Alberta MLA Manmeet Bhullar dies trying to help a driver in distress
CBC Radio | Posted: November 24, 2015 9:50 PM | Last Updated: November 25, 2015
Manmeet Bhullar was a big man with a big heart.
Flags are half-staff across Alberta in honour of the Progressive Conservative MLA, who was killed in a road accident Monday. Bhullar was driving along the highway to Edmonton from Calgary when he stopped to help a driver who'd crashed into a the median. Bhullar was then struck and killed by a transport truck that had also spun out of control. He was 35-years-old.
He was a towering presence. He just will be so sadly missed. He really is irreplaceable. - Former Alberta premier Jim Prentice
Bhullar was a huge presence in Alberta and in the Punjabi Sikh community. He was a minister in the cabinets of former premiers Alison Redford and Jim Prentice.
Prentice was also a mentor to Bhullar. As Prentice tells As It Happens host Carol Off, he had known him since Bhullar was a child. Here is an edited transcript of part of their conversation:
Carol Off: You were with Mr. Bhullar's family last night. You were there again today. How are they coping?
Jim Prentice: Well, this is this is devastating for his family. For Namrita, she has lost a husband and, for the Bhullar family, who was very close, they've lost a loving son and so that's very difficult. Beyond that though, right across the province, everyone is very saddened and this cuts across all partisan boundaries. I spoke last evening with our premier and with the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and it doesn't matter what political stripe you're of, everyone is heartbroken by the loss of Manmeet Bhullar.
He was such a spiritual person, he was not afraid of death. And so I think it's fair to say that he passed away doing what he loved to do the most, which was to help other people.
- Former Alberta premier Jim Prentice
CO: He was 35-years-old. His family said, "The light in our lives went dark today." What kind of a light was he? Why was he so special?
JP: Manmeet was 35, but he was wise and spiritual beyond those years. And he had an incredible drive for service of other people, indeed, that's how he passed away. But his entire 35 years were really devoted to public service and to serving other people. You can go back to his early years as a young man, work he did with the Calgary Police Service, counselling kids in high school when he was barely out of high school himself. And, in fact, as of late, he was engaged in some international humanitarian work to try to safely land a number of refugee families here in Canada.
CO: He was trying to bring some Sikhs from Afghanistan who needed refuge in Canada, is that right?
JP: Correct and, quite on his own, crisscrossed the world talking with prime ministers and ministers to try to secure the immigration approvals to enable a number of Sikh families to leave Afghanistan and come to communities like Canada where they would be safe. This kind of humanitarian work speaks to the sort of person that he was and you literally could not go anywhere in Alberta where people did not know him. He was a towering presence. He was a very large young man with a black beard and infectious smile and he just will be so sadly missed. He really is irreplaceable.
You literally could not go anywhere in Alberta where people did not know him.
- Former Alberta premier Jim Prentice
CO: You point out that this with what he was doing when he was killed. He was trying to help somebody in an accident. And when you heard that he was dead, then you heard how he had died, what went through you mind?
JP: Well, it was devastating, obviously, but knowing Manmeet, for him to be helping someone else, I think reflects who he was. He was such a spiritual person, he was not afraid of death. And so I think it's fair to say that he passed away doing what he loved to do the most, which was to help other people who needed help.
To hear the full interview, click "Listen" above.