15 Facts About Jack Riddell

John Keith Riddell was a Canadian politician in Ontario.

Jack Riddell was Minister of Agriculture and Food from 1985 to 1989 in the government of David Peterson.

Jack Riddell was born in London, Ontario, on December 10,1931.

Jack Riddell was educated at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, and worked as a high school teacher, livestock sales owner, and operator-auctioneer.

Jack Riddell was first elected to the Ontario legislature in a by-election on March 16,1973, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate Don Southcott by 2,968 votes in the riding of Huron.

Jack Riddell, re-elected without difficulty, was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Food on June 26,1985, succeeding Ross Stevenson.

In that capacity, Jack Riddell helped establish the Ontario Family Farm Interest Rate Reduction program to lower interest payments, and created over 30 new programs for farmers.

Jack Riddell was on the traditionalist, right-of-centre faction of the Liberal Party and represented agricultural interests in the legislature.

Jack Riddell apologized to the legislative assembly in July 1985, after opining that Larry Grossman would find it challenging to garner support in rural Ontario because "there still is a racist feeling" in those areas, but resisted calls to resign.

Jack Riddell announced in June 1990 that he was not going to run for re-election in the snap election that September.

In September 1996, Jack Riddell co-chaired a provincial fundraising committee in a bid to keep the Ontario Agriculture Museum in Milton open, after its funding from the provincial government was slashed.

Jack Riddell was president of the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame Association from 2003 to 2004 and was president of the Ontario Institute of Agrologists.

Jack Riddell was inducted into the Ontario Agriculture Hall of Fame on June 11,2017.

Jack Riddell was married to Leone Bryan for almost three decades until 1981.

Jack Riddell died on January 23,2024, at a nursing home in Exeter at age 92.