44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 5, 2023 10:00AM
- Oct/5/23 3:25:37 p.m.
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Colleagues, before we move to the vote, I would like to recognize a special situation. Today, after over 30 years of service to the House of Commons, we have the retirement of one of our table officers, Michel Patrice.
This week, Michel Patrice, deputy clerk of the administration, is retiring after 30 years of service to the Parliament of Canada.
Michel was appointed deputy clerk of administration in August 2017.
As deputy clerk of the administration, he played a crucial role in ensuring excellent service to members, including at the Board of Internal Economy, where he provided valuable advice to the Speaker and board members.
Thanks to his leadership in this position, members of Parliament have benefited from smooth and efficient operations and services from the House of Commons. I understand that he managed meetings exceptionally well, being that I am new here, and made sure they never ran over time. I am sure that this had nothing to do with him wanting to stretch his long legs and enjoy the great outdoors of Sparks Street while lighting up a smoke.
He skilfully oversaw the start of Centre Block renovations and the successful relocation of MPs to temporary quarters in the West Block.
In his long career on Parliament Hill, Michel served both Houses: the House of Commons and of course the other place. He served them with diligence, intelligence, professionalism, calm and his trademark smile.
Many members will remember how quickly this House was able to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that Parliament was able to work on behalf of Canadians in a time of crisis. The accomplishments of this place under Michel's leadership were many and they were significant.
With his training as a lawyer, everyone here, as well as in the other place, has benefited from his legal experience and his excellent understanding of complex procedural and administrative issues.
These are qualities that made him an invaluable, trusted resource for countless parliamentarians over his career.
Michel, on behalf of the members and employees of the House of Commons administration, I would like to thank you most sincerely for your long and valuable contribution to the service of our institution.
As a colleague and leader, you have always acted with dignity, humanity and an inspiring sense of duty, and no one will forget your great sense of humour, a vital asset for any workplace.
I wish you health and happiness. As you embark on this new chapter of your life, I wish you a happy retirement. Thank you for everything.
Michel, please know that you leave this place better for your service, and you take with you the deepest thanks of all members and the entire Parliament Hill family.
I wish you all the best.
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- Oct/5/23 3:29:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today by following your lead. First of all, I want to congratulate you on your election to the chair. You make the Outaouais region very proud.
I rise to pay tribute to another guy from the Outaouais, a man who served this Parliament. Thirty years of service is worthy of recognition. During those 30 years, he served parliamentarians and Canadians with honour and distinction.
Everyone here is very familiar with this man. Michel Patrice, deputy clerk of administration for the House of Commons, is a person we can all count on for his undeniable expertise, his sage advice and his consistency at work. I often had the opportunity to benefit from his experience, his judgment and his analytical skills. I can say that he never let me down. He is at the heart of everything that happens in the parliamentary precinct.
As the deputy clerk of administration for the House of Commons, he must ensure that everything goes smoothly for MPs, for the thousands of people who work here and for the tens of thousands of visitors who come here every year. Many people would be intimidated by such a monumental task, but not Michel.
Michel always manages to accomplish the work he is given. He is a man of action. Recently, he told us that he intended to retire this fall. His retirement will be the culmination of a remarkable career on Parliament Hill that spans over 30 years.
From 1994 to 2017, Michel served parliamentarians in the Senate as a law clerk and parliamentary counsel. Since he was appointed to the House in August 2017, Michel has worked hard to get the various directorates within the House of Commons to focus on the same objectives. That was no easy task. I think we are humble enough to recognize that we do not always agree here. Michel is above all that. He aligned the activities of parliamentary precinct operations, digital services and real property, human resources services, finance services and the office of the Sergeant-at-Arms and corporate security.
Much has happened in all those areas. Michel was always a master when it came to managing all those interconnected services across the parliamentary precinct at a time when change was necessary and relatively constant. As I said, Michel got the job done. He spared no effort; he was determined. He achieved his goal.
Since coming here, Michel has led initiatives of importance to all members, including the long-term vision and plan for renovating the parliamentary precinct and, in particular, the successful move from Centre Block to West Block. A move like that had never been done and could have hit a lot of snags, but Michel made sure everything went smoothly. It was a success.
He also oversaw the enhancement of security programs for members on and off the Hill. He helped improve the financial disclosure and reporting process for members of Parliament, which really needed an upgrade.
During his years of service to the House, he worked tirelessly to modernize and improve the administrative support provided to members. Under his watch, the House administration improved significantly.
During his tenure as deputy clerk, Michel had to deal with one of the biggest challenges of our time, the COVID-19 pandemic. He worked with his House administration colleagues to ensure, first, that safety measures were put in place to protect everyone on the Hill, and second, that the House of Commons could continue its important democratic work with minimal disruption during a time of crisis. He collaborated with his colleagues to facilitate the creation of hybrid sittings in the House. As a result, democracy emerged from the crisis all the stronger. Democracy was maintained and debates continued.
All members and all Canadians have benefited from his hard work. Everyone knows that, on Parliament Hill, we always manage to do the work entrusted to us to help the country.
I would personally like to thank Michel for his enormous contribution to the House of Commons. On a personal note, I want to thank him for helping a young chief government whip by providing him with loads of advice. I thank him for his clear commitment to making Parliament a better place to work and a better symbol for all of Canada.
I wish him the best of luck in this new chapter of his life. He has provided outstanding service to his country. He should be very proud of the work he has done in the House. He helped make Parliament better.
Thank you, Michel.
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- Oct/5/23 3:35:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure and an honour for me to rise in the House today and say a few words to highlight the amazing career of our much appreciated colleague Michel Patrice, the deputy clerk for administration who is retiring in just a few days.
