Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for all the tributes that have already been made. Your own words were profoundly moving. It is in this place, in moments like these, that we are united with exactly the same sense of shared humanity in paying tribute to someone we universally loved and admired.

I know Chuck Strahl to have been, throughout his life, an honest man, doing an honest day's work every single day. His life is a profile in faith and courage. I will never forget how young he was. I think of it now and just checked the dates; he was only 48 years old when he told the world he had mesothelioma, as the hon. member for Windsor West just mentioned, because of an exposure to asbestos. People did not think about its being in the brake lines of the vehicles when he was doing honest work in the forest industry.

All those years later, he would be given a sentence from his doctor that would have stopped many people. It did not stop him. He was told at only 48 years old that he had a lung cancer that would kill him. He did not stop. He did not feel sorry for himself. He ran again. He got re-elected in 2006. We have heard from so many members about his achievements in cabinet and his hard work, that I will not repeat them.

However, we know that by 2011, he announced he would not run again. That is when I was elected, after he was not here anymore, but we had become friends before that happened. Whenever I would run into him, as we do, those of us who live in B.C. and travel to Ottawa, I would always tell him that he must be so proud of the member for Chilliwack—Hope, and he would always burst with pride. He was so proud. I know how much he loved all of his kids. He always spoke also of Karina, Loni, Kyla and his grandchildren. I thank God he defied the odds to live to the age of 67 to see so many of them.

The thing is that I am still angry. I am still angry that this country produced a product that was the single biggest occupational killer, killing hundreds of thousands of people around the world, and this year taking Chuck Strahl from us.

I want to salute his profile and courage, because it took courage. He resigned from Parliament. He did not have to put himself out there. He went on national television to say that it was time to say that chrysotile asbestos kills, time to say it out loud and time for Canada to do the right thing. With that, even as Chuck Strahl left politics, he saved lives around the world by speaking truth to power.

God bless him. We know he is with a heavenly host. We know that the Lord he loved has welcomed him home.

As one of his many colleagues who admired him, I just want to offer my deep thanks. It is people like Chuck who make this place decent. I thank him, and I thank all his family with much love and deepest sympathy.

Elizabeth May

$565,861.00