roxham Road, which is still very accessible, allowing for illegal border crossings into Canada and allowing unscrupulous smugglers to make money by extorting poor people. Despite the lofty promises your government has been making over and over again for over a year, stating that it is negotiating a new agreement with the Americans, we can only say that nothing has changed. Despite millions in questionable spending to obtain immigration advice from the McKinsey firm, nothing has changed.

On December 14, the Minister of Public Safety, Marco Mendicino, said that an agreement had been reached with the Americans. Two weeks ago, the Minister of Immigration, Sean Fraser, said the opposite. Somebody is going to have to tell us the truth. I have some questions. Who’s telling the truth and who’s lying? Where do we stand?

Senator Dagenais: This morning, the Parliamentary Budget Officer appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance, of which I’m a member, and told us that he was unable to calculate how much your government is spending on welcoming immigrants because Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has classified that information as secret. The fact that the government is hiding the amount of this spending from Canadians only raises questions in my mind as to whether there’s something underhanded or improper happening here. To my knowledge, no state secrets are at stake. I’d like to know how your government justifies keeping this spending a secret.