The following statement was read today by the Honourable Elvis Loveless, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure:

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to speak in this Honourable House today to recognize seven employees in the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure who provided safety and assistance to our neighbours in Ontario.

Officials in our department work with our colleagues in the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture to provide forest fire services throughout our province.

However, when there were multiple forest fires burning in northwestern Ontario last month, seven crew members and two CL-415 water bombers travelled to the mainland to join forest fire fighters in that province.

For five days, captains Scott Blue and Ian White, first officers Sandra Curlew and Paul Carter, and aircraft maintenance engineers Neil Murphy, Robert Hebbard and Jared Walsh left their friends and family behind to help protect lives and homes in Ontario.

As a member of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre’s Mutual Aid Resource Sharing agreement, Newfoundland and Labrador provides additional firefighting assistance to other parts of the country when needed. It’s reassuring to know that the same assistance will be provided to us, if necessary.

Mr. Speaker, we often talk about the public service employees who go above and beyond the call of duty to help Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

These seven individuals went to great lengths to help their fellow Canadians, and we are very fortunate to have them working for us here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I ask all members of this Honourable House to join me in acknowledging these crew members who work hard to ensure the safety of everyone.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.