Senator Don Plett
well thank you very much for that warm reception I want to thank everybody that took the effort to be here today I thank you As you probably know I turned 75 on May the 14th and that means I will be ushered out of here either ceremoniously or unceremoniously But I must leave the Senate of Canada as prescribed by the Canadian Constitution The Senate has been idle since last December and will not reopen before I leave The Speaker of the Senate Senator Ron Gier has graciously allowed me to use the Senate Chamber to make what will be my farewell speech And I want to thank her for that And since I did not want to speak to rows and rows of empty chairs I invited senators and senate staff administration staff etc to join me here today I want to thank all of you I want to thank especially the senators that are here today uh that took the time to come out uh both current senators past senators and newly appointed senators I hope that all of you will be able to join me and us in the senator's lounge later on uh somewhat uh uh some call it the Air Canada lounge uh just on the second floor and we will be having a few glasses of wine and I encourage and invite all of you to join me at that time as I enter the twilight of my career Here I want to share with you some highlights of this career and some thoughts on the past and the future So I started to get involved in politics with my father He was a member of the progressive conservative party both proincially and federally He was a municipal counselor town counselor eventually the chair of the town council the equivalent of the mayor of my small community He gave me the political bug and taught me that you needed to get involved if you wanted change That was a lesson I learned for the rest of my life You cannot stay on the sidelines if you want to have an impact on the game And that is why I also joined the progressive conservative party Then after a few years of uh our families fighting with each other the Canadian Alliance was formed and I decided that it was time to join the movement to unite the right Canada had turned into a one party state and we needed to build a credible alternative to the Liberals I note that sadly we have more or less returned to this entering a fourth consecutive liberal mandate but I will come back to that later So in the year of 2000 I and others helped recruit the honorable Vic Taves to run in my writing of Provenante Vic asked me to manage his campaign that year and we won handily beating a very popular liberal incumbent in the writing of Pervanche But I felt that the national campaign had not been managed properly Again I decided that I had to do something about that So I decided to run for the National Council of the Alliance Party I was elected the same day that Steven Harper became the leader of that alliance party and Mr Harper convinced me to accept the position of president of the party about a half a year into that mandate So when the deal to merge the PC party and the alliance was struck I was again tasked with going from riding to riding to riding across the country to sell the merger to both camps As a former staunch Brian Moroni progressive conservative and then president of the alliance I was respected by both camps As president I made sure to visit as many writings as possible and to meet as many members of the party as possible These are still some of my most precious moments in my political life that gave me the understanding of how the political system works and what the issues are that Canada is facing along with a chance to meet Canadians from coast to coast to coast This is one of the points that I would like to leave with you If you want to improve things you need to get involved If you want change how your town your province or your country is run get involved in politics like me You will meet extraordinary people You will learn about your neighborhood your province your country It is an experience like no other Another message I want to leave you with is that in Canada our institutions are open to all I was a plumber from southern Manitoba Within a few years I became the president of the party that formed the government of Canada I sincerely hope that our political parties remain open to all and that you do not have to be part of the elite to be a multi-millionaire to rise in the political apparatus It is something that makes Canada special and we need to keep it this way If the only people who can become prime minister are those with Harvard diplomas and trust funds and tax havens then we will be worse off as a country Having contributed to the merger in 2003 of the Canadian Alliance and the PC parties is certainly one of the highlights of my career This has united the right of center forces in Canada and allowed us to win elections at least until 2015 So when Prime Minister Harper asked me in 2009 to represent Manitoba and make sure the voice of ordinary Canadians is heard in the Senate I was thrilled and happy to accept I want to thank Prime Minister Harper for the trust that he put in me The last six 16 years were an extraordinary experience It truly has been an honor to sit in this Senate and I have to say that I am proud of the work that we have accomplished I was appointed when the Senate was secretive and managed like a private club Under the leadership of the Conservative majority the Senate started to disclose the expenses of each senator made the debates accessible through audio first then television opened the SIBA meetings to the public Conservative senators were instrumental in revamping our ethics code in addressing in a thoughtful and equitable manner the recommendations of the auditor general in 2015 And those are only some of the changes made by the Senate Conservative Majority Between 2012 and 2015 several other administrative rules and policies were modernized making the Senate more transparent and more effective I was the proud sponsor for several government bills most notably the bill to open the wheat market for western farmers This bill has created tremendous growth in our agricultural industry In fact I was the Senate sponsor of every agricultural bill that was tabled by the Conservative government from my appointment in 2009 until 2015 Seven government bills I am extremely proud of the work I have done on the prompt payment file Bill S224 This bill sought to ensure proper timely payment for the construction industry in Canada I of course had worked with the construction industry most of my life I worked in collaboration with various trades people in introducing this legislation and moving it forward And eventually I worked across the aisle with Liberal MP Judy Scroll Having myself worked in the trade I saw the importance and value of getting this legislation over the finishing line to ensure the fairness for trades people And Judy took the same approach and we put partisanship aside and worked on behalf of the trades in our country Of course and to my chagrin you can imagine that a large part of my tenure in the Senate was spent on the opposition benches However I am also proud of the work that we did as an opposition in the Senate I truly believe we always brought thoughtful but spirited opposition to the government We have always been respectful of the right of the elected government to get its way but have always insisted on our rights to fully debate legislation and to challenge government and debate in committee or at question period I know some of our adversaries in the Senate feel that sometimes we are obstructing But I ask you with about 10% of the votes here how can we really obstruct since 2015 the Conservative Caucus in the Senate has used all of its levers to carry out the voice of the millions of