The first thing to say of course is that he could have chosen a much easier path. When you are an astronaut and the first Canadian in outer space you are pretty much guaranteed to be loved. Politicians though? Not so much. Sometimes they are appreciated after they retire or after they pass away - with the benefit of time and perspective - but when they are actually practicing politics they attract intense criticism. This has gotten much worse in the era of social media.

Marc loved Canada deeply but more than once I heard him observe that he had to admit that there was more hatred in this country than he realized. Or perhaps that something had changed about the country. Marc got off relatively easy as a member of the Trudeau government. Many of the female Ministers had to deal with much worse from what I observed. Nevertheless he had a lot of abuse directed at him. I think back on some of the vile things said to him on social media over the years and wonder if those people feel shame today. Probably not.

He went into politics with his eyes wide open though and knew he would have to pay this particular price.

As MP Chris Bittle, a former Parliamentary Secretary to him, observed recently: some people go into politics to become someone, some go into it to get things done. He was very much in that latter category. For one thing he had already become someone before he entered politics.

He chose to go into politics after serving as the President of the Canadian Space Agency. He observed that it was at the Cabinet table that the crucial decisions were made about issues like what level of resources should go into Canadian space exploration and science and he wanted to be part of those conversations. 

His initial foray was bumpy. He ran as a “star candidate” in the ill-fated 2006 election in the riding of Vaudreuil-Soulanges. This was during the heart of the sponsorship scandal. The Liberal Government, under the leadership of Jean Chrétien, then Paul Martin, had been in power since 1993 and was running on fumes at this point. It was the wrong riding at the wrong time. For one of the rare times in his life he did not succeed. He made a few mistakes, learned a lot about how to be a politician and eventually decided to give it another try two years later in 2008, this time in his home riding of Westmount—Ville-Marie (since re-named as Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount) in Montreal.

That is where I first met him, working as a volunteer on that campaign. My job was to knock on doors and to arrange transportation for seniors and voters with mobility challenges on election day. That election was quite challenging. It started out as a by-election before Stephen Harper turned it into a General Election on the last possible day. That meant he had to campaign for close to 80 days straight if I recall. For anyone who has ever worked on an election they will know that is deeply exhausting. Marc won this time though.

We got along and he subsequently offered me a job in his constituency office through his then Chief-of-Staff Hervé Rivet. I mostly did “case work” (helping constituents sort out problems with immigration, Canada Revenue, etc.) and community outreach.

I enjoyed the work but this first stint was short-lived as I had to relocate to Ottawa to do an internship with the federal government as part of the requirements to earn my Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Public Administration at Concordia University.

Although working as a public servant was a valuable and educational experience, I found I did not enjoy it as much as the work I had been doing for Marc. I felt like a very small cog in a very large machine and I was unimpressed by the work the Harper government was doing on the files I worked on. By contrast I felt like the work I did for Marc made a real difference in the lives of his constituents, even if the impact was more limited to one individual at a time.

My internship ended and I was lost for a while, not sure what to do next. I experienced depression. I eventually worked up the courage to go back to Marc though and offer my services in his Parliament Hill office. He welcomed me back - the job offer extended by his Ottawa-based Chief at the time, Roch Gamache - and we were off to the races in what eventually turned into a fairly lengthy collaboration and career in politics.

These were opposition years for the federal Liberals and not particularly easy. I’ve always found the Liberals are not very effective as an opposition party (with the Rat Pack that plagued Mulroney being a notable exception). Perhaps it is a function of being in power for so many years. It makes it more difficult to criticize the government of the day if these critiques contradict choices you made when you were in power. Also years in government tend to blur your ideological identity. This is natural since government is about dealing with reality and an ideological blueprint is often inadequate for this purpose. In opposition however a clear ideological identity is useful since it helps you communicate a more consistent and simplistic message.

To be successful in opposition you have be good at capturing attention since you are competing with a government that has all the power, money and initiative. You also have to possess a certain shamelessness since you are often making criticisms that are contradictory and that oftentimes you know to be spurious or exaggerated. Nevertheless that is the job!

