Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
editor@qctonline.com
Over 100 members of the English-speaking community of Quebec City gathered in College Hall at the Morrin Centre for the annual Literary Feast, which serves as a fundraiser for the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec (LHSQ) and a family reunion of sorts for the English-speaking community.
Guests mingled at a cocktail party in the Morrin Centre’s historic library before taking their seats in College Hall, where LHSQ president Gina Farnell and honorary chair and philanthropist Cynthia Price made opening remarks. Guests savoured a four-course meal and placed bids at the silent auction. However, the pièce de résistance was a wide-ranging, bilingual discussion between the keynote speaker, former astronaut and federal cabinet minister Marc Garneau, and master of ceremonies Alison Brunette, host of Breakaway on CBC Radio One.
Garneau, 74, who represented the Montreal riding of Westmount–Notre-Dame- de-Grâce in Parliament, was born at Jeffery Hale Hospital in Quebec City – “the old one, in Vieux-Québec.” He holds a PhD in engineering and served as an army combat systems engineer before being seconded to the Canadian Astronaut Program in 1984; later that year, he became the first Canadian in space. Brunette and Garneau brought the Oct. 5, 1984 launch to life as only an adept interviewer and a willing storyteller can.
“Take me back to that moment, you’re sitting there – 10, nine, eight … what’s going through your mind?” Brunette asked.
“The night before, we went to bed at 7 p.m., because … we were going to be woken up at 2:45 to get dressed, have a last medical checkup, get breakfast – nobody eats very much on launch day – and be driven out to the launch pad.” From there, astronauts took a 185-foot elevator to the space shuttle, which stood vertically. “If you imagine yourselves tipped over backward looking at the ceiling, that’s what your seat is like,” Garneau said as guests tipped their heads back. “There are people who sit you in your seat … and connect your radio, your oxygen, so you’re ready to go. Then they say good luck and close the hatch … You’re left there for two and a half hours before launch, the longest two and a half hours of your life. A lot of things go through your mind – do I really want to do this? Am I ready? Have I told my family I love them? Have I paid all my bills? As you get closer … you realize you are ready, and you’re going to live something that very few people have ever experienced.”
Less than nine minutes after liftoff, Garneau and his fellow astronauts were in orbit. “There’s a lot of noise in the first few minutes, a lot of vibration and acceleration that pins you to your seat. Then they cut the engines and suddenly it’s very quiet.” He described the “euphoria” of weightlessness, the “worrisome” clouds of pollution over parts of Earth and the “extraordinary” sight of the planet from above.
“From Earth, our perspective goes out to the horizon – 10 or 15 kilometres around. When you see the entire planet, your perspective starts to change. You see that this planet is the cradle of humanity … there’s nowhere else to go, and we have to find a way to get along with each other,” he said.
Garneau served in Parliament from 2008 until earlier this year. The discussion touched on Garneau’s political career – although it sidestepped the hot-button issues of the Quebec City tramway, the “third link” and recent official languages legislation. He mentioned that his five years as transport minister were the highlight of his tenure, and called on current leaders, without mentioning names, to base transport policy on analysis, not politics.
“People may not agree with you, but at least they’ll know you’ve done a thorough analysis, and I think that’s the proper way to approach policy,” he said.
The Q&A session touched on climate change, high-speed rail (which Garneau supports), a return to politics (which he nixed), the culture clash between engineering and politics, private space exploration, human rights, extraterrestrials and the existence of a higher power. “During those two and a half hours, I prayed there was a god, and when I got up there and saw what I saw, it really made me think about those big questions – how did this come about, how far does the universe extend, are we alone, is there a creator? I don’t have the answers, but I’ve thought about it a lot,” Garneau said. “The universe is so big that statistically, there have to be solar systems where there are planets that are the right distance from their sun [to support life]. I’m convinced of that.”