Canadians who support our movement and of the millions more who simply do not support the governing Liberals This friends is the essence of democracy This chamber is a place for debate where different points of view in Canada collide I have always believed that parliamentary debate is the civilized way of dealing with disagreement amongst voters When Canadians know that they have representation who will be their spokespersons here and in the House they are less inclined to take to the streets That is what we are here for I have been a senator for close to 16 years now but I still get a lump in my throat when I entered the chamber knowing the responsibilities that we collectively have knowing the impact our debates and our votes have But before I leave this place I want to share with you a few thoughts about the institution Some people would like to revisit history and make us believe that the Senate of Canada had some kind of a rebirth in 2016 when Justin Trudeau started appointing senators Nothing could be further from the truth The real changes in the Senate had already happened as conservatives and liberal senators work together to modernize the institution As I said the real modernization of the Senate happened between 2012 and 2017 This is when we went from a secretive private club to a modern and open democratic institution The Senate has been here since 1867 It went through numerouses numerous crisises and changes As soon as it was created some people clamored for its abolition Reducing the evolution of this institution to the last 10 years is dishonest As is normal the Senate will have its ups and downs It will have its share of crisises and will continue to evolve as will Canada But evolving does not mean throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater And I feel this is what Justin Trudeau and some of his supporters in the Senate have done For those of you who still aren't sure how I feel about Justin Trudeau's Senate let me be clear I hate [Music] it But let me also be clear not the senators the system Very clear I've traveled with many of you We've worked together and all senators appointed under the Constitution are legitimate All of the appointments under the Royal Proclamation of 1867 have been done in the same manner the exact same manner The prime minister advises and recommends to the governor general who appoints the senator So the idea that because some people have been vetted by a former judge and a couple of other members of the Canadian elite they would be more legitimate than the hundreds of other appointees that came before them is ludicrous As it is equally ludicrous the other way Justin Trudeau's appointees to the Senate are all legit For the large majority I would suggest all that I have met are decent hard-working individuals who want the best for our country That is what we're here to do But quite frankly they have been given an impossible task Steer an institution that was made intrinsically flawed by the former prime minister himself I could go on for hours and many of you have heard me go on for hours on this on the flaws of the Justin Trudeau Senate reform I will focus on five of these flaws First of all the most pernicious of the changes brought in by Trudeau is the restriction imposed by his senators to join political caucuses This is wrong for two reasons First the Liberal Party lost the ability to draw from this great wealth of knowledge experience and regional views Let me take the example of Saskatchewan Since 2019 and until Monday the Liberal Party did not have an MP from the province of Saskatchewan And even Monday they elected only one but they had none I believe the prime minister made a mistake by refusing to add senators from Saskatchewan to his caucus It would have been better for the Liberals who would have had a voice in their caucus from that province and it would have been better for Saskatchewan to have had that voice in the government caucus The Trudeau government always insisted they were appointing senators who had distinguished careers and who were great defenders of causes Then why are they shutting the door on their caucus to these great luminaries secondly it would be better for all senators if they could fully participate in the caucus process In the Conservative party your participation in caucus is not just attending the Wednesday morning meetings You can participate in the evaluation of legislation through caucus committees If the Trudeau senators had been invited to fully participate in the political process they would not have had to wait for a bill to come to the Senate floor before suggesting amendments They could have done so before the bill was introduced We would have saved time We would not have had countless declarations from the government leader that this amendment may have been a good idea But it is now too late in the process to entertain it Sober second thought is not necessarily done once a bill has been adopted by the House of Commons It is much more efficient when done during the drafting of the bill but Justin Trudeau has forbidden his appointees to do this I insist on this point We are told that Trudeau the Trudeau's system gives us senators that are the smartest Canadians So why not get their expertise on legislation through the caucus process in 1867 the first senators decided to join political caucuses Until 2016 99% of the senators joined political caucuses when appointed They did not have to but they did They made the right choice The Canadian Senate is the only Democratic House of Parliament in the world where the majority of its members do not represent a political party There is a reason for this Only Justin Trudeau has made that mistake Hopefully new Prime Minister Mark Carney will on that issue like so many others before him distance themselves from these failed policies The fact that senators other than conservatives are no longer part of a coherent political movement has another direct negative effect It is true that being a member of a caucus means that you have to make some compromises on legislation But what binds the members of a caucus is a certain outlook on how the government should operate You can guess how a party will vote on most bills Not because their leader decides on a whim that today it is yay or nay but because you know what the party stands for but in the Senate who knows what the group stand for other than conservatives in fact all three other groups pride themselves in the fact that they really do not stand for anything Reminds me of the saying when you stand for nothing you fall for everything Look at the names of these caucuses or these groups There is a group that is more Canadian than the others one that is more independent than the others one that is more progressive than the others These groups do not have a cohesive political or policy platform They strive to be one of the teams of the debating club that the Trudeau senator has become They could be named A B C or yellow purple beige It would not make a difference Let me confess to those that don't know this Senators do not read all the bills and all committee testimony or submissions before voting it would not be feasible We rely on our colleagues who are subject experts and have participated in committee meetings to inform us on what a bill is about In a political caucus you know you share the same values as your colleagues But in a Senate group what do you share other than resources and a weekly meal you are not bound by a political philosophy or a platform The cement of the team is not shared values Your only link with others is your membership in the team Just like a debating club a volleyball team or a book club Of course you develop friendships with members of