TRAGEDY BRINGS RARE CIVILITY
Legislature touched by the ‘Bhullar phenomenon’
It was a rare moment of compassion and humanity in the cutthroat business that is partisan politics.
Actually, it was more than a moment.
It was an entire question period. And more.
On Wednesday, Alberta’s provincial politicians turned much of the afternoon legislative sitting into a tribute to Progressive Conservative MLA Manmeet Bhullar, who was killed in a highway accident Monday.
With an Alberta flag draped over Bhullar’s vacant seat, his legislative colleagues from both sides of the assembly hailed him as a public servant dedicated to helping others.
That’s what people usually say about the passing of a politician, but making Wednesday’s eulogies ring especially true and poignant was the fact Bhullar literally gave his life helping others.
He was driving on Highway 2 between Edmonton and Calgary during Monday’s snowstorm when he noticed a car had flipped off the road. He pulled over and got out to help when he was hit by an out-of-control truck. He was 35 and married. Bhullar’s family, understandably searching for some solace to their sudden loss, issued a written statement saying he “left us while he was doing what he loved more than anything — helping someone else.”
That was the theme of tributes from both sides of the assembly as Bhullar’s friends and colleagues stood to remember the man as a champion of the underdog and as friendly as he was physically imposing.
“When confronted with hurt, his first instinct was to do whatever he could to put it right,” said Premier Rachel Notley. “It was typical of the member for Calgary-Greenway that he would stop for someone in need, stepping from the warmth of his vehicle into the midst of a heavy snowstorm. For him there was no other way to live. He thought of others before himself.”
Making the moment even more poignant, if that was possible, was the fact that Wednesday’s emotional sitting evoked memories of a similar outpouring of grief in 1984 after the death of then NDP leader Grant Notley, Rachel’s father.
It just kept getting more heart-wrenching.
Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, whose own son died early this year, offered condolences to Bhullar’s family: “To his father and mother … and to his wife, Namrita, my personal sympathies: no greater loss than a son.”
By the time PC interim leader Ric McIver rose to speak, the assembly floor was pretty much awash in tears.
“Manmeet was not bound by the borders of Alberta or even Canada,” said McIver. “Recently, he was on a personal mission to South Asia to find ways to protect persecuted Afghan minorities and refugees. Sometimes, heck, most of the time, I didn’t even know where he was, and he made this trip at his own expense. We learned yesterday that two families from Afghanistan are now safe in the Punjab thanks to Manmeet’s efforts.”
During question period, Wildrose MLAs paid a special tribute to Bhullar by basing all their questions on quotes and queries raised by Bhullar himself in the legislature. They also gave five of their questions to the PC caucus so that all eight Conservative MLAs could rise to ask questions in honour of their colleague.
(And to make a sad afternoon even more melancholy, when Liberal interim leader David Swann rose to speak, he paid tribute to Weslyn Mather — the Liberal MLA for Edmonton-Millwoods from 2004 to 2008 — who died on the weekend).
The tone was so civil and the volume so muted in the assembly that Speaker Bob Wanner referred to it afterward as the “Bhullar phenomenon” and hoped we’d see it again “many, many times.”
In one of the afternoon’s few moments of levity, Government house leader Brian Mason responded with a quip: “I hope you don’t get too fond of this.”
Mason is right, of course. The sense of cross-party camaraderie will not last. But it was a refreshing thing to see.
Jean is right, too, with his own summation: “We are all saddened here today, but the work of this place must continue.”
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