Hon. Scott Tannas: Honourable senators, I rise to mark the departure of Gerry Lafrenière as our Interim Clerk of the Senate and the sixteenth individual to hold the title.

My leadership colleagues have mentioned your accomplishments, both here in the Senate, the Library of Parliament — all the achievements. I want to focus a little more closely on one important trait that I certainly have observed that Gerry has and which has been of enormous benefit to the Senate.

Throughout his career on Parliament Hill, Gerry exhibited this really uncanny ability to gather people and find solutions to complex problems. During the four years he was here, we had the pandemic. He kept the chamber running through the pandemic; hybrid sittings; a return to normal operations, more or less; the ever-changing sizes of caucuses and groups and how they needed to be dealt with. So, Gerry, we’re grateful for the hard work you did and the way in which you reassured us during often uncertain times.

Colleagues, I want to share something that many of you may not know, but in the Clerk’s office you will find a framed piece of sandpaper. You may wonder, as I did, why he has a framed piece of sandpaper in the Clerk’s office, and the reason is simple. To be successful in Senate management, which Gerry excelled at, you need the ability to put a square peg in a round hole, and you definitely need sandpaper for that.

To our chief problem solver with sandpaper, Gerry, we’re glad you’re not going away, at least not yet. There are still many more square pegs to be smoothed, no doubt. From your Senate family, we also thank your family for sharing you with us. On behalf of the members of the Canadian Senators Group, I thank you for your long service, and we are grateful that it will continue. We wish you the best.

Hon. Pierre J. Dalphond: Honourable senators, on behalf of the Progressive Senate Group, I’m pleased to join my colleagues to thank Gérald — we call him Gerry during in camera meetings — and to pay tribute to Gérald Lafrenière who has been serving as the sixteenth Clerk of the Senate and Clerk of the Parliaments on an interim basis since 2020. It almost became a permanent basis.

Thank you, Gérald.

[Translation]

A permanent appointee will be officially starting full time on Monday, so Gérald will be occupying a different seat, but he’ll still be at our table, and that’s what matters. He’ll still be part of the Senate family.

[English]

Our institution is best able to succeed when we have the steady and capable work and advice of professionals, such as Mr. Lafrenière, functioning both behind the scenes and also directly in front of us during our time in the chamber.

[Translation]

I, personally, have benefited from his sage advice, and I know we all have. What I admire about Mr. Lafrenière, and have always admired, is his poise. He’s always smiling, even in the face of the worst crises. He looks us in the eye, smiles, lays out the options and reassures us, and we carry on.

Gérald, thank you for your opinions, your comments and your experience. You’re a wise person in a chamber full of wise people, but even those wise people benefit from time to time from the wisdom of those who have been here longer.

In closing, I, like my fellow leaders, am very glad to know that he’ll just be moving to a different seat at the table. To his family members who are here today, know that we’re happy he’ll be staying with us. He won’t be with you full time next week.

We’re happy. At the subcommittee of the Internal Economy Committee this morning, we made the necessary decisions to ensure that he’ll be sitting comfortably at our table with his new hat and in his new chair on Monday morning. Thank you.