your team Actually that will be the strongest bond with your fellow group members friendship So in issues where you don't have a strong opinion your compass is how your friends vote As a result we have seen in the last nine years a shift in how votes are decided It is no longer partisan It is personal You don't vote for a bill because it reflects the values of your political movement You vote for it because it drafted by a colleague you like You don't vote against a bill because you fear it would be detrimental to Canadians You vote against it because it is a bill that comes from another group You don't vote for a bill because it is supported by millions of Canadians You vote for a bill because it is supported by cool senators You don't vote against a bill because it is opposed by stakeholders you vote against a bill because Senator Don Plet spoke in favor Recently a colleague said he was supportive of a bill I was defending but he asked me very seriously how he could support a bill since I raised my voice in debate This is how deep his convictions are It is not the arguments that matter but the tone that they are made with Too often senators myself included forget that we are acting on behalf of 42 million people not our little selves Our decisions will impact the lives of real people real Canadians Your guide in how deciding how to vote should be how this will impact Canadians not how this will impact your friendship with other senators Let me be clear The 100 senators appointed by Justin Trudeau are all good people They all love their country They are all passionate But they are put into a system where their talents are undervalued They are not supported They are left alone to play what is a team sport and their eagerness to form groups develop friendships with colleagues creates what I think are negative distortions of the functioning of the Senate Since senators are left to themselves they work on personal projects And this is why we have seen a record number of Senate public bills in the last few years Senators insist on having their personal bill not only debated in the chamber but studied at committee This means that the Senate can no longer focus on what made its reputation Thorough committee studies that help shape future public policy Instead committees spend their time studying the bills introduced by individual senators And more often than not these studies show that the stakeholders have been consulted properly prior to the tableabling of the bill that unintended consequences have not been considered or that the bill has been poorly drafted The consequence of this is that the transformation of the Senate into a debating club is accelerated Another feature of this Trudeau Senate or another ugly side I should say is this lack of depth shown by some senators since 2015 when choosing their own groups Members of parliament or senators leaving a caucus is not a new thing friends It's happened It's been there since 1867 But the number of changes in affiliation in the Senate in the last 10 years has exploded One of our Senate colleagues actually sat in four different groups This is because of what I just spoke about the absence of a coherent political philosophy behind each group There is no problem going from one group to another because jumping from one group to the other has nothing to do with your personal values or political views In this so-called new Senate the choice of a group is based on I like this person or I don't like that person I even heard that the size of the office by a group was the clencher for one senator when choosing his new group Even worse some senators not only left their caucuses but they then started working actively to kill former caucuses This friends is how the liberal caucus disappeared in this chamber and is why the conservative caucus has shrunk down to our numbers Some senators who used to be conservatives turned around and attacked their old co caucus This is not something those senators should be proud of to say the least And this shows how corrosive the Trudeau Senate has become The end goal for too many senators has become not only to win the argument against your political opponent It is to make disscent disappear from this place And of course this was reflected throughout those 10 years of Trudeau's Senate by the constant attacks on the opposition rights and privileges Even questioning the need for an opposition became fashionable No other democratic house of parliament in the world would have tolerated what we heard from the last two government leaders on the need or lack of of an opposition If you can find a democratic country where regular calls to abolish the opposition are heard let me know I could not This Orwellian-like message of things would be so much better if we did not have an opposition was pushed by both senators harder and gold and supported by too many The Senate hit a new low last year when it adopted under time allocation changes to the rules to restrict the powers of the opposition Before Senator Gold became the leader of the government changes to the rules had never been the object of a government motion without consensus of the opposition When he used his government majority to unilaterally change the rules Senator Gold went too far It was a sad day for the Senate and for Canada Those who want to to turn the Senate into a liberal echo chamber may get their wish someday But for the moment thanks to the hard work of our small conservative caucus we have managed to save a place for an organized opposition Justin Trudeau managed what could not be done for 150 years He killed the Liberal Party in the Senate but he could not kill the Conservative Party I am of course deeply saddened by the results of the election of April 28th Elections have consequences they say and for this election one of those consequences may be that the existence of an organized opposition in the Senate is once again challenged I sincerely hope that is not the case This would be I believe the death nail for the Canadian Senate I urge all senators and all members of the House of Commons to reflect on this point How can a Senate continue to represent the spectrum of opinions in Canada if all senators support the government what should be done to prevent that so in conclusion as far as the Senate is concerned let me summarize what I think the institution should do and I urge the Carney government to work in this direction First the Senate has to go back to having groups linked to MP's caucuses These links could be strong or loose but if it ceases to be part of the political debate the Senate will become a private club of 105 individuals who debate in the abstract or are focusing on their personal projects You have to wonder why the Canadian taxpayers should fund such a debating club to the tune of $140 million every year Secondly the Senate needs an organized opposition group to represent those who do not support the government Otherwise the Senate will truly cease to play its role as a democratic institution Let me finally note that in their haste to change the rules sometimes just for the sake of changing the rules the other senators did not measure all the consequences I have been told time and again by other senators but we did not know that this change would result in this outcome This is one lesson I hope that all of us present and future remember Rules are there for a reason and changing them without proper reflection will cause more problems Changing the rules of the Senate should be as it should for an institution that prides itself on sober second thought done carefully and should be based on consensus The Senate is not the only place where Justin Trudeau created a mess Last year I started a series of