James Moore: Marc Garneau was my opposition critic, and a special kind of leader

Marc Garneau's death at 76 following a short illness has left the Canadian space and political world in shock and mourning. Genvieve Beauchemin on his legacy.

James Moore is a former federal cabinet minister under prime minister Stephen Harper, and a columnist for CTVNews.ca.

Canada, and the world, lost the Honourable Marc Garneau this week. He was a truly great Canadian in every sense of the word. In the coming days much will be said about his achievements and legacy, and it will be a challenge to sufficiently summarize a life so well lived.

With that said, I offer here a story about the decency and character of Marc Garneau the parliamentarian, who I knew when we served together.

Back in 2013 when I had the privilege to serve as Canada’s Minister of Industry, I received my mandate letter from Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The letter contained an extensive to-do list that covered campaign promises, problems from the past that needed addressing, opportunities for Canada that lay ahead and a suite of policy and legislative reforms that needed attention.

The list was comprehensive and covered everything from intellectual property reform to automotive policy, telecommunications policy, the need to spur growth in research and development, improving foreign investment rules, global and domestic trade diversification aspirations, aerospace policy and more.

The task list was significant but exciting at the same time. The Department of Industry is the second largest department in the Government of Canada, so there were plenty of policy challenges, lots of opportunities to make lasting contributions and a great deal for me to learn as minister.

One of the areas that needed desperate attention was Canada’s space policy. Truth be told, our government did not have much of vision for — or even much of a grasp of — space policy in Canada. Even though the sector employs 8,000 to 10,000 Canadians and is a $3 billion to $5 billion contributor to Canada’s economy, space policy was not a priority for our government, and few members of our caucus or cabinet had significant expertise in the subject matter.

Then, one day, then-Liberal leader Justin Trudeau named the honourable member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount, Marc Garneau, as my opposition critic. The Marc Garneau, the legendary astronaut who made history as the first Canadian in space in 1984 aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger and who then went to space twice more on Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1996 and 2000, respectively.

In a Ted Talk in Toronto in 2013, he noted that on his three missions to space he had been around Earth about 450 times and logged nearly 700 hours in space. Oh, and for just a touch more credibility, he was the former head of the Canadian Space Agency.

This is who my opposition critic was. Suffice it to say, it was a rather intimidating.

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As the minister responsible for space policy, I did my best. I read everything I could, assembled a roundtable of advisors who educated me and offered reasonable advice, and I worked to understand the massive file. But, simply put, Marc Garneau in his sleep, with two per cent of his knowledge and experience engaged, could dismantle any mishandling of this file if I got things wrong.

So, one day in Parliament I crossed the floor and sat in the empty seat next to him and asked him for help. I asked him for his advice on space policy and some of the big issues we were wrestling with. I wanted to understand Canada’s ongoing leadership of the International Space Station and the incredible work that Col. Chris Hadfield was doing and how we could benefit from it going forward.

I wanted to understand the opportunity of the James Webb Space Telescope and if the investment and participation made sense for Canada. I wanted to understand the Canadian Space Agency and what needed to be done to modernize its mandate and align our opportunities with our allies and industry. I wanted to know more. I needed to understand these things.

And wouldn’t you know, for over an hour, on file after file after file, Marc Garneau took me to school. He helped. He was thoughtful and kind. He answered my questions, suggested a reading list, schooled me on where our government needed to reconsider things, scolded me gently for not engaging the sector as I should have, and was gracious and helpful in ways that are hard to summarize. He didn’t have to help me — he was my “opposition critic” and it wasn’t his job. But he wasn’t that kind of person or parliamentarian.

In our increasingly hyper partisan culture, there was every incentive to expose our government’s space policy inadequacy. But that was not who Marc Garneau was. He wanted us to get it right. He wanted Canada to be stronger. He wanted me to do better and be better informed and to sincerely hold me to a higher standard. He was generous, not an opportunist or partisan hack. Put another way, he was great.

Weeks later when we announced our space policy, journalists who covered the file went straight to Marc and asked him what he thought. He said to the Canadian Press: “This is a winner for Canada, we just have to execute it.” I remember thinking: “He didn’t have to say that. What a guy.”

If he wanted to, he could have taken me apart and said we were late to the game, or that we had let the policy wither and we’d hurt Canada, or that we didn’t put enough money on the table to really get things done, or any of the other usual jabs we typically see coming out of parliament. But he didn’t say those things. He was classy, he held his fire, and he was a gentleman who wanted to see Canada lead and win. He was a special kind of selfless leader who is far too rare in modern politics.

On March 8, 2023, Marc gave his final speech in Parliament. In his 13-minute-and 16-second speech, not once did he boast about his achievements. He could have; many do, but he didn’t. He was never the obnoxious type to ever do something like that. The address was one of thanks for the opportunity to serve, thanks to his staff and thanks to his constituents and family. It was a humble and hopeful message, and it was a call for dignity and reasonable disagreement.

His parting advice to future parliamentarians: “Find your better angels and put away the anger and false indignation. Make Canadians proud of this House.”

Marc Garneau has left us. And while a great Canadian is gone, his example and legacy of statesmanship, kindness and leadership will forever be remembered and mirrored by generations of Canadians who aspire to serve Canada with lasting impact, humility and grace.