Statement made on 16 September 2009 by Senator James Cowan
Hon. James S. Cowan (Leader of the Opposition):
Honourable senators, I wish to join my friend, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, in welcoming our new Clerk of the Senate and Clerk of the Parliaments, Dr. Gary O'Brien.
As Senator LeBreton has described, he served this chamber in various capacities from 1980 to 2006 when he tried to retire. He thought 26 years — seven as Deputy Clerk — was service enough. However, his knowledge of parliamentary procedure is so vast, and his views so
respected by all, that he could not be allowed to retire for long. What he thought was retirement has fortunately been transformed into a three-year sabbatical. I am pleased that he has agreed now to return home and serve in our highest position, that of Clerk of the Senate and Clerk of the Parliaments.
Parliamentary procedure — the many rules, written and unwritten, that govern this place — is a subject that, I think it is fair to say, most Canadians never think much about, if at all. I suspect many Canadians would dismiss it as arcane stuff — a relic of centuries-old history from across the ocean — and point to it as evidence that Parliament is its own world, removed from the real world of Canadians.
Dr. O'Brien knows better. His PhD dissertation at Carleton University was entitled, Pre-Confederation Parliamentary Procedure: The Evolution of Legislative Practice in the Lower Houses of Central Canada, 1792-1866.
I acknowledge that this title would not necessarily grab the front page headline of The Globe & Mail. However, the meat of the paper is definitely worth the time of honourable senators.
Dr. O'Brien wrote in his thesis about the role of parliamentary procedure and what it reveals about the nature of the society and the state that it serves. He referred to de Tocqueville, who, as Dr. O'Brien put it:
. . . felt that procedural forms, such as legislative rules, mediated power and protected the weak from the strong, even though such rules were often resented.
He then included an interesting quote from de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, which I will repeat here:
Men living in democratic centuries do not readily understand the utility of forms; they feel an instinctive contempt for them. . . . Forms arouse their disdain and often their hatred. As they usually aspire to none but facile and immediate enjoyments, they rush impetuously toward the object of each of their desires, and the least delays exasperate them. This temperament, which they transport into political life, disposes them against the forms which daily hold them up or prevent them in one way or another of their designs.
Yet it is this inconvenience, which men of democracies find in forms, that makes them so useful to liberty, their principal merit being to serve as a barrier between the strong and the weak, the government and the governed. Thus democratic peoples naturally have more need of forms than other peoples, and naturally respect them less.
We would do well to remember those words of wisdom the next time we are pressured to cut corners in our study of important legislative measures.
Some Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.
Senator Cowan: Mr. Clerk, I arrived here in 2005 and did not have an opportunity to work extensively with you before you left us in 2006. I have heard, however, high praise for your extraordinary knowledge of parliamentary procedure, your good judgment, discretion — important in a place like this — and perhaps most importantly, good humour.
On my own behalf and that of all my colleagues on this side, let me assure you that you will have our full cooperation in the discharge of your responsibilities. Welcome back.
Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.
Senator Cowan: I also take this opportunity to join with my friend, the Leader of the Government, to thank our retiring Clerk, Paul Bélisle. Paul set the bar high for his successor — a challenge for Dr. O'Brien, but one I am confident he will meet.
As many of you know, Paul spent virtually his entire professional life in the Senate, beginning as a page while still in university, and rising ultimately to our highest position, Clerk of the Senate and Clerk of the Parliaments in 1994.
When Paul was appointed Clerk, my then-predecessor as Leader of the Opposition, Senator Lynch-Staunton, spoke about the task in store for him. He said:
In conjunction with their immediate associates elsewhere, they . . .
And he meant the Clerk and his table mates.
. . . are responsible for the day-to-day running of the Senate, for the preserving, heating and cooling of its buildings, for the oiling of its committee and, yes, for guarding its inmates. Together, they are our most direct link with the hundreds of Senate employees who make this place what it is and, in this most political place, they are expected to be apolitical. In this house of much rhetoric and occasional rancour, they have the impossible task of seeing no evil, hearing no evil, and, as their greatest challenge, of speaking any of the evil which may, on occasion, be shouted and whispered all about them.
Honourable senators, I think we can all agree that Mr. Bélisle met those challenges admirably.
I suspect we would also agree that Paul has seen interesting times here and he leaves us with a legacy of many accomplishments. The new accountability framework for the Senate and the Senate Administrative Rules are just two concrete examples of the achievements during his tenure.
Over and above these particular documents, impressive as they are, I think Paul's greatest satisfaction will come from the knowledge that he built and led a superb team. We have the privilege of being served by dedicated, thoughtful individuals who apply a wealth of knowledge to this place, to the myriad issues that arise. From our table officers and law clerks, whose excellence has been internationally recognized, to the committee clerks — and it is in our committees that the work of this place particularly shines — to the many individuals who support our work with the interpretation, communication and so many other skills, we are exceptionally well served.
While Mr. Bélisle is retiring from his position as Clerk, we are all delighted to see that he has agreed to serve as a special adviser to His Honour in the field of relations with other parliamentary democracies. We are indeed very fortunate in that.
Thank you, Paul Bélisle.
Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!