speeches on incompetence and corruption that characterized the Trudeau government I had already spoken for hours before progation And I still had hours to go to cover all the problems that were left behind by the man who I believe will be remembered as the worst prime minister in our history And I know you're all looking anxiously for those speeches Inflation no economic growth for 10 years incompetence in every department a depleted military a drug epidemic rising crime Canada alone on the international stage the attacks on duck hunters and sports shooters the refusal to exploit our resources The list of failures is too long to go through today For 10 years we had a government that was too lazy and too fearful to take on the challenges that we have faced Under Justin Trudeau the Canadian government gave up on working on the root of the problems It was only a PR exercise making announcements that never produced any concrete results The other part of the Liberal strategy was to divide and conquer They made sure to pit Canadians against Canadians vilifying the opposition turning any debate on their policy into an opportunity to divide us On that front they succeeded I believe we have never been so divided as a country The Liberal government made Canada more divided than any government since Pierre Elliot Trudeau Thanks to the Liberals another unity crisis is upon us Mark Carney now has a choice He has been given an opportunity And although he has been advising for the last 5 years he says he is different He can either continue the old liberal policies and risk the future of this country or he can run a tr truly national government He must also get rid of the woke ideology that has permeated the federal bureaucracy and go back to using plain common sense I hope and I pray that he makes the right choices I have always been optimistic about the future of Canada and the well-being of the young younger generations Sadly the results of the election now make me pessimistic on both fronts Let's hope that the new prime minister proves me wrong Now while I am disappointed about the results of this week's election I will like Canadian Conservatives always do gracefully accept the verdict of the population I am happy to see so many Conservative members are returning to Ottawa It was an honor for me to be part of the National Conservative Caucus To all MPs past and present on all sides of the aisle that I have worked with or worked against in the last 16 years I want to say how much I respect you and I have always looked forward certainly in our caucus to our Wednesday morning caucus meetings You fellow conservatives were my brothers and sisters in arms You were and still are my friends I served as a senator under six national leaders Prime Minister Harper Ambrose Sheer Otul Bergen and lastly great leader Pierre Polip Each had different qualities but they all had one thing in common They fought tooth and nail for the betterment of Canada and I want to say I appreciate working with each of them It truly has been an honor to be part of the conservative movement and to have been elected as president of the party For those of you I met who I met on this journey to all the supporters who work so hard for our party I want to say thank you It was a pleasure meeting you learning about you and your concerns You truly are the fuel that keeps the flame of the movement burning And as I said the election did not produce the result we were hoping for But the Conservative Party of Canada received more than 8 million votes with 41.2% of the vote Pierre Paul have got the best results of a conservative since Brian Maloney in 1988 Jean Ketan Steven Harper and Justin Trudeau were able to form majority governments with smaller percentages of the popular vote With 144 elected members the Conservative opposition will be the strongest opposition in the history of our country But still we lost We lost to a tired Liberal party that had mismanaged our country for 10 years Now of course we can point across the line and say the actions of the US president completely changed the political situation before the RT was issued But we cannot put our heads in the sand We missed some opportunities to realign ourselves last fall Our national campaign was not optimal We need to fully analyze why we have lost a fourth consecutive election We cannot rece the same strategies and messages over and over hoping that Canadians will finally see the light We need a fresh approach And make no mistake Canada needs a united Conservative Party that is ready and willing to form government We don't need to go back very far to see what happens when right of center forces are divided Canada turns into a one party state and the Conservative Party cannot become only a refuge for disgruntled people who feel abandoned by the federal government This friends is a dead end As I said we need to bring fresh ideas with a positive message to Canadians We need to build a solid team of men and women coming from different backgrounds and show that we are ready to form the government And the party must be willing to fight in all regions carry its messages to all demographics and all socioeconomic or ethnic backgrounds Now coming back to the Senate For 16 years I was a proud member of the Senate Conservative Caucus I want to salute the contribution of my fellow conservative senators past and present We did over the last 16 years a lot of great things I am privileged to count so many of you as friends and I will be rooting for you from the sidelines It was an honor to be twice elected the leader of our conservative Senate caucus and I had a great team with me and I want to thank in particular my deputy leader Martin my friend our whip Judith Seedman our caucus chair Rosem Pouet and deputy whip Leo Husakis I want to thank all of my fellow caucus members those here those not Thank you for your support I want to thank all of my staff We all know every one of us here knows we can never accomplish anything without our staff My chief of staff John Martin Massie been a great friend a great adviser Karen Laru communications director trying her utmost to keep me out of trouble And any trouble I got to were not a result of hers Lorenzo Grandini my executive director working tirelessly in my office Craig Doxeder Jordan Lo Amaran and Jeff Pouyet my policy adviserss and speech writers And I want you all to know that any of the toxic speeches I have written read I did not write That is what you hire good speech writers for and I thank them for that Karen Adams I have been asked "How do you come up with all those questions?" Karen Adams spends her life in front of a screen researching and bringing us questions and uh has done a marvelous job of that and I thank her for that Louise Tushe who has done the translating and so often that we needed something translated in a hurry She did it Connie Pun doing clippings and research And of course Karma McGregor who has shared her duties between my office and the whip's office And uh all of you who have uh been working in security and bus drivers and so on you have been the recipients of Karma's generous food baskets that she brings and why she always orders more food than we could ever eat at one of our parties so that she has enough leftover for those of you out there that are working for us I have some past staff here who I want to thank as well who worked with me for quite some time Natalie Fletcher was a deputy chief of staff for a number of years has been here almost as long as I have retired a year ago Jennifer Hearnen who was my policy adviserss and took on the much more admirable honorable position of a mother and left for that reason Sarah Fiser lifelong friend that worked so hard in my office and now