Mr. Speaker, I rise today with some sadness to speak on behalf of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to pay tribute to a former member of this House from the riding of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Mr. Bert Hargrave, who passed away last week.
Aside from being extremely well known and liked in his province and in his riding, Mr. Hargrave selflessly devoted a large part of his public and private life to the promotion of agriculture in Canada.
Aside from being a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, Mr. Hargrave also served in World War II as a captain in the tank brigades. Following the end of the war he returned to Canada and took over the family farm in Walsh, Alberta in 1945.
In 1972 he ran and was successfully elected a member of Parliament. As a side note to his victory back then, he defeated the person who was then the minister of agriculture in the government of Mr. Trudeau. He then took his seat in the House as a Progressive Conservative member until his retirement in 1984.
He spent his whole career in opposition, except for the brief term in government in 1979 under the leadership of Mr. Clark where he served, as members probably have already guessed, as parliamentary secretary to the minister of agriculture.
Following his career as a parliamentarian he served as president of the Walsh Cattle Marketing Association, the Western Stock Growers Association and the National Cattlemen's Association, to name a few. He was also southern Alberta chair of the Farm Debt Review Board until the late 1980s and early 1990s.
His tireless and constant dedication to agriculture was recognized when he was inducted into the Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame.
Mr. Hargrave was a true gentlemen and was well respected, I understand, on all sides of the House of Commons. He was unquestionably considered one of the most informed and knowledgeable parliamentarians on all sides in the realm of agriculture. Although I did not have the opportunity or the privilege of knowing him personally, I am told he was recognized as being someone who was tough, sincere, but most of all a very generous man.
He passed away last Tuesday at the age of 79 and will be laid to rest today in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
On behalf of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, I would like to pay tribute to Mr. Hargrave today for his years of service to Canada, to his community, to his province. I want to offer my personal condolences on behalf of my party to his family members and wish them well. But most of all, I would like them to know that this place, this Parliament, his province and his country will forever remember him as being a statesman.