George Leith, former Saskatchewan Liberal MLA, former special assistant to a federal minister of agriculture, former chief commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission, died in Winnipeg on May 31 at the age of 72.
Last Saturday, his family brought him home to Rosetown where friends gathered to celebrate his life.
Most readers will remember Leith best as the chief commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission. He was a Liberal appointee who, after all other Liberal appointees were long gone, was made the chief commissioner by a Conservative government.
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Then, in the year he should have retired because of his age, he was asked by the same Conservative government to stay on for one more year.
That says a lot about the man. He was known for his honesty, his integrity, his adherence to principles. He would always tell people what they needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear. Those qualities once cost him a cabinet seat in Saskatchewan and probably were instrumental in ensuring that he would not lead the Saskatchewan Liberal party after the death of Ross Thatcher.
Knowing that he would not win did not stop George from entering the race; he had points to make and he planned to make them, whether he was to be leader or not.
George went on to fight, unsuccessfully, a couple of federal elections. Then he went to the office of Eugene Whelan.
I first met George when he was a special assistant to Whelan. I was at that time head of the English press in Agriculture Canada’s information division.
I got to know George well during our years of working in Ottawa, and even better after 1976 when, married into a family which supported George during his years in provincial politics, I moved to his former riding.
The family put out mementos of George’s life and times; pictures of him as a young man in his Air Force uniform; with his wife and young family, and in later years. There were campaign posters and a map of his Eston-Elrose constituency.
Whatever positions George held in later life, most at the service remembered him best from provincial politics. Many had campaigned with him, argued with him, voted for him, and, yes, loved him.
George Leith, throughout his public life, as an elected representative and afterwards, exemplified the qualities we all want to find in our public officials.
If we had more like him, politics and politicians would be much better thought of and we would all be much better off.