in the OO I thank her Roy Remple the only one of the group that originally from Manitoba Roy and I met many years ago in a nomination race in Manitoba and Roy has worked in my office and has done a great job in research I want to thank all of them and I would ask you to give them a round of applause And then of course what can we say again this place wouldn't function without so many people that we have here today First of all I thank I thank Julie and the speaker's office for helping us organize I thank the speaker and her complete office for allowing me the opportunity to do this Of course the clerk of the senate and the clerk of parliaments in office Shila Anoir the usher of the black rod Greg Peters all the pages we just have a great great group of pages and I thank them every day the with the professionalism that they conduct themselves Our entire corporate sector led by Pascal LGO finance department Pierre Lanqua properties and services led by Jose Label Our IT department by David Vatcher the legal se sector by Katherine Boddan Legislative Services my friend Jerry Lefreni Jerry Lefreni and I don't go back that far but his dad and I do His dad was my doctor and uh I think some of my sore necks are a result of hockey games that him and I played against when we were probably 18 20 years old Committees of course Mary charge of all of the clerks and the analysts chamber operations and procedure office till hyde communications broadcasting and interpretation Melissa L Clerk corporate security Julie Laqua Parliamentary Exchange and Protocol Human Resources Tony Francis the Library of Parliament of course Parliamentary Protective Services Rick where's Rick santa Claus are you here there he All right I'll tell you for those of us who are here regular if ever there is the epitome of somebody who takes pride in a job I have never seen the like When I come in it doesn't matter what time of the day I'm here he's always here ahead of me And you can see your face in the floor showing that every job is so important our mail delivery services And of course we have bus drivers here today I thank them for the work they do They drive so many of you around I haven't since I've been the leader use their services as much because I'm staying across the street but I have used them over the past and they go out of their way our locksmiths that help take care of us our food services people and everyone who is involved in making this institution function on a daily basis Thank you very [Applause] much And now let me get to the most difficult part of my speech I want to take a few moments to elaborate on my family My father has left us He was here 16 years ago I was fortunate enough to have him by my side when I was appointed as senator He's gone I hope he is as proud of his son now as he was in the day of my swearing in My mother at 97 will be watching my speech I'm sure she's not doing it live but we'll watch my speech and I thank mom for her support My oldest son Jason and his wife Mina spend their time between their strange strange way between their house in New York and their house in Landmark Manitoba What a divergence of geographics But Jason is a project manager for a large international contracting company He manages and bids projects that exceed a half a billion dollars in the plumbing and ventilation field in in in energy He's a Red Seal plumber His success demonstrates that hard work and dedication get you anything you aspire to be You again don't have to have an engineering degree or a Harvard education to succeed Jason's oldest daughter Amy married to Spencer Our oldest granddaughter studied business and now manages a large sales team at a very successful satellite company Now Amy is someone like the song goes Amy could sell you oceanfront property in Arizona Such a contagious smile and professional demeanor Amy's brother Nick is following in his father and his grandfather's footsteps in his apprenticeship and working toward becoming a red seal plumber Our second son Brad and his wife Cencia live in Carsters Alberta Brad fulfilled his lifelong dream in becoming a firefighter and emergency service personnel Brad and Cynthia's oldest daughter Emily is a school teacher and has practiced being a mother all of her life Emily and her husband are going to give us Petty and me our first grandchild a granddaughter this fall And we are anxiously awaiting that event Emily's sister Ava has obtained her degree in psychology and is now planning on getting her masters and her doctorate Certainly not following after her grandfather's footsteps And then of course there's Mila who many of you have met Mila is following her father's footsteps in pursuing a career in emergency services and firefighting And yes Mila and her forsome succeeded once again in winning the 2025 U20 Junior Women's Curling Championships in Prince Edward Island And they will be representing Canada at the Worlds in Denmark next winter Betty and I are looking forward to becoming millet groupies during my first year of retirement We are going to follow her coast to coast and indeed around the world to Denmark when she goes there Kevin and Lissa they have the largest family Kevin together with his brother are running our family plumbing and heating company which they took over in 2007 Kevin and Lissa have five children Their eldest son Eli has taken some time away from university and is now working in the landscaping business Joe is just finishing his second year of college in the United States on an academic and sports scholarship He excels in baseball Betty and I enjoy following his enjoy following his team around and watching top level ball Ezra still in high school excels in basketball where his 6'4 in frame is a huge asset Ma their daughter is also still in high school but excels in both volleyball and badminton and has won provincials in both of these sports Simon has chosen his extracurricular activities to be acting and his acting and memorizing skills are something to behold Howard and Tina Howard is of course running their plumbing and heating company again together with his brother Kevin Their daughter Julia at 11 years old is something to behold in her music ability both as a pianist as well as a vocalist Clearly a gift that she has received from her mother's side of the family And last but certainly not least my pride and joy 9-year-old Thomas Thomas is my Dennis de Menace into everything that he shouldn't be into but always with the best of his intentions Twice already has broken his arm I think I see more of myself in Thomas than in the others And then of course the person that none of this would have been possible without my very very long-suffering wife Betty Married at the age of 17 to an immature young man of 18 in 1968 Betty has been my rock She has kept our family in line when none of us were cooperative She sacrificed so many of her dreams and aspirations for us And even today she takes care of me She bakes and sews and mens for all of us She loves and encourages all of us And most importantly she play prays regularly for me for our children and our grandchildren Betty is also the caregiver for my 97year-old mother Truth be told Betty is not only my life partner but she is also my favorite golf partner She lets me beat her I eagerly look forward to playing more golf this summer I would be nothing without her I am humbled and forever grateful that she kept our family Betty I will forever love you Now I am winding down folks I don't think it will surprise any of you to hear me say that I am someone who carries a deep faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ I have certainly not always lived up to the standards that Christ set out out for us by his words and his example