Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a great honour and a privilege to stand up in the House today and extol what it means to be a friend of Tony Whitford.
I first met Tony when I grew up with his sons, Blair, Ian and Warren. I played hockey with Blair for a number of years and went to school with Blair. I first knew Tony as a dedicated hockey dad. He was there watching many of our games at the time. It goes back a number of years now. It is hard to believe that time has gone by so fast.
I guess I owe a great deal to Mr. Whitford. If it wasn’t for his retirement in 2003 which provided me
the opportunity to become a Member of this House and represent the great riding of Kam Lake, I wouldn’t be standing here today perhaps. I owe that to Tony. Thanks for retiring, Tony, in 2003.
---Laughter
I do want to wish you all the best in all of your pursuits. I think many people have learned a great deal from Tony, myself included. I used to work at the Legislative Assembly when Tony was a Member. Tony is just a likeable, jovial guy. People want to be around him. He has a contagious type of character. He makes people, as other Members have said, feel at ease. He has a way about him that just makes people feel good about being in his presence.
It certainly is an honour to be here today to say these words about a great man. He was a great Commissioner, a great politician and I hope to see him around the House. I’m very supportive of Tony becoming an honorary table officer of this House. That’s a great honour for a great man. Thank you.
---Applause