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.