FULL SPEECH | Poilievre asks Canadians to 'pray for Wainwright'

We're getting more reaction to the disaster at CFB Wainwright in Alberta. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and other local officials are about to speak now. Let's listen in. base and with the communities surrounding the base. I want to thank the firefighters, the police officers, and all the other emergency services that provided extraordinary and courageous service, and we are all standing in solidarity with them today. Of course, I learned last night about this tragedy. I spoke to the Prime Minister, the Minister of National Defence, and I offered the full support of the Conservative Party and the official opposition to support the community and the families of the lost soldiers. I encourage all Canadians to show their solidarity with the Canadian Armed Forces and prepare for Remembrance Day that will be happening soon and to offer their prayers to the families and friends who have lost loved ones. We are in total solidarity with them. Tomorrow, I will be giving a speech on Zoom to represent my constituents here in Battle River, Crowfoot, and I want to thank all Canadians for the support of the community. Thank you very much for being here today. Let me begin by offering the condolences of the Parliament of Canada and the people of Battle River Crowfoot for Private Sean Farrell, Sergeant Morgan Wong, Private Hayden Lake Mark, Private Hayden Lake Mark, Aidan Goulding Private, and all the family members and loved ones of those aforementioned heroes. We also offer our support to the wounded, those who are in hospital fighting for their lives, facing excruciating pain after their courageous and heroic acts of yesterday evening. I'm joined here today by numerous local leaders. We have Mayor Pugh from from Wainwright, the town of Wainwright. We have the Reeve from Reeve Wildeboer who is an important representative of the impacted community. We have Dane Lloyd, he is a member of parliament from Edmonton, shadow minister responsible for nationally for fighting for the national unity but also my national security advisor and a member as an active serving member of the armed forces in a reserve capacity. Damien Couric, the former and future member of parliament and of course we have uh Garth Roswell who's the MLA all of them will be available to answer questions and address you today late yesterday we learned of this horrific incident i was immediately in touch with the defense minister i spoke with the prime minister as well i made the decision to be on the first flight out to support the community Let me say that our hearts go out to the incredible families of CFB Wainwright. Many of them are mourning the loss of a loved one. Some are anticipating and waiting as another loved one is in critical condition, fighting for their lives. We know that numerous, based on stories that I've already heard, there are acts of courage that are almost unimaginable. people who ran towards rather than away from the danger and are now paying a cruel price fighting for their lives in hospitals. We offer our thanks to our troops for their service, their sacrifice, and their immense courage. To the first responders who were on the scene, to the firefighters who showed up, both the base firefighters and the Wainwright firefighters in a civilian capacity who came heroically to the rescue. We also thank the nurses and doctors and other health professionals who snapped immediately into action to deal with the incredible surge of need that they faced very suddenly and unexpectedly. Their professionalism is second to none. Conservatives are offering our support to the government to do whatever is necessary to help the military families the base and the surrounding community i've been here since this morning so just just flew in this morning and arrived early this afternoon i'll stay as long as necessary to support the community and to report back to parliament and the prime minister on what is needed tomorrow i expect to address parliament remotely and not only relay our love and support for the fallen and for those who are recovering and their families, but also to relay any needs from the constituency that I represent to the Parliament of Canada. We must do everything necessary to support the community, the troops, the base, and everyone else that is affected. And I want to thank both the MD of Wainwright and the town of Wainwright for greeting me and bringing me in for a briefing at your town hall today. I thank the fire chief for giving me a briefing on all of the needs that we're seeing on the ground. And we will be here as long as necessary to fight for you and to support the community. And so in conclusion, I'd like to send a message to all Canadians. Please pray for Wainwright. Pray for the base, for the fallen, for their families, for the wounded, pray for the surrounding community, pray for the exhausted firefighters who keep on going and who have not slept for almost 24 hours, pray for this community and please also prepare to make an historic turnout for the November 11th ceremonies which are not far off now. Now more than ever we need to remember the tremendous men and women who carry on tradition of the armed forces who sacrifice everything for all of us, may God bless them and God bless Canada