It is indeed an honour for me to rise in the Legislature today.

I’ll begin by telling a story about Eddie Sargent. Now, some here might remember Eddie Sargent. Eddie Sargent was the MPP for Grey North for one term, then that was followed by Grey–Bruce for the rest of his political career, and his political career mirrored my father’s: 1963 to 1987. Eddie Sargent realized that if you’re not going to be sitting at the cabinet table or you’re not from downtown Toronto, you had better do something to make a name for yourself, and Eddie Sargent was a character.

Here’s a story about Eddie Sargent: He was at a picnic in the summertime one year, and there had been a lot of rain. It was on a farm, and his car got stuck in the mud. They’re going to push the car, and Eddie Sargent comes up behind the car. He’s got his beautiful white summer suit on, and one of his supporters says, “Eddie, are you crazy? You’re going to ruin that suit.” He says, “That’s right, and they’ll be talking about it for years.” The fact that I’m telling that story today proves it true.

But do you know who told me that story?

I want to thank former MP Larry Miller, former MPP Norm Sterling, former MPP Bill Walker, MP Alex Ruff and also current MPP Rick Byers for their help in helping me establish some of these stories and facts about Bill Murdoch.

Outspoken, unconventional, standoffish maybe at times, but never dull: That was Bill Murdoch—unique, one of a kind. In this business, you’ve got to set yourself apart. You can be like most birds and fly in flocks, or you can be like the eagle and soar alone, and that’s what Bill Murdoch did, many times. He soared alone, because the tide was not with him, but that didn’t matter; he really didn’t give a you-know-what.

But he cared about the people he represented. When Bill came to this House—our House; your House—he came here to represent the people who sent him here. It really wasn’t that important what the people in the front rows were worrying about; it was what the people in his riding wanted to hear from Bill Murdoch. As my friend from Orléans said, Alex Ruff’s quotation after the death of Bill Murdoch was 100% on. I don’t have to repeat it, because you did. Bill was a template for anybody who wants to be a true constituency member who represents their people here at this Legislature.

I also want to thank Anna Sajfert—I don’t know if Anna is in the gallery; hello, Anna—for her help in putting this together, as well. She worked both for Bill Murdoch and Bill Walker, so I had a chance to get two opinions in, you know?

Bill started out long before I even got here. There are tales about Bill Murdoch. He brought a motion to this House—and Speaker, I think your friend and mentor Bert Johnson would have been in the Chair that day—to ban voicemail. If you look at the 10 reasons, it was almost like a David Letterman 10 reasons: “Top 10 Reasons to Ban Voicemail.” Look it up. For any of you people—and I know most of us have been sitting on hold for what seems like days, not being able to speak to another human—we know in the 21st century it’s not going to work. Bill probably knew it wasn’t going to work, but he brought it forward anyway, because he knew that the people down back home were going to agree with him 100%.

But he had his victories, too, and you alluded to it: Tartan Day, April 6—which, by the way, is my mother’s birthday. Tartan Day was something that was huge for Bill Murdoch. He was very, very proud of his Scottish roots, and when it was able to pass in this Legislature, that was a high point for him and his people.

I’ve got to tell you: When I got here, I butted heads with Bill. I was a new member in 2003, and some people might say I’m bull-headed—I can’t imagine why—but I butted heads with Bill. But I soon realized I might as well be butting heads with that wall over there, because Bill was an immovable object. When he had his mind made up, you weren’t changing it.

So I learned to be his friend and we got along very well after that, and many times we agreed 100%. Some days we disagreed, not necessarily on the issue, but how we might manage the issue. And on that very first term I was in, Bill got together with another character, one of the other great characters. You know, we’re discouraged from being characters in this place anymore, because, “Oh, the party says we’ve got to do this, the party says we’ve got to do that. Oh, you know how this is going to look in the media.”

Another character was Peter Kormos, and many of you people over there will know Peter. I knew Peter well as well, because I got to sit with him as House leader, and I sat practically beside him when I was on the other side. So Bill got together with Peter and drummed up this crazy idea that Bill was going to become a member of the NDP, so that the NDP could keep party status after the 2003 election. Now, whatever happened, I wasn’t party to all of the conversations, but do you know what? Sort of like Eddie Sargent and the suit, people were talking about it for a long time.

But what he was: He was a champion for the underdog, and I think maybe you see that in yourselves sometimes. He said, “When I have the opportunity to actually speak for”—as my dad used to say—“the little man, the little people,” he never said it in a derogatory sense, but he meant it in a way that they’re not in a position to speak for themselves. Well, Bill Murdoch made damn sure that he was here to speak for them. He was a champion for the underdog.

And I’ll tell you a little story—I know we’ve got all afternoon, right? Bill had a still, and somebody in the area had a donkey by the name of Carl. Now, Carl was becoming old and had become lame—a bad leg, sort of like myself, you know?—and he was going to be euthanized. Well, Bill took the donkey home to his farm, and he had that donkey for years. Carl, who obviously lived for years after that, was an animal just like Bill: He wasn’t going to give up.

Well, when Bill came out with his Billy Beer—Bill had a still down in Bognor swamp, and he brewed all kind of stuff, and one of the things he was brewing was Billy Beer. And in the case of Billy Beer, there were only 23 pints, because one had to be taken out for quality control. A pint was always missing. But on his label for Billy Beer, there was also a picture of Bill and a picture of Carl, and the inscription read something like this, because Carl had a nice bit of hair in between his ears. He said, “Billy Beer: Guaranteed to grow hair on your....”

Laughter.