Parliament marked the loss before it did anything else. The House of Commons opened Monday with a moment of silence and leaders' tributes for the four soldiers killed in the CFB Wainwright fire, then adjourned for the day — Prime Minister Mark Carney saying MPs were united in grief.
The fire broke out Saturday during a high-intensity live-munitions training exercise at the Alberta base — soldiers throwing hand grenades and conducting a section attack — when strong winds spread a grass fire by a kilometre in less than a minute, according to Maj.-Gen. Wade Rutland.
The fallen, all of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry of Edmonton, are Sgt. Morgan Wong of Edmonton, Pte. Shaun Farrell of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Pte. Aidan Goulding of North Vancouver and Pte. Hayden Lykkemark of Langley, B.C. Another 39 soldiers were injured, 19 of them critically, triggering a Code Orange in Alberta hospitals and community blood drives.
Carney on Sunday called it one of the worst tragedies for the Forces on Canadian soil in peacetime, said the nation is in mourning, ordered flags at half-mast at federal buildings and ordered a full investigation. The troops had been training for a 2027 Latvia NATO deployment.
The Defence Department says there is no indication of terrorist activity and no indication oil and gas infrastructure was hit. The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service is leading the probe with RCMP support, a process expected to take at least a month.