Humbly let me say that I am very impressed by the breadth and diversity of Michel's career, which includes more than 30 years of hard work on Parliament Hill. I am convinced that colleagues will share my admiration.
Michel held a number of positions during his distinguished career. He served as a committee clerk, law clerk and parliamentary counsel, and chief law officer on the Senate side, before offering his services on the House of Commons side with his appointment in 2017 as deputy clerk of the House administration.
Going from the Senate to the House of Commons is a little backward in a lot of cases, but I am sure he learned a lot about the importance of one chamber versus the other. Let us not forget that we are 70%. They are only 30%.
Although I only met Michel in 2019, I feel like I have known him forever. I am sure that many of my colleagues in the House feel the same way.
In addition to his incredible professionalism, Michel has always been a compassionate person who always made himself available despite his busy schedule, which makes a bigger difference than words can describe.
When I was elected as member of Parliament in 2019, my first exchanges with him were warm, courteous and very reassuring.
In 2021, when I assumed my duties as Deputy Speaker, which led me to chair the long-term vision working group on the rehabilitation of Centre Block, Michel ensured that I could pick up where my predecessor left off so that the important work of our committee could continue and that I would be on the same page as my committee colleagues.
I have often called upon his services and, even though he was sometimes not the person responsible for dealing with what I was asking, he helped me on his own initiative. I cannot count the number of times his actions and advice were appreciated and reassuring.
His altruism toward his colleagues, members of Parliament, staffers and employees of all directorates on the Hill knew no bounds. He left nothing to chance and always ensured that we had all the tools we needed to do our jobs.
The mutual respect he and I had for each other was also valuable. In our political arena, no matter the colour of our team's jersey, Michel was a part of it, and he always had our good at heart as parliamentarians and as individuals. I am sure that many of my colleagues are like me and consider Michel a friend.
His commitment, his attachment and his respect for our institution is not only remarkable, but is also an example for all of us.
Thanks to the work of people like him as clerk, we have become better parliamentarians. I thank him for that.
In the 30 years he spent here, Michel lived through different eras, different governments, different challenges and different crises, all of which gave him experience, which served us well in both good times and bad. I thank him for guiding us when we needed his wisdom.
On behalf of myself and all my Conservative caucus colleagues, I want to sincerely thank Michel for his loyal service and wish him all the best in his retirement. We will really miss him.
May the next years be relaxing and filled with beautiful projects that Michel may not have had the time to start yet because this place never really stops.
We wish Michel good luck, and we wish him all the best with his family and loved ones.
Merci, Michel, et bonne retraite.
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- Oct/5/23 3:47:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we are blessed in the House with an incredibly dedicated team that provides support for our democracy. We see some of them in the gallery. We know every day that it is because of them, because of their work and their dedication, that we are able to have the sometimes intense debates that we have in this place. We are able to pass legislation. Hopefully working together, we are able to build a better Canada, where nobody is left behind. Among those very dedicated servants of Parliament, servants of democracy, one of the greatest and most dedicated is Michel Patrice.
Today, we just heard all the parties express their deep gratitude for and pay tribute to this exceptional man, the deputy clerk of administration, who gave so much to Parliament and our democracy over the past 30 years. As the supervisor of parliamentary precinct operations, Michel Patrice played a major role when the House of Commons moved from Centre Block to West Block.
Under his inspired leadership and that of his extremely dedicated team, this complex process went off without a hitch. His commitment to operational excellence ensured a smooth transition so that MPs were able to continue their important work in serving the public. The way he maintained the continuity of Parliament's operations shows Mr. Patrice's dedication to serving democracy and its representatives.
It was seamless, as members will remember, when we moved. One day we were in the Centre Block, and the next day we were here in West Block in this magnificent bastion of democracy. It was simple for members of Parliament, but the complexity of the millions of decisions that were needed to renovate this space, to build in this courtyard and then to provide everything that members of Parliament were served with shows not only the immense dedication but also the incredible skill of Michel Patrice.
It is also important to mention the key role Mr. Patrice played during the COVID-19 pandemic. Faced once again with an unprecedented challenge, he deftly coordinated the implementation of a hybrid Parliament, which allowed our democratic process to continue despite the extraordinary circumstances, the likes of which had not been seen in a century. His vision made it possible to implement innovative solutions so that parliamentarians could continue to participate in House proceedings while protecting everyone's health and safety. Michel was very adaptable and showed outstanding leadership at times when institutional stability was more vital than ever.
The hybrid Parliament remains an important legacy. We are in the world's largest democracy. Tonight I will be flying home 5,000 kilometres to go back to my riding, which is nowhere near as far away as the places many of the members of this Parliament reside. For all of us, when there is a crucial issue with respect to health, a family emergency or even the passing of a loved one, moving forward, we will still always be able to serve our constituents. That is an important legacy of Michel Patrice.
We also benefited from his resilience and leadership during the occupation of downtown Ottawa in February 2022. Under difficult circumstances, his unwavering commitment to maintaining parliamentary operations despite the challenges is a testament to his steadfast determination.
During this period, Michel Patrice worked literally 24-7. Other whips, House leaders and I can testify to that, as we would sometimes receive calls at 4:00 or 4:30 in the morning. Michel Patrice was still at work as we sought to find solutions to this crisis.
We congratulate Mr. Patrice on a well-earned retirement. We owe him a debt of gratitude for his vigilant stewardship of our parliamentary institution.
Michel, we hope that we are not embarrassing you with this outpouring of praise and affection, because it shows the difference that you have made in our Parliament every day in your work and dedication to our democracy.
Congratulations, Michel Patrice. We will be glad to see you take full advantage of the new adventure that lies ahead of you. Thank you so much.
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