Ken Boshcoff, the MP from the Ontario riding of Thunder Bay-Rainy River, paid tribute today to Pte. Robert Costall, the Canadian soldier killed in a firefight recently with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. Boshcoff’s remarks, which came during Member’s Statements (the period just before Question Period starts) received a standing ovation from all members of the House:
Mr. Ken Boshcoff (Thunder Bay-Rainy River, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Private Robert Costall who was killed in combat in Afghanistan last week.
Private Costall was born in Thunder Bay and moved with his family to Gibson's Landing, British Columbia at the age of seven. At age 19 he returned to Thunder Bay to live with his grandmother. Shortly thereafter he visited the Canadian Forces recruiting office to offer himself for military service.
When Private Costall was called to serve Canada he found himself in a foreign land of chaos and despair. His duty was to help the besieged people of Afghanistan in their quest to realize the comfort, safety and freedom that he himself had been blessed with.
He died in the grandest of causes for the simplest of things – the ability to live without fear and without desolation. He died to help the Afghani people to be able to live in peace.
For his courage and dedication we offer our thanks and we pray, along with his wife, child and other family members, that he will rest in peace.
my sympathy to his family… (though late). may he rest in peace in heaven where there is no war anymore.