Marc was not a natural as an opposition politician. His low-key style often bored the media and he possessed too much integrity to go full attack dog. On the other hand, his obvious intelligence and his stature gave his criticisms more weight when he did make them. Luckily the Harper government gave us plenty to criticize. He was particularly effective in prosecuting the case against the decision to cancel the long-form census, to censor federal scientists and on some of the procurement decisions related to the F-35 fighter jet. He pushed the government hard to secure the release of Mohamed Fahmy, a Canadian journalist unfairly jailed in Egypt, who was eventually released.

The 2011 election was an especially tough one for the Liberal Party, including Marc. This was a function of many things. The leader, Michael Ignatieff, was a brilliant man but ill-suited to be a politician. He tagged Marc as his “Quebec lieutenant” which meant he spent much of the election campaigning for our candidates in unheld ridings, instead of his own riding. This ended up being a doomed effort.

I was late joining the campaign myself as I was finishing up a thesis-length research paper as the final requirement for my Masters. When I went down to Montreal things were already looking grim. I worked like a dog though as our Volunteer Coordinator. One memory I look back on fondly is a pep speech I gave to our phone callers on E-Day pushing them to get every last vote before the polls closed. I like to think that made a difference.

The election result ended up being very close in Marc’s riding. For most of the night the media was projecting a narrow NDP win and eventually the CBC called it for them. We had a room full of exhausted volunteers and Marc felt pressure to let them go home. He eventually gave a gracious concession speech and he retired for the evening. A small group of us stayed behind though and kept watching the Elections Canada website for the final results to come in. Some of you may know the last ballots counted are the sealed ones that were collected during the Advance Polls. Because we had done a good job bringing out these early voters we eventually caught up and pulled off a narrow victory. Our campaign manager, Francois Rivet, and Roch Gamache called Marc at around 2am, waking him up to give him the good news. Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat! What an emotional turnaround and what a well-deserved second chance given his hard work and dedication.

I stayed on in Montreal for a little while after the election rebuilding our political operation in the riding. The Liberal Party had been reduced to a small 34-member caucus and third place in the House of Commons. It was a humbling result. Not for the first nor the last time, many pundits confidently predicted the death of the party.

However one good thing about a setback is that you learn who your true friends are. Those Canadians who truly believe in the value and mission of the Liberal Party of Canada fought the good fight and rebuilt the party.

I actually look back fondly on those 2011-2015 years in opposition. Our caucus was small but unified and punched above its weight. Bob Rae became leader and did an excellent job rallying our spirits. We became better at opposition. 

One crucial moment was the 2012 Biennial Convention when thousands of Liberals gathered in Ottawa during a big snowstorm to brainstorm how to rebuild the party. This helped convince Marc and others that there was still life in the party.

About a year later the Party organized a race to choose the Leader that would take us into the next election. 

It became pretty clear early on that Justin Trudeau was the overwhelming favourite due to a great organization he built, his charisma and talent at campaigning and the good will and recognition his family name evoked among Liberal supporters. 

Marc made the bold choice to enter the contest after a lot of careful consideration. I believe he did this for two principal reasons: (1) he was urged to do so by fellow Liberals who felt it was important that Trudeau be tested by credible challengers, particularly in case he stumbled over the course of the race; and (2), perhaps more importantly, this was a rare opportunity for him to share his own policy ideas and speak in a more unfettered and candid way about those ideas. Politics is a team sport. You have to make a lot of compromises to get anything accomplished and it means holding the party line once a collective decision has been taken. If there is one thing that Marc grasped well from his upbringing and his days in the Canadian Navy it was the importance of discipline and teamwork so he understood this well. However it also means swallowing a lot of things you may personally disagree with. Not always easy. But these constraints are loosened considerably during a leadership contest. More generally, I think he decided that now that he had made the decision to enter politics as a third career he should go all out and push himself as hard as possible, experience as much as he could, fulfill his greatest potential. Like in the rest of his life, he was courageous and dared big things.

