The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): I'd now like to call upon the member from Nepean-Carleton to lead us in the tribute to the member from Burlington, Joyce Savoline.
Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm really honoured be able to speak about my mentor tonight, Joyce Savoline. I'm going to cry, so please, nobody tell
Ms. Lisa MacLeod: I'm really honoured to be able to speak about my mentor tonight, Joyce Savoline. I'm going to cry, so please, nobody tell anyone I have a heart, and I won't tell anyone Monique does. I think it's probably a first that she and I have both have shed a tear here today.
I guess that's my moment of levity because it is an emotional night for many of us. A lot of our colleagues here have decided that their path doesn't include this place anymore. We spend day in and day out, we love one another, we sometimes don't love one another, but at the end of the day, we're sort of a club, that 107 of us who come in here every day to fight for our constituents.
My colleague from Burlington has been doing that for 30 years. She first started out in 1982 when she was elected locally and regionally in Burlington. We talked often about that first campaign, that grassroots campaign, that took her, with her community activist friends, to council. Joyce impressed me, obviously, because she has a lot of tenacity, and she became the regional chair of Halton.
True to Joyce's nature as I would later learn, although I didn't know her at the time-I think at the time I would have still been in elementary school learning civics-Joyce did something that not many people do. She had such a belief in democracy and accountability to the public that she actually put her job on the line and she became the first elected chair of the Halton region. For that, I credit her, for putting her constituents first, and her values and their values first. I appreciate that. It also reminds me of my other colleague from Carleton-Mississippi Mills, who quite frankly, did the same. I appreciate that Joyce did that.
She made another difficult decision in 2007 to come back to elected life. I know that she had enjoyed her time. When she did, and many of the women in this chamber will remember at the time, she actually was-for the first time in Ontario history, we smashed that glass ceiling as females, and we actually had 25% of the women in this chamber elected. I think that's gone down since that point in time, but that was a very important time. I must say, I'm glad she did, and I know that all of my caucus colleagues are happy that she arrived here.
She is, as I mentioned, steady counsel to me. We talk about everything from time to time, whether it's about what I should do as a young legislator, what I should do when my daughter is not feeling well or what I should do about a staffing issue. I started calling her my Queen's Park mom. As many of you know, my father has passed on, and my mother is in Nova Scotia. So we're like family-lucky, you don't get to get rid of me.
But I'm going to miss her, and I know that that's going to be my problem because other people need her right now. Of her 44 years being married to her husband, Ron-and I did unlock my BlackBerry to find out how many days that was; I didn't take any pictures when I did it. It's 16,000 days that she's been married to her husband, Ron. Of that she has spent a great deal of her life in public. Her son, Rob, and her daughter, Natasha, have given their mother to public life all this time. So I think it is only that when she actually has grandchildren, the light of her life Olivia and now her new grandson Jack, get to spend an awful lot of time with Joyce, and we're very happy about that.
Joyce is going to leave Queen's Park with a well earned reputation, Speaker, as will you. She will be known for her long view, her sage advice particularly to me. She'll be known for her selflessness and her dedication to her constituents.
She will be known also for her sense of humour. I'm glad the Premier is here tonight because I know when I give a hard question, I've done right-not by how excited your crowd gets but how loud she laughs in my ear. And I enjoy it.
She's got grace, dignity. She's kind, she's thoughtful. Every one of those qualities personifies Joyce, and on behalf of Sylvia Jones and the Ontario PC caucus, I'd like to petition the Legislature tonight that we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows: Our choice is Joyce. Can we try to get her back from retirement? |
