I want to take this opportunity to welcome people who will be coming today for a memorial for MPP Richard Patten: Barbara Jordan, Allan Morrison, and a former Speaker of this House, David Warner. Penny Patten will be watching from home.

Speaker, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to allow members to make statements in remembrance for the late Mr. Richard Patten, with five minutes allotted to His Majesty’s government, five minutes allotted to His Majesty’s loyal opposition, and five minutes allotted to the independent members as a group.

We give thanks for the life and public service of Lily Oddie Munro.

Today we are honoured to remember and pay tribute to the former member of our provincial Legislature, the late Mr. Richard Patten, who was the MPP for Ottawa Centre during the 34th, 36th, 37th and 38th Parliaments.

Joining us in the Speaker’s gallery are Mr. Patten’s friends Barbara Jordan and her husband, Allan Morrison. Mr. Patten’s family is watching this tribute from home this afternoon.

I recognize the member for Nepean.

This is my first speech back since the election, and I want to say it’s a truly an honour to be able to represent Nepean again, inside the city of Ottawa, but also to be here with all of my colleagues.

This is a very important tribute for me to give because this was very a close friend of mine and somebody who needed no introduction to anybody in our nation’s capital. That’s why I’m pleased to provide the tribute today for Richard Patten—a great friend, a great leader and, to me, he was a great mentor.

Speaker, I know that there are many people here today in this assembly that are listening to this tribute, and I think it’s the finest moments we have as members of this Legislature to offer our tributes to those who have passed, but also to learn about them and their contributions rather than just being here in the day-to-day where we sometimes get a bit frustrated with one another. And trust me, from time to time, I saw a little bit of frustration in my dear friend Richard Patten as we served together in 2006 and 2007.

I know, also, there are a number of people from back home that are watching this tribute today. That includes his loving wife and community leader in her own right, Penny Patten. It also includes his former campaign manager, a great friend of mine, Isabel Metcalfe, and the candidate he roundly defeated, in 2003, for the Conservative Party, my husband, Joe Varner. And Joe, I’ll pay for that when I get home.

But I have to say, I know many of the members here—and I do hope that they read his biography and they talk a little bit about his time in cabinet. But I want to talk about the man that I knew and the lessons that I learned. Because Richard spent a lot of his life working for charities and not-for-profits and really trying to lift our city up. He did that through the Royal Ottawa hospital. He did that at CHEO as the foundation president. He did that throughout his life through the YMCA, and when I was Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, he served on the Shaw Centre.

But he was more than a politician. He was a gracious gentleman, and he taught me five things. I think these five things are a lesson for all members of this assembly, regardless of where you come from, regardless if you are a brand new member of provincial Parliament or, like me and Ernie, been stuck here with the furniture.

He was a humble person. He offered great humility. When we ran the campaign in 2003 against him—well, not really against him, but for a vision—every single day, Richard Patten and my husband cemented a friendship. And I lament that Richard, before he passed, had to see the polarization in politics today, because Richard Patten didn’t have a partisan bone in his body. He had the community bone, and it was because of that humility that I think of him, and I think of him fondly. I actually started, in recent years, passing my own types of judgment on how to best represent my constituents, as well as this Legislature.

He also taught me—and I will steal this because Minister Mulroney is here, a line from her father: Dance with the ones that brung ya. You might think it’s about politics and back-slapping, but no, no, no, not with Richard Patten. And I know today we’re going to be also giving a tribute to our former Premier, Bill Davis—Brampton Bill. Well, one thing about Richard Patten is that every single day he stood in this Legislature, you knew the people of Ottawa Centre, the people of Ottawa, sent him to this place—and Speaker, you’re nodding because you served with him. You knew he cared more about our city than the crap that we sometimes have to deal with in politics. That is a tremendous lesson for me and it’s one that I’ve tried to follow and emulate.

He taught me that we need to make friends, both in politics and outside of politics. And he displayed that because of the friendship that he provided me. When I arrived here in 2006, three short years after he defeated my husband in a race in Ottawa Centre as the Nepean–Carleton MPP, he became my friend and he mentored me. In fact—and this may shock a lot of people, and I mentioned this to his former campaign manager Isabel Metcalfe today—when he left politics, he actually became a donor to me; a significant contributor. He always lifted me up. But he also proved that, just after politics seems to end things—and he had defeats in his life; he was defeated. He always knew that he could count on friends after politics. Speaker, I’m not going to mention my recent months, but I can tell you there were a number of people who made sure that, in this business, their friendship to me came before politics. And that says a lot about politicians, in my opinion.