He ultimately took the plunge because he was supported by a small but whip-smart team.  Justin To was critical in assembling this team and getting the campaign off the ground. Andy Mitchell, a former federal Minister was also crucial and became the Campaign Manager. Others who made invaluable contributions included Derek Ferguson, Anne Dawson,Dan Langer, Jordan Owens, Kevin Draper, Ali A. Salam, Christine Michaud, Carlene Variyan and Zenon Domanczuk. I am no doubt forgetting many names and I apologize for those I overlooked.

The campaign never caught up with the big lead that Trudeau had established but it was a lot of fun. Marc travelled across the country meeting countless Liberal supporters and sharing his ideas. It was a lot of work but I believe he found the experience deeply rewarding and I do think he offered at least a modest challenge to Trudeau and helped him hone his skills in the lead up to the 2015 General Election. 

By this point I was back working in Marc’s Parliament Hill office and had to limit my help to off-duty hours. My main role was to manage his campaign schedule, a challenging task as he travelled across the country and made many last minute changes to his itinerary. It was satisfying work though and I was happy to make a contribution and be part of a great team of people.  

We spent a good chunk of the next year raising money to pay back the $500,000 or so we spent on the campaign. No easy feat asking people for money after the race is over and when you are a third place party. Eventually though we pulled it off.

After Trudeau became leader, he tasked Marc and future MP Stephen Fuhr with co-chairing an International Affairs Council of Advisors. This was a group of experts, mostly former diplomats, DFAIT staff and academics who advised Trudeau on foreign affairs. It was meant to help address a perception that Trudeau was lacking in gravitas. I supported Marc in this work and found it to be a fascinating exercise. I was privileged enough to sit in on a number of meetings of the Council and learned a tremendous amount, as did our future PM I believe.

The relationship between Marc and Justin Trudeau was a complicated one. At the end of the day though I think it was a mutually beneficial one. I think they both went into politics for  the right reasons and did as much good as they could. I believe they respected each other. It did not end up having the best ending but I have observed political careers often end in tears and this should be expected if you get into this line of business.

After the stunning Liberal election victory in 2015, Marc was appointed Transport Minister by Prime Minister Trudeau. I don’t think this was Marc’s first preference but, like always, he put his shoulder into it and was determined to become the best ever Transport Minister in Canadian history. I’ll leave it to others to judge whether he accomplished that goal but he certainly gave it his best effort. He served in this role between 2015 to 2021. Only a couple of previous Transport Ministers served as long. The Canadian Press story published yesterday focused on his role bringing in the first ever legislation on passenger rights for air travellers. This was certainly the work he did that attracted the most public attention as almost every Canadian who has travelled by air has experienced poor service at times. The airlines resisted regulation fiercely but i think they owe him a favour for pushing them to improve their performance. Still more work to be done on this front!

In my opinion though his more valuable contributions were on other fronts. In particular I think of his Oceans Protection Plan, which significantly boosted Canada’s capacity to protect our coastlines and waterways from things like oil spills. Besides the inherent pubic good of this initiative, it was instrumental in building support for the expansion of the TMX pipeline, which in turn makes us less economically dependent on the U.S. 

Besides the Oceans Protection Plan, greater safety was a constant preoccupation. He worked long and hard to mandate greater rest for airline pilots and truck drivers, having to overcome considerable industry resistance. He enhanced public understanding of the dangers of laser strikes aimed at blinding pilots. He introduced new regulations to better manage drones.

In addition he passed important legislation and programs to protect navigable waters; to improve the performance of Canadian supply chains and to address abandoned and hazardous ship wrecks that were a blight to coastal communities across the country.

One piece of legislation that I am especially proud of is the Oil Tanker Moratorium off the Northern Coast of B.C.  The policy merits of this bill can (and were) debated extensively. But the importance of it in my opinion is that it fulfilled an election promise we had made to the Coastal First Nations to protect their waters and adjoining temperate rain forest from oil spills. These people had been betrayed too many times by Canada. It was important we kept our word. Marc did.

