Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Bloc Quebecois, I too wish to pay tribute to Alfred Pullen Gleave, who sat as a member of the New Democratic Party in the House of Commons from 1968 to 1974 and represented the riding of Saskatoon-Biggar.
A farm producer, grain farmer and seed grower by profession, he was a member of agricultural unions and, as the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle reminded us earlier, was president of the Saskatchewan Farmers Union and the National Farmers Union. As he wrote in the introduction to his autobiographical United We Stand—Prairie Farmers 1901-1975 :
“Political action was an extension of the farmer's movement. I used it as well as I could to advance western Canadians' interests in general and the farmer's movement in particular.”
During the six years he sat in the House, he was an ardent defender of farmers and a formidable member of the Standing Committee on Agriculture. He was a feisty MP, as my colleague and friend, the hon. member for Winnipeg-Transcona, just told me.
He was particularly interested in issues having to do with the price of wheat, farm marketing boards, price controls and inflation. He served as president of his party's caucus and also served a leader, David Lewis who, like his predecessor, Tommy Douglas, was, in his words, and I am again quoting from United We Stand , “an outstanding man”.
To a man whose efforts gave meaning to the slogan “Humanity first” of the CCF, the forerunner to the New Democratic Party, to the man who also toiled on behalf of his family, his constituents and his fellow citizens for
“a more secure and bountiful life for themselves by working together, by sharing the load”,
members of the Bloc Quebecois pay a final tribute, and to the family and friends of the late Alf Gleave, present their deepest condolences.