Mr. Speaker, we have lost a great Canadian writer and journalist, Earl McRae, a man I came first to know personally when I took on the task of raising funds to allow war veterans of the Loyal Eddies, Seaforth, Three Rivers, Provost Corps and Royal 22nd--the Van Doos-- to return to Ortona, Italy for Christmas 1998.
Earl immediately saw the vision of former foes, Canadian and German, joining together for a re-creation of the 1943 Canadian battlefield Christmas dinner, to reflect and celebrate in the season of goodwill to mankind the years of peace that followed.
His prodigious newspaper columns, along with Lowell Green's prolific airwaves plea for help, made Christmas in Ortona happen. Earl then travelled with the veterans to Ortona to report on the pilgrimage.
Earl McRae was a friend to veterans, an extraordinary journalist, a champion of what is right. May his deserving soul now rest in peace.