But I strive to do so out of a thankful heart and for all that he has done for me Some of you will understand that Christianity is not simply a belief system but a profound awareness of the goodness of God that changes you and makes you want to be a better representation of that goodness These convictions have shaped my values guided me throughout my political career and carried me through some difficult times And while being a person of faith is not as popular as it once was in Canada I want to dwell here just for a few moments to underscore something Canada is a nation which was founded on the principle of religious freedoms My own Menanite ancestors came here fleeing religious persecution just as many others did That's part of our Canadian story That's why I find it deeply ironic and troubling that our Liberal government has time and again sought to marginalize people of faith It began even before they formed government when they declared that pro-life Canadians are not welcome in the Liberal Party And once in office they wasted no time in shuttering the office of the religious freedoms denying Christian organizations access to summer Canada summer jobs programs erasing any link between gender and biological sex criminalizing certain expressions of biblical teaching and targeting pregnancy care centers by threatening their charitable status The list goes on and on Let me be clear I do not believe that Canada should be a theocracy I am not suggesting that our laws should force non-Christians to act like Christians but I do find it deeply concerning in this government's refusal to acknowledge the profound influence that Judeo-Christian values have had in shaping the very foundations of the society we all cherish And while I don't want to dwell too long on this point I do feel it's important especially in this moment to pause and reflect just how much of what we treasure in Western society has roots in biblical thought Often we forget where these values come from Allow me to give just a few examples One the equal worth of every person The belief that every individual matters equally regardless of status race or background flows from the biblical conviction that all people are made in the image of God Human rights and justice Our modern-based legal frameworks reflect ancient biblical calls to defend the weak constrain the powerful and seek justice with mercy charity and compassion The western commitment to caring for the poor the sick and the marginalized is built on the command to love your neighbor and care for the widow and the orphan Fourth individual responsibility and conscience Our democratic assumption that each person should follow their conscience is rooted in the biblical view of moral accountability before God Five moral order and rule of law The conviction that no one is above the law and that justice is grounded in objective morality has longstanding roots in legal thought If you are skeptical about this and wonder if I am not just conflating one thing with the other I encourage you to look into it The impact of Judeo-Christian heritage on Canadian Western values has been clearly documented and is undeniable if we are being intellectually honest In fact these are just a few of the widely accepted Canadian values which stem directly from our Judeo-Christian heritage I do not want to underscore however that none of these values were imposed They emerged over centuries through much struggle reflection and imperfect effort But they have endured because they work They are embedded in the foundations of our society because they reflect truths that resonate deeply within the human soul It is foolish to ignore them or worse to attempt to erase their roots They are the bedrock of a healthy democratic society For me personally the most important principle I have fought to defend is the sanctity of human life There is nothing more sacred than the life of a human being And that's why I found some recent debates in the country so deeply troubling What's even more concerning is that today the Liberal government and the broader cancel cultural movement don't even want us to have these debates They've decided that the answer to society's problems is to stamp out any view that does not line up with their own by silencing dissent shaming conscience and redefining compassion to exclude those who think differently This is a shame and this is dangerous True democracy depends on dialogue It requires the freedom to wrestle with difficult questions not in echo chambers but with courage and conviction and mutual respect That is why I have tried what I have tried to do throughout my time as a senator Let me also be clear about this While I have never shied away from promoting what I believe are right and just values I have always accepted that others may hold different views That to me is the essence of public service in a free society It stands in sharp contrast to what we have witnessed in recent years where those who preach tolerance are often the least willing to practice it We live in a time when it's not enough to disagree with someone You must denounce them You must silence them You must erase them That's not tolerance friends That's authoritarianism dressed up in moral language I may hold my values strongly but I do not believe in imposing them by force That I believe is also part of what it means to be a true Christian While I may deeply believe in truth I also believe in love grace and the inherent dignity of every person whether they share my beliefs or not We can debate We can argue but at the end of the day we are all made in the image of God and are worthy of respect That's a truth parliamentarians of all people need to remember The average citizen has no power to impose their views but as a collective body we do And that's why we must be doubly careful not to misuse that power in the name of a socalled public good that tramples upon the individual conscience I never agreed with Pierre Elliot Trudeau on very much But I did agree with him on this The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation And yet today we see the government inserting itself not just into our bedrooms but into our classrooms into social media into our churches personal health choices and even conscience itself This must stop and it's up to those who remain to carry the torch in this place of power to ensure that it does Friends today I speak for the very last time in this chamber Never again will my voice be heard in this place Never again will I rise to my feet to make an intervention a speech a point of order a question or indeed a motion to adjourn the Senate I will do that momentarily I will no longer be here to challenge the government or defend a policy That part of my journey is coming to an end And although this causes me a fair bit of emotion I recognize that this is the way of life We all have a road that we walk And on that journey everything is just for a season and eventually comes to an end As my time as a senator draws to a close my hope and prayer is that I have been faithful in the eyes of God in the eyes of my family and in the eyes of my colleagues to faithfully fulfill the duty I swore to uphold when I first entered this chamber I am forever grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve my country in this capacity and for the support love and friendship of all those I mentioned earlier All of you in this room today and many more who could not be with us including Canadians who have been following me from home and on social media I thank you all from the bottom of my heart May God bless all of you and may God bless Canada Thank you [Applause]
On X @DonPlett
Speeches https://www.youtube.com/@senatordonplett9438
transcript below
.....
