Gerry Ritz (born August 19, 1951) is a former

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician. He served as member of the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

for

Battlefords—Lloydminster Battlefords—Lloydminster is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. Geography The district is in Central-Western Saskatchewan. It includes the communities o ...

from 1997 until his resignation in 2017. He served as Canada's

Agriculture minister An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

from 2007 through 2015 under Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

Life and pre-political career

Ritz was born in

Delisle, Saskatchewan Delisle () is a town in south central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located southwest of Saskatoon beside Highway 7. History The origins of the town go back to original settlement which was on the Old Bone Trail. It derived its name from th ...

and prior to his political career, he worked as a farmer at the family farm for over 20 years and owned a contracting business company.

Federal politics

Ritz was elected as the Reform Party candidate in the 1997 general election, and then re-elected with the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...

in the 2000 election and the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

in the 2004 election. Ritz has been the vice-chair of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

Agriculture Committee since 2002. He was appointed Secretary of State for small business and tourism in the

Harper government The premiership of Stephen Harper began on February 6, 2006, when the first Cabinet headed by Stephen Harper was sworn in by Governor General Michaelle Jean. Harper was invited to form the 28th Canadian Ministry and become Prime Minister of ...

on January 4, 2007.

Minister of Agriculture

On August 14, 2007, Ritz was promoted to the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

as Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food replacing

Chuck Strahl Charles Richard "Chuck" Strahl (born February 25, 1957) is a Canadian businessman and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2011. First elected for the Reform Party, he was the leader of the Democratic Representative Caucus that ...

. Ritz made national news when, in response to the

2008 Canadian listeriosis outbreak The 2008 Canadian listeriosis outbreak was a widespread outbreak of listeriosis in Canada linked to cold cuts from a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto, Ontario. There were 57 total confirmed cases, resulting in 23 deaths. Origin and spread Liste ...

he was quoted as saying, "This is like a death by a thousand cuts. Or should I say cold cuts." Then when told of a death in

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

, Ritz said, "Please tell me it's (Liberal MP)

Wayne Easter Wayne Easter (born June 22, 1949) is a former Canadian politician who represented the riding of Malpeque, Prince Edward Island from 1993 to 2021. Before politics Born in North Wiltshire, Prince Edward Island, the son of A. Leith Easter and H ...

." Ritz later apologized for his comments and Prime Minister Stephen Harper kept Ritz in Cabinet after the 2008 Canadian general election. In September 2012, ''

E. coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...

'' bacteria was found in meat from the

XL Foods XL Foods Inc. is a Canadian meat packing company. The company is a subsidiary of Nilsson Brothers Inc. based in Edmonton, Alberta. From 2009 until 2013, XL Foods' Lakeside Packers Division was located just west of Brooks, Alberta, in Newell County. ...

plant in

Brooks, Alberta Brooks is a city in southeast Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by the County of Newell. It is located on Highway 1 (Trans-Canada Highway) and the Canadian Pacific Railway, approximately southeast of Calgary, and northwest of Medicine Hat. Th ...

. This led to over 1800 products being recalled across Canada and the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that 1.1 million kilograms of meat from XL Foods were recalled from American stores. This was also the largest beef recall in Canadian history, with meat being recalled in every province and territory in Canada and 41 American states.

Opposition MP and resignation from politics

Ritz announced on August 31, 2017 that he intended to resign from the House of Commons in the near future and leave politics to spend more time with family. On September 19, 2017, Ritz caused controversy when he tweeted a link to a news story stating no industrialized nations were on pace to meet

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, Climate change a ...

carbon emission targets with the comment "Has anyone told our climate

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched on March 9, 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration. ...

! " (referring to Environment Minister

Catherine McKenna Catherine Mary McKenna (born August 5, 1971) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as a Cabinet minister from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, McKenna was the minister of environment and climate change from 2015 to ...

). Ritz deleted the original post within 20 minutes, afterward posted another message stating: "I apologize for the use of Barbie, it is not reflective of the role the Minister plays". Conservative leader

Andrew Scheer Andrew James Scheer (born May 20, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Regina—Qu'Appelle since 2004. Scheer served as the 35th speaker of the House of Commons from 2011 to 2015, and was the lead ...

condemned Ritz's comment later in the day and stated he would reach out to McKenna personally to "assure the minister that this type of behavior has no place in the Conservative caucus". The next day Ritz's office issued a statement confirming his resignation from the House of Commons effective October 2, 2017. Ritz's successor,

Rosemarie Falk Rosemarie Ashley Falk is a Canadians, Canadian politician from Saskatchewan, who has represented the riding of Battlefords—Lloydminster in the House of Commons of Canada since a 2017 Battlefords—Lloydminster federal by-election, by-election v ...

, was elected in a by-election on December 11, 2017.

Electoral Record

References

External links

Gerry Ritz
official site * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritz, Gerry 1951 births Members of the 28th Canadian Ministry Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Saskatchewan Reform Party of Canada MPs Canadian Alliance MPs Conservative Party of Canada MPs Living people Canadian construction businesspeople Farmers from Saskatchewan