Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I learned of the passing this week of Saskatchewan farmer Ken Ritter, the first producer-elected chairman of the Canadian Wheat Board. He was just 64 years old. He held degrees from three different universities, taught school in Australia and practised law in Regina, but Ken's home and heart were on the farm in west central Saskatchewan.
He was an active citizen through Rotary, Kinsmen and hockey, through surface rights arbitrations and farmland security legislation, as a commissioner on the National Transportation Agency and then, for a decade, elected director and chair of the Canadian Wheat Board.
Intellectually rigorous with a passion for honest debate, Ken was an innovator, always generating new ideas to better serve farmers.
With his three children, Ramon, Felice and Nicole, eight grandchildren, other family members and many friends, we will cherish his memory.