Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise to celebrate an extraordinary person and one of my very good friends, Mr. Gilles Cormier.
Gilles, from Shippagan in my riding of Acadie-Bathurst, has been awarded the Outstanding Volunteer Award 2016 from Hockey Canada. Gilles has been awarded this title for his exceptional work over nearly 30 years in multiple levels of minor and senior hockey.
He is best known for coaching pee-wee and bantam AAA teams on the Acadian peninsula, for his involvement in the Luc-Bourdon Classic, and also for managing the Shippagan arena for a number of years.
Gilles is also a senior level representative for Hockey New Brunswick and an excellent hockey player. All he has ever wanted is to help young players develop in this sport.
As the chair of Hockey Canada’s board of directors said, “Canadian hockey is healthy and thriving, thanks in large part to the work of volunteers [like Gilles Cormier], guided by their love for our sport.”
Congratulations, Gilles. I look forward to sharing the blue line with you for many years to come on our Cormier family team.