I think the other thing that he taught us was to be sympathetic toward this institution and understand that as much as we are ever evolving in this institution, there are things, historic traditions that we should respect. And I remember him sitting right here, because back in the day—he had been a former minister—they kept former ministers like this guy here from Oxford down there, and it contributed to a great debate. I know I’m a little bit over time, but this needs to be said, because when I get to speak—I actually got to serve with some legends. I actually got to serve with Peter Kormos, one of the funniest people in the Legislature, and you know that too, Speaker. And the two of them one night—I was 30 years old, I had a brand new baby, Victoria, who had just been born, and I was sitting way over there where Joel Harden is. I was sitting where the current member for Ottawa Centre is, myself and Christine Elliott. And the two of them were bickering back and forth, and I thought, “I have made it. I have made it to the floor of the assembly where the real stuff happens.” And then, of course, I was sadly disappointed to learn that that really doesn’t—nothing happens down there. It happens in other places. But he respected this institution, and I can tell you, when he left it, he didn’t put the lights out. He advocated for change, more autonomy for the private member. And I think he’d be pleased to see that this Legislature in the previous incarnation of Parliament adopted more measures for private members.

Finally, I want to say this, because you should all understand this: I have had the privilege of serving for 17 years. He had the privilege of serving for 20. “MPP” is a really nice title. It goes right—say your name, “MPP.” But Richard Patten taught us that you do not need a title to serve your community. You can just get up and see a problem and fix it. I’m glad that he earned his right to be here through successive votes to this assembly. He was a man of great strength and character. He battled cancer.

I have a lot of funny stories that I don’t have time to tell, but I will say this: Richard Patten left this place a gentleman, and he left this earth a gentleman, but just like the others we’ve learned about today, they are our teachers. They are teachers that remind us that there’s life after politics, and they are teachers that remind us that when we’re here, there is an ability for us to be gracious to one another.

I want to thank you, Speaker, for this opportunity.

And to Penny, I’m so sorry that we’ve lost Richard, but I know he is resting in peace—actually, he’s resting in power.

It’s an honour to stand today, on behalf of the Ontario Liberal caucus, to say a few words of tribute for our friend and our colleague Richard Patten, the MPP for Ottawa Centre from 1989 to 1990, re-elected in 1995, again in 1999 and again in 2003. He served as a minister in the Peterson government, and in opposition he was the critic for education, which was one of his passions.

The essence of Richard Patten was community building. He was always searching for a way to build his community up—and as we’ll hear a little later, his community was much larger than just Ottawa Centre, which was dear to his heart.

As the member from Ottawa Centre just said, he helped save Ottawa’s Aberdeen Pavilion from the wrecking ball, which is really, I would say, a nice unnamed monument to his efforts as a public servant. It’s still there today. It houses a farmers’ market. It’s a beautiful building. If you’re ever in Ottawa Centre and don’t make it to Ottawa South, make sure you go by the Aberdeen Pavilion.

He was also part of the team that helped save CHEO’s cardiac unit. At the time, in 2002, the government of the day wanted to close down the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario’s cardiac surgery unit. He was part of the team that helped save that.

I know he was very proud of that accomplishment, but not as proud as he was of a piece of legislation that he worked hard to pass here in this assembly: Brian’s Law. It was in honour of sportscaster Brian Smith, who was shot and killed in 1995 by a man who desperately needed treatment. That law, after it passed, led to early assessment of people in danger of hurting themselves or others and also led to the thing we know as community orders. That was an important improvement in the management of mental health in our communities. It took a long time to get this bill through, but it showed Richard’s drive to try to make the lives of others better.

As I said earlier, Richard’s world, his community, wasn’t just Ottawa Centre—and as we heard the member from Ottawa Centre say, it did extend past.

This was Richard as a young man—he worked at summer day camps for the YMCA and later on in different branches of the Y when he was at Sir George Williams University.

One summer semester, he worked with Palestinian youth in refugee camps in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Gaza under the auspices of UNRA and the World Alliance of YMCAs.

After he graduated from Sir George with a bachelor of arts, with a major in history and the philosophy of religion and a certificate in applied social science, he became the YMCA director in Montreal.

In 1969, he accepted a two-year posting to Georgetown, Guyana, as a trainer consultant to the Guyanese national council of YMCAs. His mission was to manage a process of reorienting the organization and to train staff across the newly independent nation.

In 1971, Richard became the director of international programs for the Montreal YMCA. With the expelling of Asians from Uganda, Richard negotiated an arrangement with the federal government to work with YMCAs and the voluntary sector across Canada to provide support for thousands of Ismailis in language, training, culture and job readiness, and to provide clothing and shelter.

In 1975, after all of this, Richard moved to Ottawa and became the director of international programs for the Canadian National Council of YMCAs. From there, he negotiated with CIDA and received funding to establish international development projects throughout the world in a three-way partnership between the recipient nation, supported by a branch of Canadian YMCA and CIDA.

I worked with Richard. I never had the pleasure of sitting in this Legislature with him. I knew him for about 30 years and worked with him for about 15 of those.

I wanted to reach out to my predecessor in this seat, Premier Dalton McGuinty, the former member for Ottawa South, because he spent a lot of time with Richard. Here’s what he had to say:

Richard’s commitment to public service, to making the world a better place by helping others, shone through everything he did as an MPP and in his years before and after. He cared—a lot. He found joy in service, especially in helping those who couldn’t help themselves. Ontario, and especially Ottawa, are better places because of Richard’s kindness and commitment to his fellow human beings.

