Senator Ross Fitzpatrick
Seniors Choice Newsmagazine
August 2005
- By Rudy Loeser -
The Oxford Dictionary defines 'senate' as a supreme governing assembly or council. One is expected to know this. It then takes the word further back to its origin and finds that the Latin word senatus comes from the root meaning old, as in senior. Not many of us have dug that far back into the history of the word. Nor would it serve us to do so since we know fully well that a senate is the governing body of many institutions, including many forms of government, especially of the democratic kind.
Beyond that, in the case of Canada, the Senate is subject to a mandatory retirement of 75 years, which seems to do away with the idea of 'old' men or women, since many of us just get our second wind about then.
A good case in point is the Okanagan-Similkameen's Senator, D. Ross Fitzpatrick. His time will be up in two more years, at which point in time he will have served this constituency for a total of 10 years, having been appointed to the Senate in March of 1998.
During his tenure thus far, Senator Fitzpatrick has accumulated an impressive portfolio of service to the country as member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce, been active in Parliamentary groups including the Canada-US Interparliamentary Group and others, bringing to those bodies his considerable background and interest in agriculture, business and the environment.
His resume presents the picture of an accomplished businessman who has built successful businesses in aerospace, energy and mining. On his home ground he is, perhaps, better known as the proprietor of the award-winning CedarCreek Estate Winery, as well as Greata Vineyards, across the lake from CedarCreek.
Beyond his obvious success as an entrepreneur, Senator Fitzpatrick has accumulated a distinguished record of community service. As past member of the Board of Governors of the Vancouver Art Gallery, member of the BC Government House Foundation and supporter of the Kelowna General Hospital Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society and the University of BC.
As may be expected from a man so result-oriented, our Senator has been honoured with awards and citations in every field in which he has been active, including many environmental awards for his exemplary work in the mining field. As well, he has been honoured for the excellence of his Estate Winery's products by the 1st Annual Vancouver Magazine Wine Awards. CedarCreek submitted ten wines to the international jury and was awarded six 'Best Buys". Later success came at the Canadian Wine Awards, from which CedarCreek brought home two golds and two silvers. It simply can't get much better than that.
Senator Fitzpatrick holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from UBC, a degree in Economics from the University of Maryland, and a degree in Business Administration from Columbia. I asked him what his plans are when his term in Canada's Senate expires.
"Well, " said the man who was born in Kelowna and who came home to buy a winery to have a place to put up a vacation home for his family, "There is the winery which has become a much bigger project than I ever envisioned. There is also our mining company in South America, which will take up a good part of my time. In the meantime, however, I intend to work with Parks Canada on a feasibility study, which we hope will lead to the establishment of a National Park in the grasslands of the South Okanagan-Similkameen, which constitute a unique migration corridor for both animals and vegetation."
Then there is the Okanagan Partnership Cluster Study in which he is interested, chaired by his son Gordon and Brad Bennett, that will seek to determine which business clusters will best fit the Valley.
Hats off to Ross Fitzpatrick - distinguished senator, entrepreneur, businessman, family man, and outstanding Canadian.
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