Friends, thank you for being here today. As you probably know, I turn 75 on May 14th. This means that I must leave the Senate of Canada, as prescribed by the Canadian Constitution.
• The Senate has been idle since last December and will not reopen before I leave. The Speaker of the Senate, Senator Raymonde Gagné, has graciously allowed me to use the Senate Chamber to make what will be my farewell speech. I want to thank her for that.
• Since I did not want to speak to rows and rows of empty chairs, I invited Senators and Senate staff to join me in the Chamber.
• I want to thank the Senators that are here today, current, past and newly appointed.
• And I hope you will all join me afterwards in the Senators Lounge for a reception.
• As I enter the twilight of my career, I would like to share with you some highlights of this career, and some thoughts on the past and the future.
1. My career
• I started to get involved in politics with my father. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party provincially and federally and was municipal councilor and eventually chair of the Town Council. He gave me the political bug and taught me that you needed to get involved if you wanted to change things.
• That was a lesson I remembered for the rest of my life: you cannot stay on the sidelines if you want to have an impact on the game. That is why I also joined the Progressive Conservative Party.
• When the Canadian Alliance was formed, I decided that it was time to join the movement to unite the right. Canada had turned into a one-party state, and we needed to build a credible alternative to the Liberals. I note sadly that we have more or less returned to this, entering a fourth consecutive Liberal mandate. I will come back to this in a moment.
• So in 2000, I helped recruit Vic Toews to run for us in my riding of Provencher and managed his campaign that year. We won locally, but I felt the national campaign had not been managed properly. Again, I decided that I had to do something about that and decided to run for National Council. I was elected at the same time as Stephen Harper became the Leader of the Alliance.
• Mr. Harper convinced me to accept the position of President of the Party, so when the deal to merge the PC Party and the Alliance was struck, I was tasked with going from riding to riding to sell the merger to both camps. As a former staunch Brian Mulroney Progressive Conservative and then-president of the Alliance, I was respected by both groups.
• After the merger was finalized, I was selected as President of the new Party. I was confirmed in this position at our National Convention in 2005.
• As President, I made sure to visit as many ridings as possible and meet as many members of the Party as possible.
• That gave me an understanding of how the political system works and what the issues are that Canada is facing, along with a chance to meet Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
• This is one of the points I would like to leave you with. If you want to improve things, get involved. If you want to change how your town, your province or Canada is run, get involved in politics. Like me, you will meet extraordinary people, you will learn about your neighborhood, your province, or your country. It is an experience like no other.
• Another message I want to leave you with is that in Canada, our institutions are open to all. I was a plumber from Southern Manitoba. Within a few years I became President of the party that soon formed Government in Ottawa. I sincerely hope that our political parties remain open to all, that you do not have to be part of the elite or be a multi-millionaire to rise in the political apparatus. It is something that makes Canada special, and we need to keep it this way. If the only people who can become Prime Minister are those with Harvard diplomas and trust funds in tax havens, then we will be worse off as a country.
• Having contributed to the merger in 2003 of the Canadian Alliance and the PC Party is certainly one of the highlights of my career. This has united the right of center forces in Canada and allowed us to win elections, at least until 2015.
