Tributes – The Honourable Joan Fraser
Thank you very much, You Honour. I am honoured to join my colleagues in heaping praise on Joan Fraser for the contributions that she has made to this chamber and that she has, in fact, made for the people of Canada.
One of the qualities of Joan that have impressed me the most over the years that we’ve both been here is her ability to be able to get on her feet when a point of order came up. You never know when points of order are going to come up, and yet when she was deputy chair or whatever position she was occupying here in the chamber, she was quick to get on her feet. She absolutely showed great and meticulous knowledge of the subject matter and of the rules, which is why she was made chair of the Rules Committee.
I was very impressed with that. I think it shows how she approached all of the issues here and how she applied her principles and her values to the various subjects that we had to deal with. She looked at them in-depth, she thought about them and she came up with reasonable positions. I think we can all be proud of those kinds of contributions, and we’re going to miss Joan for those kinds of contributions.
I do want to extend best wishes to you, to Michel and your family who are here today in whatever adventures you are going to take on next. We are happy to have had you as part of the Senate of Canada, and I’m sure Canadians appreciate that as well. Thank you.