Mr. Speaker, I rise to join with you and other members in expressing our profound sympathy for the victims of the tragic bus accident in Quebec last Monday and for their grieving families.
On behalf of my colleagues in the official opposition, I offer our deepest sympathies to the families of the people who died and wish those injured a speedy recovery. We will be thinking of the residents of Saint-Bernard de Beauce in the days and weeks to come and we will pray they find the strength and courage they need to bear their terrible losses.
Most of the victims of this terrible tragedy were older people. They were part of a generation of Quebeckers for whom religious faith was real and tangible. Many of them could therefore identify with the words of St. Paul who suffered much himself when he referred his readers to “the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulations”.
Our prayer for their friends and families is that this God of all comfort would be especially close now and in the days ahead.