Besides this he regularly helped steer Transport Canada through many crises,  notably the trade challenges of the first Trump administration; the tragic shooting down of Airlines Flight 752 in Iran; the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302; and the shutdown of practically the entire transportation system as part of the fight to save lives during the COVID pandemic. A lot to deal with but he always provided steady leadership and good judgment. He always did his homework.

I wrote in my previous post about one the lessons of Marc’s life was about the importance of having big dreams and the courage to pursue them. I so admired that about him. It inspired me and made me want to work as hard as I could on his behalf so as not to let him down. 

One time I did though. 

Shortly after Marc was named Transport Minister, I followed him into his new office. This was a privilege and not something owed to me. Plenty of talented people wanted to work for him.

However I found the new responsibilities to be overwhelming at first. Expectations were so high for the new government and there was so much to learn. Transport Canada in particular is a department full of highly technical issues. It felt like being at the bottom of an enormous mountain. 

Marc hired some brilliant people to work in his office. They were supplemented by more brilliant people in the public service ranks at Transport Canada. I felt outmatched and was worried I would let Marc down. Self-doubt has always been one of my weaknesses and this was manifesting itself.

I asked Marc if I could go back to working in his Hill office which he still maintained as an MP. This essentially meant twiddling my thumbs though since all the action was in the Minister’s office (my colleagues in the Montreal constituency office were able to handle most of his MP files, leaving only the hardest cases for him to deal with during “break weeks” when the House was not sitting). Looking back, I remember that meeting as one of the most profoundly embarrassing and shameful moments in my life because I was failing to rise to the challenge. I was giving in to self-doubt and fear. I was not living up to the example of Marc Garneau. 

He accommodated my request even though he probably should have just cut me loose. 

Very fortunately though after a few months, I worked up enough courage to ask to re-join the Minister’s office (encouraged by two colleagues who became good friends, Marc Roy and Jean-Philippe Arseneau). Marc Garneau welcomed me back - water under the bridge - and I eventually found a niche and made a contribution.

I still wince when I think of that meeting though. Marc made you want to go for a wall through him. That was one of his secret powers. And chickening out from going through that wall should never have been an option.

I still struggle with self-doubt these days. I don’t have the courage of a Marc Garneau. But when I waver I think back on that moment and try to be a better man. To whatever extent I succeed, that is a gift I owe to him.

After Marc was named Foreign Affairs Minister in 2021, I chose to remain at Transport Canada under his successor Omar Alghabra and I saw Marc less often. His tenure at GAC was unfortunately short-lived but I know he did good work helping Canadians who got stranded abroad as part of the Covid travel restrictions and in helping to bring back the two Michaels from prison in China. He was working hard on a new Canadian foreign policy framework and I would have really liked to have seen him bring this to fruition. He was dropped from Cabinet after the 2021 election though and then retired from politics a couple of years later.

Even in his last stint though he did interesting and important work, notably chairing a Committee studying Assisted Medical Dying. I know he found this to be a very meaningful exercise. 

In closing, allow me to say one word about my relationship with Marc. Many people have written to me since his passing to express their condolences. They know I worked for him for a long time and believe we were close friends. In fact the relationship was mostly one of employer-employee. We are both friendly, polite and considerate people but not overly emotive. I am actually much more personal from the safety of social media than I am in person.

I rarely discussed personal matters with Marc. Every now and then we would share a little down time and have more relaxed conversations and I have fond memories of these moments but he was a very busy man and I mostly concentrated on doing everything I could to support his work. In truth he was more of a hero to me than a close friend. It is in fact hard to be friends with someone you place on a pedestal. 

Of course, he was a human being like the rest of us. He had his flaws and moments of weaknesses and I saw those from time to time. But really he was an outstanding man and an outstanding Canadian. He represented the best of us. I was loyal to him and he was loyal to me. We tried our best. I respected him greatly and I will always be grateful to have known him and supported him.

Rest in peace Marc.

Jean Proulx previously served as a staffer to Marc Garneau - 2008-2021