Parliamentarians paying tribute to late governor general, MP
Published Wednesday November 4th, 2009
OTTAWA - The late Romeo LeBlanc, who served his province and country as governor general, senator, fisheries minister and MP, will be paid tribute today by party leaders and MPs in the House of Commons.
Heritage Minister James Moore will pay tribute to LeBlanc on behalf of the Government of Canada. Acadie-Bathurst MP Yvon Godin will be speaking on behalf of the New Democratic Party.
LeBlanc, who died in June at the age of 81, was also remembered Tuesday by his former colleagues in the Senate.
LeBlanc's son Dominic, the Liberal MP for Beauséjour, stood at the railing on the Senate floor to hear the speeches from both sides of the aisle.
Reminiscences and tributes were offered by Speaker of the Senate Noel Kinsella, New Brunswick senators Fernand Robichaud and Percy Mockler and Newfoundland and Labrador senator William Rompkey, among others.
"I found it very moving to see a number of my father's former colleagues speak about him, not only in his public work in the Senate or as a minister and member of Parliament, but as a father and a family man," said Dominic.
"It was a very warm and moving tribute."
Dominic LeBlanc said he appreciated Kinsella recalling that his father tried to conduct himself in a non-partisan way when he was in the Senate.
The elder LeBlanc served in the upper chamber from 1983 until 1994.
Some of the speeches also reflected on LeBlanc's achievements as federal fisheries minister.
He was in that role from 1976 to 1982, which made him the country's longest-serving fisheries minister.
He was the first Acadian and first Maritimer to be named governor general, a post he held from 1994 to 1999.
LeBlanc was given a state funeral in early July in Memramcook.
The tributes in the Commons are scheduled to occur at 4 p.m. EST, after question period.
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Politicians regardless of what they take credit for are nothing more then a bunch of freeloading lawyers who couldn't make it practising law, so instead opted for a career in politics so they could steal as much money as they could from us the working poor. And if any of them actually did an honest days work in their life would likely die from the stress.
polictians are always so full of themselves. There is barley an honest one amongest them.