Wednesday, May 1, 1996

CANADA 2nd SESSION 35th PARLIAMENT VOLUME 135 NUMBER 13 OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Wednesday, May 1, 1996 THE HONOURABLE GILDAS L. MOLGAT SPEAKER This issue contains the latest listing of Officers of the Senate, the Ministry and Senators. CONTENTS (Daily index of proceedings appears at back of this issue.) Debates: Victoria Building, Room 407, Tel. 996-0397 Published by the Senate Available from Canada Communication Group — Publishing, Public Works and Government Services Canada, Ottawa K1A 0S9, at $1.75 per copy or $158 per year. Also available on the Internet: http://www.parl.gc.ca 257 THE SENATE Wednesday, May 1, 1996 The Senate met at 2:00 p.m., the Speaker in the Chair. Someone once asked what Mr. du Plessis’ favourite day of the year was, and he responded, Boxing Day, because on that day he Prayers. could put his feet up, sit back and reflect on all that has gone on in the past year. Now, Mr. du Plessis, you may put your feet up every day and reflect not only on one year but on 20 remarkable SENATORS’ STATEMENTS years of a distinguished career in the Senate of Canada. We will miss not just your wisdom but your friendship and RAYMOND L. DU PLESSIS, Q.C. your wonderful sense of humour. We wish you well in all your future activities, be they badminton, tennis or dancing. We know TRIBUTES ON RETIREMENT AS LAW CLERK that your family will be delighted as well to be able to claim AND PARLIAMENTARY COUNSEL more of your time, your attention and your very good spirits. Thank you very much. Hon. Joyce Fairbairn (Leader of the Government): Honourable senators, I should like to begin today’s proceedings Hon. John Lynch-Staunton (Leader of the Opposition): with a few words about our friend and colleague Raymond du Honourable senators, once upon a time, and a bit more than Plessis — 100 years ago, in a place called Fall River in Massachusetts, a young lady named Lizzie Borden was accused of killing her Hon. Senators: Hear, hear! father and stepmother, and, although she was never convicted of the crime, millions of people, including no doubt many of us in Senator Fairbairn: — the Law Clerk and Parliamentary this chamber, to this day can recite this gruesome little poem: Counsel of the Senate, who is retiring after 20 years of service. Lizzie Borden took an axe Twenty years is an extraordinary period in the lifetime of any And gave her mother 40 whacks. citizen. And when she saw what she had done, She gave her father 41! Mr. du Plessis was a graduate of the first civil law class at the University of Ottawa back in 1956. He began his law career with Years later, so the story goes, a little boy in an elegant Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. He moved on to the neighbourhood in Fall River ran off to play in the yard by Department of Justice where he helped draft many government Lizzie’s house. “Come back,” cried his mother. “Why can’t I bills and helped to edit the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970. play there?” the dear child asked, and the mother replied, “Because Miss Borden was not nice to her parents.” Seconded to the Senate in 1975, his talents were recognized very quickly, and he succeeded Mr. Russell Hopkins, who was Far be it from me to suggest that Raymond du Plessis, our the departing Senate Law Clerk, one year later in 1976. retiring Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel to the Senate, is a direct descendent of that well-tutored lad from Massachusetts. I know that all senators will join with me today in thanking However, I know it to be true that after the GST wars had Mr. du Plessis for all those hours he spent assisting senators with brought the Senate close to bloodshed and despair, Raymond the preparation and the drafting of amendments to government du Plessis was pressured into allowing that there had been a legislation, and, in particular, his wise counsel on senators’ difference of parliamentary opinion which merited considered private bills. From behind the scenes, Mr. du Plessis has played contemplation. an extremely important role, not just in the life of this chamber but in Parliament as a whole. (1410) It is, as we all know, the very essence of legal counsel to In his memoirs entitled Life on the Fringe, our late colleague governing processes that political adversaries — no matter how Eugene Forsey wrote: ugly their demeanour and foul their tongues — believe implicitly that the smallest or slightest concession from the bloodied party Ray du Plessis rounded off, as far he could, my education in opposite will restore peace in our time and seats in the next public life and added to my consciousness of how little I