Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is the time of year for celebration. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House to honour the passing of Lindsay James St. Ledger Waugh. He was the first-born son of James St. Ledger Waugh and Ella May Taylor. He was born in Palmerston, South New Zealand, on October 7, 1946. He was followed by six siblings and spent most of his time in Waiati, a village outside of Dunedin.
His stories of childhood and adolescence involve working hard, taking the steam train to school, working on cars and motorcycles, smoking and drinking beer, and having the best time with his best mate, Gray. He was blessed with that friendship his whole life.
He also marked June 5, 1971, as an important date, the date he quit smoking.
After becoming an electrician as a young man and living in other parts of his home country, his sense of adventure took him across the ocean by boat to Canada. He still has those shoes he wore on that journey, and by the way, he was never a guy to throw anything away that had sentimental value at all.
Soon after his arrival in Canada, he found his way to Mayo, Yukon. He met Patricia Keyes, and they married on August 31, 1974, with their son, Bruce, by their side. Tracy arrived a few years later, and they made their move to Fort Simpson, where he started Kiwi Electric. They welcomed Jake and, later, Vanessa into the family. Victoria became an addition to the household, along with Dwight and other young people along the way.
He had an amazing work ethic and still worked the Kiwi Electric phone right up until he passed away in October.
He loved his community in the Deh Cho region. He was passionate about music, singing, and song writing. He always kept a small notepad in the pocket of his shirt in case of getting hit with inspiration for a new song. The family were so grateful that he accomplished his dream of recording his music and has left this legacy for his friends and family to continue to enjoy.
He was so proud of his business, his apprentices, his fellow musicians and friends, and his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. He was most proud of his wife, Pat Waugh, whose strength, patience, and sense of humour kept the whole ship afloat.
He took great joy in all of his children's accomplishments, was there to listen when they stumbled, and sent the best text messages ever. He loved to put aside chitchat time and talk about self and life and big ideas and balanced it out with being a total goofball at times.
Lindsay had a way of connecting with people and getting them to share their stories and collected many true friends along the way. He brought light and music and laughter to many cancer patients on their tough days and lived his motto, "Progress, not perfection."
Kiwi's presence in our family, community, and the Deh Cho will forever be missed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.