Mr. Speaker, Wednesday's helicopter crash south of Kapuskasing, near Clear Lake, which took the lives of three northern Ontario residents, will echo through the communities along the Highway 11 corridor and North Bay for a long time.
What should have been just another day at work for the pilot, Greg Sawyer of North Bay and his two passengers, Tembec employees Dan Simis of Val Rita and Chad McQuade of Kapuskasing, ended in the worst way possible: they were killed in the prime of their lives. A tragedy like this affects the victims' families, friends, colleagues and employers, and hits these tightly woven communities in northern Ontario hard.
This reminds us just how precious life is and that nothing should be taken for granted. I ask the members of this House to join me, my provincial counterpart Gilles Bison, the mayor of Kapuskasing and the people of Tembec in offering our deepest sympathies and sincere condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of these men.