Skip to main content

It is heartbreaking and difficult to speak of the tragedy affecting the Humboldt Broncos

Yesterday, in the Legislature I spoke about the tragedy which has affected the Humboldt Broncos team when their bus collided with a semi-trailer.  My comments are on the video by clicking on this link





My comments are also in text below:


Mr. Gerrard: Madam Speaker, Canada is grieving. This past Friday, 15 lives were taken from us and so many more were changed forever following the tragedy on a stretch of highway in Saskatchewan.
      It's heartbreaking and difficult to speak to a tragedy like this. As a Canadian and a Manitoban, each of us knows a bus full of hockey players. These could have been our boys or our girls, which is why this loss hits so hard.
      Naomi and I are parents of a son and a daughter‑in-law who were involved in a tragic bus accident in which eight people died. Bus accidents are not only an issue here in Canada, but globally. My son Tom and his wife Nadine were in Cambodia, on their honeymoon, when the tragedy occurred.
      They survived, but like Matthieu Gomercic, a former Manitoba Junior Hockey League player with the Steinbach Pistons and the Winnipeg Warriors, along with the other passengers present on both buses who survived, the legacy of memories lives on to be shared and endured.
      On behalf of the Liberal caucus we offer our condolences to the family, to friends, to teammates, and to the community of Humboldt. We pray for healing and comfort in this time of their tremendous loss.
      I hope and I ask the Premier, in light of this tragic event, that the province will consider entering into discussions with New Flyer and the Winnipeg Jets and others to fund an initiative to improve the safety design for all buses.
      Leave a hockey stick out tonight for the boys and the girls who play hockey, and please add to the donations still being accepted on Sylvie Kellington's GoFundMe site for the families of the Humboldt Broncos.
      Thank you, merci, miigwech.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comparison between Manitoba and South Dakota shows dramatic impact of Physical Distancing

Manitoba implemented physical distancing measures in mid-March.  South Dakota has still not made physical distancing mandatory.   The result is a dramatic difference in the incidence of covid-19 viral infections between the two jurisdictions.   This graph shows the number of people with Covid-19 infections from March 27 to April 14.  Manitoba ( red line )  started leveling off about April 4 and has seen only a small increase in Covid-19 infections since then.   South Dakota ( blue line )   has seen a dramatic increase in Covid-19 infections since April 4.  Those who are skeptical of the impact of physical distancing in Manitoba should look at this graph! Data are from the Johns Hopkins daily tabulations
18 comments
Read more

Pushing for safe consumption sites and safe supply to reduce overdose deaths

  On Monday June 20th, Thomas Linner of the Manitoba Health Coalition, Arlene Last-Kolb Regional Director of Moms Stop the Harm and Winnipeg City Councillor Sherri Rollins were at the Manitoba Legislature to advocate for better measures to reduce deaths from drug overdoses, most particularly for safe consumption sites and for a safe supply, measures which can reduce overdose deaths.  
Post a Comment
Read more

Dougald Lamont speaks out strongly against the "reprehensible", "legally and morally indefensible" Bill 2

 Early in the morning, just after 3 am, on November 6th, Dougald Lamont spoke at third reading of Bill 2, the Budget Implementation and Statutes Amendment Act.  He spoke strongly against the bill because it attempts to legitimize a historic injustice against children in the care of child and family services.  As  Dougald says this bill is " the betrayal of children, First Nations and the people of this province. " Mr. Dougald  Lamont  (St. Boniface):   These are historic times. This is an  historic budget, for all the wrong reasons.  I was thinking of the Premier's (Mr. Pallister) comments about D-Day today and my relatives who served in combat in the First and Second World War. I had a relative who played for the Blue Bombers and served at D-Day with the Winnipeg Rifles because he was an excellent athlete, he made it quite a long way up the beach.       And had he lived until last year, he might have been one of the veterans the Premier insulted by not showing up at a
1 comment
Read more