Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of Saskatchewan, members of parliament from Saskatchewan and the party that I represent, I am pleased to pay tribute to a man who not only came from Saskatchewan and made Saskatchewan people proud of his efforts, but a man who, like so many people from my province, was proud to come from that province which often suffers great adversity.
As has already been mentioned, he was a grain farmer, but his interests, like so many grain farmers, went beyond the actual farm itself. Alf wanted to do something for all of Saskatchewan. His quest and his goal was to do just that.
He served as president of the Saskatchewan Farmers' Union as well as the National Farmers' Union. He gave much of his time and provided Canada with much insight into the agricultural situation in Saskatchewan. As my hon. colleague from Regina—Qu'Appelle mentioned, he also served on many boards, sometimes in an advisory capacity. He was indeed a credit to Saskatchewan.
I bring to the House a quote of Alf's. He wrote that each generation must fight for what it wants because good things do not just happen. That statement was never more true than it is today. That is exactly why we will find a real fight going on in all of Saskatchewan, in all of the west, in the hope of saving, in many cases, fifth generation farmers from complete disaster.
Farmers who lived through the thirties did not just complain about the living conditions; they went out and did something about them. Sometimes adversity brings about strong character. That is exactly what Alf Gleave gave to Canada, to the House and to the New Democratic Party.
I am proud to have lived very close for 12 years to the seat that Alf represented in the House.
It was Alf's sincerity, courage and dedication that has made a tremendous example for people to follow that goes beyond political parties.
On behalf of my party and on behalf of all of the people in the House, I want to extend our condolences to his family and to everyone everywhere in Canada who remembered him fondly.