Mr. Speaker, what is funny is that, even though I am an Alberta MP who has been here for quite some time, two of my best friends have been Bob Sopuck and Candice Bergen, the MP my colleague just replaced. People back home might be questioning my Alberta credentials right now, but they do not need to worry about that; they are still intact.
Of course, I express my condolences to Caroline and the entire family.
One thing I look back on is that Bob and I spent a lot of time here together. He put the meat on the bones of the Conservative hunting and angling caucus. He galvanized it. I was here a bit before him and we became instant friends because of our like-minded views of the world. I grew up on a beef ranch in Alberta and loved hunting and fishing. I have spent time as an outdoorsman, a conservation officer, a national park warden and a fisheries technician for Alberta Fish and Wildlife working on walleye. We became fast friends. I was able to spend a bit of time in his riding and he was able to spend a bit time in mine. We did a bit of hunting and fishing together too. The Sims boys were there.
One of the best duck hunts I have ever been on in my life was with Bob Sopuck. These canvasbacks were going 100 miles an hour, jinking all over the place. We could not hit anything. I openly admit that. I think we probably fired 100 rounds of shotgun shells and came back with three ducks, but we had a lot of fun.
He was a great guy, and I am beside myself. I am going to miss Bob. We stayed in touch on a regular basis. He did not just come and go or do his thing and leave; he still cared. I was so angry when he left because I felt like I lost half of the duo, but I am glad he did now because we never know how much time we are going to have. I am glad that he was able to spend those years back in his beautiful log house on the farm with Caroline.
One thing I loved about Bob is that he would always find a way to defend rural folk. As a guy who grew up on a cow-calf operation, he would defend beef farmers as some of the best environmentalists we have. They are often under attack. I wonder if my colleague would elaborate on how well Mr. Sopuck defended the cattle ranchers in this great country.