Mr. Speaker, the sun did not rise in Nova Scotia today for Myles Gillis or Johnny Halloran. It never will. Dawn will never come for any of the 26 miners killed in the Westray mine.
Today is day 2,160 of their long night that never ends. Nothing we can do will ever change that. Nothing we do here on the surface in the sunlight will ever again let them feel dawn, a child's hug, the warmth of their wife asleep in their arms.
No report, no heartfelt apologies can ever make what happened to them all right. Killing workers can never be all right, but we can remember. We must keep their memory burning bright in our hearts and we must not squander their lives.
Regardless of party or politics, we must do all we can to make sure their fate never becomes the fate of any other woman or man who goes off to work every day. It is the least we can do for those 26 men and those who loved them. It is something to look forward to, like the dawn.