It is an absolute honour to stand before you today to share tribute—and I’m much like Bob, our friend from Sarnia–Lambton. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I have some amazing stories to tell. So bear with me.

It’s a tribute to stand up in front of you today to talk about Jack—John, if you will, official name—Keith Riddell.

I want to welcome his family to Queen’s Park. For those of you who are visiting for the first time, welcome to your House. Take time to soak it all in. And to Debbie, Wayne, Brenda, Heather and Donna, welcome back.

In preparation for today, I thought I could review important facts that are shared on the Internet and will forever immortalize Jack Riddell as a champion for rural Ontario. But I thought I’d take a different tack, Madam Speaker, and do something a little bit different, and I hope it will be appreciated by all who know Jack. It’s based on some amazing stories, some amazing memories that I’ve been lucky to receive from Jack’s five children.

You may have heard that Jack was a beloved auctioneer. So it’s in that spirit, and knowing and loving the fact that while growing up, even though Brenda said they were not the von Trapp family of Huron county—Jack would regularly call upon them to sing at events when he was called upon, especially to sing the Auctioneer song. So it’s in that spirit, as I mentioned, that I would like to focus in on a couple of lines—three in particular—from the Auctioneer song. And why is it important? Well, Jack prided himself on being an auctioneer and serving people. I think it’s important to recognize that even at his celebration of life in January, one of Jack’s last requests of his family was to get up and sing the Auctioneer song.

The first line I would like to reference is “Gonna make my mark and be an auctioneer!” Not only did Jack achieve that position and the esteem of a beloved auctioneer, but he graduated from OAC with a bachelor of science—Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph—and he went on to serve as assistant agricultural representative in the counties of Essex and Hastings. I believe Hastings came before Essex. I absolutely connected with Jack, because extension work matters, and I really valued everything that he would put into that position as an assistant ag rep. He also gleaned great experience as assistant manager for the Ontario Stockyards. He served as an agricultural specialist in the province of Saskatchewan before coming home, before coming back to Huron county, where, together with his family, they raised beef cattle and sheep prior to him winning the honour and making his mark as MPP for Huron–Middlesex from the years 1973 through to 1990. And he served as the 30th Minister of Agriculture and Food in Ontario, from 1985 to 1989.

Wayne noted, and I think it’s important to share, that Jack’s father, William Keith Riddell, was also a well-respected agricultural representative for the county of Middlesex, and he feels that his father had a profound impact not only on a career that was absolutely dedicated to agriculture, but he had a really important position to fill—shoes to fill, if you will—given what he learned from his father as an ag rep in Middlesex county. It really had a profound impact on the trajectory of Jack’s career.

Growing up in the Riddell family meant helping in the barn, taking music lessons—and when they practised, according to Donna, Jack would join in and sing along. They also supported their dad and travelled with him, whether it was to Saskatchewan or to Toronto, when he served as the MPP and Minister of Agriculture. Heather noted that when they did make the trek to Toronto, they were sometimes treated to movies like The Sound of Music or a Maple Leafs game, when they joined him in Toronto.

As kids, Donna also shared that they became office support by cutting out birthday and anniversary notices from local papers that ultimately became the genesis, if you will, of a birthday card or a scroll recognizing a special anniversary. It’s important to know that Jack took that role very seriously. He would be in Toronto all week, come home on Friday night and get at it. He would start attending events, meet with constituents on Saturday mornings, join his wife at events that evening. Then, Sundays, again, were dedicated to presenting scrolls, birthday cards, and then he took time for games with his family. Apparently, the children learned how to lose gracefully with Jack at the table. I think that’s important because there are life lessons everywhere we look, and Jack made sure his children had that opportunity.

I’m glad to hear today that his grandchildren and great-grandchildren are here as well. Because again, I think it was Donna that mentioned if you learned how to speak in public, you’d be well set for life. Then, Debbie mentioned that even that premise, that thought, that value was extended to the grandchildren as well. There was one opportunity where grandchildren were flown from Centralia to Toronto for the opening of an agricultural exhibit at Ontario Place. While he was on stage, he called his grandchildren up to say a word or two. Like the old adage goes, you learn to do by doing, and Jack certainly presented opportunities for people to do that.

Growing up, the name Riddell was also synonymous with spending time with your dad. When working at the Ontario Stockyards, he bought a pony for his kids to ride. I heard from Wayne they rode that pony in the cement alleyways which, according to Wayne, proved to be a hard landing when they fell off. But in true dad style, he said he would pick them up, dust them off and put them right back on the pony. Heather noted that while their dad really didn’t like the idea, they also learned how to ride sheep as well.

Jack liked to pull pranks in the barn, and his laughter filled that building to the rafters. Family was important. He never missed an opportunity to give a shout-out to his mom whenever he was at an event that she was attending, and he wasn’t above letting a daughter dress him up in pigtails.

Brenda also shared, with an LOL in her email, Jack learned from his mistakes as well. For instance, Jack, appreciating the value of nutrients found in manure, used the tractor and spreader to fertilize the lawn around the house. She shared that he was quite proud of this until their mother got home, and she saw her beautiful white-sided house completely splattered and stained with manure. She wasn’t impressed, but one could extrapolate that he really did make his mark in that instance.

The second line from the Auctioneer song I would like to reference today is, “You can take your place among the best.” That’s what Jack Riddell certainly has done. A successful MPP, and ultimately minister, understands the importance of maintaining a balance and never forgetting about local constituents. All five of Jack’s children noted that working with constituents and assisting them to solve issues was what he prided himself on. In fact, it was common knowledge that it didn’t matter what political stripe the person was, there was no problem too small for him to dig into and ultimately resolve.

We’ve heard many times how Jack would work really hard to make sure farmers had their voices heard, and as his dedication as the 30th Minister of Agriculture and Food, whether it was in legislation that he founded—for instance, the legislation on the table we know as the Farm Practices Protection Act that he worked hard on, and it has legs today—or assisting farmers when interest rates were heading above 20% in the 1980s, or being responsible for shepherding over 30 programs through to fruition when he served as minister, he never stopped working.

For all he did prior to being elected and as a long-serving MPP and ag and food minister, Jack was inducted into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2017 and locally in the Huron agricultural hall of fame in the same year. He also established a scholarship from the Avon Maitland school board for a student that showed leadership and pursued an education in agriculture in Canada.

In the end, my takeaway from learning more about Jack Riddell through his children reaffirms how I felt as a young 4-H member in Huron county. He always maintained a striking pose when attending 4-H events. For instance, at our awards night, it was commonplace to see him in a fedora and suit, and he really did have a presence. When I joined him and his family on the occasion of his 90th birthday, I found his eyes still sparkled and his passion for agriculture was alive and well. We compared notes as the 30th and 40th Ministers of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, who just happened to share the same birthdate and pride in representing the breadbasket of Ontario at Queen’s Park.

To close, I would like to just share some direct comments, again from Jack’s children. They all concurred that representing Huron and Huron-Middlesex and serving as Minister of Agriculture and Food was the highlight of his career. They shared, “Dad loved his job! He loved helping people and making lives better in any way he could. As a family, we had him to ourselves before politics and after retirement.” But they learned to share him with everyone, and though it wasn’t always easy, they understood his passion. He was a man to be reckoned with, both as a father and as a politician. To be proud is an understatement.

To remember Jack Riddell today, I would like to share another message from his family: He showed what hard work was, what honesty was, what integrity was, what passion to do your best was, but also what fun was and what love of family was.

So to close, there’s one last line from the Auctioneer song, and it’s perfect: “Now he’s the best in all the land / Let’s pause and give that man a hand.” God bless Jack Riddell.