Hon. Peter Harder: Honourable senators, when I was in high school, Dalton Camp wrote a book called Gentlemen, Players and Politicians. I like the book, but I like the title even better. It provides a framework for a few comments on Senator Smith.

Others have referenced that he is a gentleman. I just want to underscore that. Who hasn’t enjoyed his self-deprecatory humour and his ability to provide a warm smile in difficult times? He is a gentleman.

He is a player, in many senses of that word. People have talked about him being a football player, but he has also been a player in politics and a player in the media, and he continues to be an active participant in the game of life.

He is a politician. He is a recidivist Conservative. He ran for office and got the Senate back instead. I have the utmost respect for politicians, and, Larry, you’re one of them.

I want to knit the three — gentleman, player and politician — into one anecdote.

Ten years ago, the new government was facing its first budget. Larry was chair of the Finance Committee. Nicole Eaton was the critic for the Conservatives for the budget. Nicole was a fantastic Speaker pro tempore, but she was quite partisan.

We were doing a clause-by-clause consideration of this first budget on an early morning. One of the — shall I say — non‑Conservative senators felt it was a little early in the morning for them to attend. Remember, the Conservatives had a majority. We were doing clause by clause, and Senator Eaton moved that a clause be deleted. It passed. Of course, I was wondering, what the heck am I going to do now?

Well, the senator arrived, and we finished our clause by clause, and as we were about to rise, Senator Smith, as chair, said, “You know, I think we should revote that first vote we took.” We revoted, and the clause was not defeated. So the bill passed and went on, and nobody really noticed. But we had a gentleman, a player and a politician ensure that the Senate did its work and that we passed that budget even with the integrity of the debate that we had at the moment.

I want to reflect on that because it really does speak to the character that Larry Smith is. He is partisan, he is a gentleman, and he is a real player.

Thank you so much.