Mr. Speaker, I am very humbled to take the floor. I have the great privilege today of paying tribute to the Hon. Marc Garneau. Our country has lost one of its greatest Canadians, one of its greatest citizens.

The Hon. Marc Garneau was an inspiration to millions of Canadians throughout his life, and he will continue to be for decades, if not hundreds of years. He devoted his life to public service and did so everywhere, on land, at sea, and in space. He was a distinguished politician. Across Canada, he is remembered today with words like “integrity”, “dignity” and “statesmanship”. He always acted with deep humility.

Marc Garneau was born in Quebec City, so of course he had a good start in life. He excelled in his engineering studies, but he did not stop there. He earned a Ph.D. in engineering. He served as an officer in the Royal Canadian Navy. When he was young and wanted a change of scenery, he sailed across the Atlantic. While he is most likely the Canadian who has travelled the fastest in space, reaching a speed of 28,000 kilometres per hour, he also crossed the Atlantic in a sailboat. This proves that, for some folks, time is relative.

He was Canada's first astronaut. Four thousand people across the country applied, and he was the number one candidate out of 4,000 Canadians. He was the first to go into space on October 5, 1984. Every anniversary of that date, I would post a little picture to commemorate the event, especially when he sat in the House. As someone who is passionate about space exploration, it was an important moment for me. I would be willing to bet that everyone here who has a bit of white hair, like me, remembers exactly where they were when Mr. Garneau became the first Canadian to go into space.

During his first mission, he did his country proud, not once, but twice. One of his tasks was to shoot a film with an IMAX camera. As many people know, IMAX is a Canadian invention. As he was filming, he always made sure to show the Canadarm.

The famous Canadarm is one of the greatest Canadian achievements in space. We shall be proud of it for all our lives.

I once met him in private and asked him if he went out of his way to film the Canadarm with the Canadian flag and the word “Canada” on it because we saw it a lot in the films. He said it was just a coincidence. The proud Canadian that he was, he certainly made sure to capture the word “Canada” in the image and the Canadarm in all its splendour. Let us not forget that he brought a hockey puck with him. He was Canadian through and through.

He did not stop after his first trip to space. He made a second and a third trip over the course of his career that spanned 16 years. That is rather significant. An astronaut is already the best of the best. Out of eight billion people, there are only a few hundred who have gone into space. He went three times. That is a testament to his intelligence and his absolutely extraordinary intellectual acuity, but also to his physical health. He perfectly embodied the expression “a healthy mind in a healthy body”.

Beyond these three missions, what impresses me most as a space enthusiast is that he served as a “capcom” a dozen times. What is that? My colleagues have probably seen the movie Apollo 13, which shows people in the Houston mission control centre. They are all there and talking to each other, but there is just one person talking from Houston to the astronauts in space, and that is the capcom.

I am making a point of this because capcoms are the only link between Earth and the astronauts in space. They are the most important people for astronauts, especially since all capcoms are astronauts. This dates back to the 1960s. The astronauts at the time wanted them to be peers, people like them who knew how to fly and go into space, not some technical or engineering expert whose only experience was being a passenger on an airplane. Astronauts were particularly sensitive at the time.

Mr. Garneau was the first Canadian capcom. He therefore had the respect and admiration of all his fellow astronauts and everyone who worked in Houston, including engineers and program directors. He was the only one who spoke to the astronauts. This is on top of the fact that when they spoke, they used very long acronyms, but Mr. Garneau knew exactly what they were talking about because he was the direct link to the astronauts. We can be very proud of what Mr. Garneau accomplished as an astronaut.

He then decided to serve in politics. No one is perfect, obviously. In his memoir, he talked about blue Liberals. That was not so bad; it was a good start.

We might joke about the fact that he was an astronaut, but he was a star candidate, to say the least. Obviously, everybody knew him around the country, and as my other colleague said earlier, he was an attraction for everybody. He worked hard, tirelessly, trying to convince people, and then suddenly, bang, he lost. That is what politics is all about.

It was not his only disappointment in politics, because he lost a second time in the leadership. I will not repeat what my colleague said about the fact that it was incredible that he lost in his first election. He also lost the leadership. I will not repeat what the member said there, but it was incredible that he lost the leadership too.

We know star candidates run for election. They usually get elected, but when they lose, they usually disappear from the political landscape forever. Mr. Garneau did not. He kept trying, which proves that he was in politics for the right reasons. He was there to serve. As another member said, he was first elected as an opposition member. That happens. Then he was elected as a government member. That is what everyone hopes for. He served as a minister, and I had dealings with him a few times.

I must admit that the first time I saw him, it was at the cafeteria in Centre Block. I saw him from a distance. He was eating just like a normal person. I thought, “No way, that's Marc Garneau right there.” Trembling like a leaf, I said hello and told him I was happy to meet him. He replied and called me by my name. Imagine that. He knew me, the little nobody that I was. I was happy and I could not believe it. He looked at me with a bit of a grin, then I told him I had a huge problem with him because he was one of my Canadian heroes. How could I do my job in the opposition? He said he was convinced that I could do it. Indeed, I tried my best.

He was a good listener. Among other things, I remember conversations I had with him to allow the C Series aircraft, as they were called back then, to land at Billy Bishop airport. Later, he served as foreign affairs minister, for a mere nine months, unfortunately. He did a good job.

Fortunately, even though his life was too short, as my colleague so aptly said earlier, he had the opportunity to write his memoirs, which will be very useful.

I would never claim to be a close friend of Mr. Garneau. I kept in touch with him during his political life and even after. We would write to each other from time to time. We shared our observations. The last time I wrote to him was about a month ago. As my granddaughter Léanne was celebrating her fifth birthday, we had the pleasure of giving her an astronaut suit. To her little sister Elizabeth—when it is one child's birthday, you have to give a small gift to the other—we gave a little astronaut stuffie. I sent photos to Mr. Garneau. A few minutes later, he replied that my granddaughters were adorable and that Léanne was wearing a nice suit. He asked if she was ready for a space walk and said that the next generation had arrived.

Yes, the next generation has arrived, and they will always be inspired by your life, which has been so inspiring to all Canadians. Thank you, Mr. Garneau.

Gérard Deltell

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