Parliament. know. A sensible lawyer comes to the Senate, knowing that more This recognition of Mr. du Plessis’ talent and skill from such a huffing and puffing from him or her may very well blow the gentleman is a true tribute to his career as our Law Clerk and house down. Who wants that? Parliamentary Counsel. Louis Nizer, the American trial lawyer, liked to call the law He once described himself as a one-man law firm with a “truth in action.” Summing up his life with the law, he wrote: captive clientele, and I am sure that today, all 104 of your clients, Mr. du Plessis, would like to offer our congratulations and our In order to give stability to law, our legislatures enact profound gratitude for what you have done for us. statutes to forewarn us, and our courts issue judicial 258 SENATE DEBATES May 1, 1996 opinions to guide us, but these become immense catalogues [Translation] that can obstruct the view of simple justice...The journey through the forest, which was to give us shade and shelter, [Later] becomes a hazardous undertaking in itself, and so diverts us Hon. Marcel Prud’homme: Honourable senators, I would that we may forget our original destination. like to add my thanks and congratulations to Mr. Raymond du Plessis to those that have already been Our “original destination” in the Senate, as our critics are expressed by Senators Fairbairn and Lynch-Staunton. quick to remind us, is to give the matters before us sober second thought. To achieve the goal Sir John A. Macdonald had in mind In my somewhat difficult position as an independent senator, I requires something more than these three parts. Sobriety and have had the opportunity to see how well Mr. du Plessis had cerebral consciousness will yield very little without a serious understood that he was there for all senators, regardless of their application of caution, a measured ration of innovation and, political affiliation. almost always, a generous acceptance of compassion. The search for the proper mix is not easy for those who are not learned in the I wish to thank him. I agree wholeheartedly with all that has law, and sometimes it is even more difficult for those who are. been said, and will be said later today, in his honour. Raymond du Plessis, the wise solicitor, knew how to point [English] without being seen, how to counsel without shouting, and how to resolve without twisting an arm or fracturing a conviction. WORLD RED CROSS DAY Which one of us has not wondered, after a particularly fractious committee meeting, how we have escaped with our credibility Hon. Raymond J. Perrault: Honourable senators, May 8 of intact? Then after reconstructing the process in our minds, how this month will be World Red Cross Day. This year also marks often have we suddenly realized: du Plessis did it! the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Red Cross. Ray du Plessis came to us after a very proper seasoning: A I rise today to recognize the Canadian Red Cross for its great graduate of the University of Ottawa’s first civil law class in works, with the unparalleled support of Canadians of all 1956; time spent building at Canada Mortgage and Housing, backgrounds, during the past century. I speak of its work during learning to pay the piper at the Federal Business Development World War I and World War II, and the hundreds of millions of Bank. Where better to acquire the skills of dissent than within the dollars worth of food, clothing and medicine that Canadians sent shelter of the Department of Justice, where he served as secretary to sick, wounded and captured armed service personnel through of the Committee on the Consolidation of the Regulations of the Red Cross. Canada? I speak of the heroism of Canadian Red Cross volunteers who have helped their fellow citizens in the aftermath of flood, forest Ray du Plessis was seconded to the Senate in 1975, and fire, and other natural and man-made disasters here in Canada. confirmed as Law Clerk one year later. Since then, he has been writing laws, advising committees, and convincing the rest of us I speak of the tens of millions of Canadians who have joined that his idea of the wisest course could be adopted as our original Red Cross water safety or first aid courses; of the millions of thought. Canadians who called on Red Cross homemaker, veterans, sick room equipment and home assistance programs. Ask any of the Honourable senators, in preparing these notes I was reminded veterans of our wars what they think of the Red Cross, and they of another Canadian lawyer who undertook a complex and have nothing but the highest praise. demanding career serving the law as truth in action.

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