Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay my respects to the late former Senator Bert Brown. My thoughts and prayers are with his daughter, Angela. Bert died on February 3, just shy of his 80th birthday and three years after the passing of his beloved wife, Alice.
The distinguished Albertan studied civil engineering at the University of Oklahoma, earned a pilot's licence after Vietnam veterans taught him how to fly, advised Alberta's premier on the Charlottetown Accord, and was a licensed realtor, former newspaper columnist, past director of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, and member of the board of my riding association.
In 2007, former prime minister Stephen Harper appointed Bert Brown to the Senate of Canada, three years after he took the most votes in Alberta's third senate election in 2004. Prior to his appointment, he spent 20 years fighting for an elected, equal, and effective Senate. Bert is best known, especially in my part of the country, for plowing the message “Triple-E Senate or else” into his neighbour's barley field.
Bert will be sadly missed.