TRANSCRIPT
0:05
0:15
0:20
0:26
0:33
0:39
0:47
0:53
0:59
1:04
1:09
1:17
1:23
1:33
1:41
1:47
1:53
1:59
2:06
2:13
2:20
2:27
2:33
2:40
2:46
2:54
2:59
3:05
3:12
3:18
3:23
3:31
3:38
3:44
3:52
3:57
4:05
4:11
4:16
4:23
4:28
4:35
4:40
4:49
4:55
5:01
5:08
5:14
5:21
5:28
5:35
5:43
5:49
5:56
6:02
6:09
6:16
6:21
6:28
6:33
6:41
6:48
6:56
7:02
7:07
7:15
7:21
7:28
7:34
7:42
7:47
7:53
7:58
8:05
8:12
8:18
8:25
8:33
8:38
8:47
8:53
8:58
9:03
9:10
9:16
9:22
9:29
9:36
9:43
9:50
9:56
10:01
10:09
10:14
10:20
10:29
10:34
10:40
10:46
10:53
11:00
11:06
11:11
11:19
11:26
11:33
11:39
11:45
11:52
11:59
12:06
12:12
12:18
12:25
12:32
12:39
12:44
12:50
12:55
13:01
13:07
13:14
13:20
13:27
13:32
13:38
13:44
13:49
13:54
14:00
14:06
14:13
14:19
14:25
14:33
14:38
14:44
14:51
15:05
15:11
15:17
15:23
15:29
15:35
15:42
15:49
15:55
16:04
16:10
16:16
16:22
16:28
16:34
16:40
16:45
16:50
16:55
17:02
17:08
17:14
17:24
17:29
17:35
17:43
17:48
17:55
18:02
18:09
18:16
18:22
18:28
18:34
18:39
18:48
18:53
18:59
19:04
19:10
19:20
19:27
19:35
19:42
19:48
19:54
19:59
20:06
20:13
20:20
20:26
20:33
20:40
20:46
20:54
20:59
21:08
21:16
21:23
21:28
21:35
21:43
21:51
21:59
22:05
22:11
22:20
22:28
22:33
22:39
22:46
22:53
22:58
23:06
23:11
23:18
23:24
23:30
23:35
23:41
23:48
23:56
24:02
24:07
24:15
24:21
24:28
24:35
24:41
24:47
24:53
24:59
25:05
25:11
25:16
25:23
25:30
25:36
25:44
25:51
25:57
26:04
26:10
26:18
26:24
26:32
26:38
26:46
26:54
27:01
27:07
27:12
27:19
27:24
27:32
27:38
27:46
27:53
27:58
28:04
28:10
28:17
28:23
28:29
28:35
28:40
28:45
28:51
28:57
29:04
29:09
29:15
29:21
29:27
29:32
29:38
29:44
29:49
29:54
30:00
30:07
30:14
30:19
30:27
30:34
30:40
30:47
30:52
30:59
31:05
31:11
31:17
31:22
31:28
31:34
31:40
31:48
31:56
32:03
32:08
32:15
32:20
32:27
32:33
32:39
32:45
32:52
32:59
33:04
33:10
33:16
33:21
33:27
33:35
33:40
33:46
33:51
33:56
34:04
34:12
34:17
34:25
34:31
34:38
34:44
34:50
34:58
35:04
35:11
35:16
35:23
35:31
35:36
35:43
35:50
35:56
36:02
36:07
36:14
36:21
36:30
36:37
36:43
36:51
36:56
37:04
37:11
37:16
37:22
37:28
37:39
37:45
37:51
37:57
38:02
38:08
38:15
38:22
38:28
38:34
38:41
38:47
38:53
39:01
39:07
39:13
39:22
39:27
39:34
39:40
39:45
39:51
40:00
40:07
40:14
40:22
40:30
40:37
40:43
40:51
40:57
41:03
41:09
41:15
41:24
41:31
41:39
41:45
41:50
41:57
42:05
42:11
42:17
42:22
42:31
42:37
42:43
42:49
42:54
43:01
43:07
43:14
43:21
43:27
43:34
43:42
43:48
43:54
44:00
44:05
44:14
44:20
44:25
44:32
44:50
44:55
45:04
45:09
45:16
45:24
45:30
45:36
45:42
45:48
45:56
46:03
46:08
46:15
46:22
46:30
46:39
46:44
46:50
46:58
47:05
47:11
47:16
47:24
47:30
47:35
47:42
47:49
47:55
48:03
48:10
48:15
48:21
48:28
48:34
48:40
48:46
48:51
48:58
49:04
49:10
49:15
49:20
49:28
49:33
49:39
49:46
49:53
50:00
50:06
50:13
50:18
50:23
50:29
50:36
50:46
50:52
51:00
51:08
51:13
51:20
51:29
51:36
51:42
51:51
51:57
52:02
52:09
52:16
52:21
52:27
52:33
52:40
52:48
52:55
53:01
53:07
53:14
53:19
53:27
53:32
53:38
53:46
53:55
54:03
54:09
54:15
54:21
54:28
54:34
54:41
54:50
54:58
55:04
55:10
55:15
55:22
55:38
55:44
55:50
55:57
56:02
56:09
56:16
56:23
56:29
56:37
56:42
56:48
56:53
57:00
57:07
57:14
57:20
57:27
57:33
57:39
57:48
57:55
58:01
58:07
58:12
58:19
58:25
58:32
58:38
58:44
58:50
58:56
59:02
59:08
59:13
59:19
59:26
59:34
59:41
59:48
59:54
1:00:01
1:00:06
1:00:13
1:00:20
1:00:26
1:00:34
1:00:40
1:00:45
1:00:54
1:01:01
1:01:07
1:01:14
1:01:22
1:01:28
1:01:34
1:01:39
1:01:45
1:01:51
1:01:56
1:02:04
1:02:10
1:02:18
1:02:24
1:02:30
1:02:37
1:02:44
1:02:50
1:02:57
1:03:02
1:03:08
1:03:13
1:03:19
1:03:25
1:03:31
1:03:37
1:03:45
1:03:52
1:03:58
1:04:04
1:04:10
1:04:18
1:04:25
1:04:32
1:04:40
1:04:45
1:04:51
1:04:59
1:05:04
1:05:10
1:05:18
1:05:26
1:05:31
1:05:38
1:05:45
1:05:51
1:05:58
1:06:23
No comments:
Post a Comment