of Parliament even as National was forced into opposition. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council just before the election. After National lost the he was Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister of Health under Shipley. Creech remained as the party's deputy leader until February 2001, when he chose to stand down. He was replaced by Bill English. Creech did not stand for re-election in the 2002 election. Post politics career Following his retirement from politics, Creech headed up a small group that took advantage of the opportunities created by the deregulation of the dairy industry by the founding of the Open Country Cheese Company, located near Matamata, in Waikato. This has now grown into Open Country Dairy Co Ltd with both milk powder and cheese production facilities in Waharoa (near Matamata), Waikato, Awarua (near Invercargill) and Wanganui. The original cheese company was formed on 28 November 2001 (the date on which the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act 2001 received the Royal Assent. Manufacturing commenced in October 2004. He stood down from the board of this company in 2008. In 2007 Creech and his associates launched as an offshoot from the commodity product manufacturing operation Open Country a new specialty cheese production focussed operation Kaimai Cheese (named after the local mountain range) and served from commencement as its Chairman. He stood down from the board of this company in 2013 when there assets were sold to a new producer. In 2009 he joined the board of NZ Windfarms. retiring from that board in December 2013. Creech also served for a two-year period on the boards of Seales Limited, a Waikato-based stock feed manufacturing firm, the Cognition Education Trust, a trust supporting education research in New Zealand. he then joined the board of Healthcare Holdings Limited (providing various community-based health services). In September 2009, Creech joined the New Zealand Fire Service Commission as Deputy Chair. As of mid 2014 he serves as Chair of the New Zealand Fire Service Commission and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (replacement Crown entity for the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) and Deputy Chair of Healthcare Holdings Limited. In 2009–2010, Creech was commissioned by the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of Local Government to head a review of the performance of Environment Canterbury. Their report was highly critical of the performance and capability of the organisation, and while the recommendations were