I know his wife, Penny, is at home listening, and I want to say to Penny—well, first off, I didn’t meet Richard first; I met Penny. I was in another life. I was managing a store that was in their neighbourhood. We got to talking, as can happen sometimes with me. She knew our daughter was having a diet-related challenge, and she lent me a book. This is about 40 years ago. She was very kind. She said, “You should read this.” Penny, I want to say I’m sorry that I never got that book back to you. I still remember it, and I still have the feeling that I owe you something. Actually, we all owe you something. You shared Richard with this assembly, with Ottawa Centre, with this province, with the world, and that was a lot to ask of you. It’s not easy to be a partner, a spouse, of a political person, and I want to thank you, on behalf of everyone here and everyone Richard helped, for being that strong and supportive partner you were.

Applause.

It’s an honour to rise today as the member for Ottawa Centre, remembering the life of Richard Patten. Friends who are present here, friends who are watching this from home—I agree with the member from Nepean. This was a giant figure in our community. I regret to say I never knew him very well personally—

He was someone whose presence certainly lives on—serving as MPP for Ottawa Centre from 1987 to 1990, serving again from 1995 to 2007.

I could, as the member from Nepean did—and I will just list it briefly for the record—talk about the fact that this is the politician who helped save the Aberdeen Pavilion from the wrecking ball. If you ever get the chance to see it at Lansdowne Market, look at it; it’s a beautiful structure.

This is the politician who helped drive the fundraising structure by being the president of the CHEO Foundation for our children’s hospital, which, as current CEO Alex Munter tells me, has made an enormous difference today.

But when I think about Richard Patten—as the member for Ottawa Centre previous to me, Yasir Naqvi, told me recently—I think about this gentleman as a citizen of the world. What does it mean to be a citizen of the world? Well, Oxfam, a charity with which many of us are familiar, calls a citizen of the world “someone who is aware of and understands the wider world—and their place in it.” As a citizen of the world, “they take an active role in their community and work with others to make our planet”—not just their city, their province or their country—a “more peaceful, sustainable and fairer” place. Why do I think about that with the life of Richard Patten? With what I was inspired to read based upon some leads that luckily were furnished to me by a family member, Sheila Laursen, who worked for the Montreal YMCA and whose friends Scott Haldane, Sol Kasimer and Bill Pigott worked with Richard Patten, I think about someone who was an accomplished athlete, who spent an entire summer in the late 1970s teaching physical health and education to Palestinian refugees in Syria, in Lebanon, in Jordan and in Gaza, and after that experience went on to continue to talk about the plight of the Palestinian people. It is difficult to talk about that plight today. Politicians are afraid sometimes to talk about the suffering of the Palestinian people, who live in open-air prisons, who suffer some of the most egregious human rights abuses every single day. It is dangerous to do that now, but Richard Patten did this in the late 1980s. And he went on to live in Guyana for two years and talk about the suffering of the Guyanese people.

He worked in friendship with Indigenous communities across this country, not through a charity model or a pity model, but a respect model, nation to nation, thinking about how he, through his dense connections, could use the platform of a politician or the platform of a major community organization like the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario to pay it forward and to help others who are fighting hard to make ends meet.

Why do we become a global citizen? I think people decide to become a global citizen in politics because they look beyond their city, their riding, their province, their country, and they see the world for what it is: a world in which eight people—eight people—today collectively own as much as the poorest half of the whole world, 3.5 billion people; a world in which the poorest billion on this planet account for 1% of global consumption but the richest billion account for 72% of global consumption.

Article 13 of the United Nations charter of human rights says that everyone has the right to leave their country. But what we know is that 3% of people around the world actually live outside of their country of origin, and we have spent decades putting up borders and obstacles to stop people from enriching other societies with their talents.

Thankfully, it is part of the Canadian story that we have tried to create a place that is welcoming, that says to people from around the world, “Come here, build your dream here, help us make a better place here.” I would like to think that the inspiration for that ideal comes from the Indigenous peoples who shepherded and walked over this land for generations, who themselves were welcoming.

That’s what I think of when I think of a giant like Richard Patten—someone who was a global citizen, someone who worked hard for his city, and someone who said that it’s not enough to work for your riding and we have to use the resources and the skills we have to make our world a better place.

Thank you so much to friends who are here and to friends watching for all of your work and for lending Richard to us.

We give thanks for the life and public service of Richard Patten.

Today, we are honoured to remember and pay tribute to a former member of our provincial Legislature, the late Mr. Julian Alexander Arnott Reed, who was the MPP for Halton–Burlington during the 30th, 31st and 32nd Parliaments.

Joining us in the Speaker’s gallery are Mr. Reed’s family: his daughter, Melanie Reed; his son-in-law, Jeff Doupe; his grandchildren Shannon Doupe and Weston Doupe; and his cousin Linda Mcgregor.

I recognize the member for Oakville North–Burlington.