John Rissler "Jack" Messer (born May 26, 1941) is a farmer and former political figure in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. He represented Kelsey from 1967 to 1971, Tisdale-Kelsey from 1971 to 1975 and Kelsey-Tisdale from 1975 to 1980 in the

Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan () is the legislative chamber of the Saskatchewan Legislature in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Bills passed by the assembly are given royal assent by the lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan, in the ...

as a

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

(NDP) member. He was born in

Tisdale, Saskatchewan Tisdale is the business centre for the rich agricultural taiga, boreal forest area in central Saskatchewan, Canada. This town is in the Rural Municipality of Tisdale No. 427. Located at the junction of Saskatchewan Highway 35, Highway 35 and S ...

, the son of William Frederick Messer and Margaret Elizabeth Rissler, and was educated there and in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. Messer worked in Vancouver before continuing his studies at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

and the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

. He then returned to Tisdale and settled on a farm near the town. In 1960, he married Joanne Bryson, the daughter of Hugh Alexander Bryson. He was secretary of the Tisdale Wheat Pool Committee and a director for the Evington Rural Telephone Company. Messer served in the Saskatchewan cabinet as Minister of

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, as Minister of Industry and Commerce and as Minister of Mineral Resources. He resigned from cabinet and the assembly in 1980. In 1990, Messer became provincial secretary for the Saskatchewan NDP. From 1991 to 1998, he was president of

SaskPower Saskatchewan Power Corporation, trade name, operating as SaskPower, is the principal electric utility in Saskatchewan, Canada. Established in 1929 by the Saskatchewan#Government and politics, provincial government, it serves more than 550,000 cu ...

. He then returned to farming. Messer has also served as a director for

Ducks Unlimited Canada Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) is a Canadian non-profit environmental organization that works to conserve, create, restore and manage Canadian wetlands and associated uplands in order to provide healthy ecosystems that support North American wate ...

and was the organizations' president from 2003 to 2004. He lives in Tisdale, as of 2022.

References

Saskatchewan New Democratic Party MLAs 1941 births Living people Members of the Executive Council of Saskatchewan 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan {{NDP-Saskatchewan-MLA-stub