Madam Speaker, the term “force of nature” does not apply to many people. Wolf Solkin was a force of nature: an extraordinary individual who lived an extraordinary life that intersected with history.

Born in the Soviet Union, a child of the Great Depression, a World War II combat officer with the Algonquin Regiment, a social worker, property developer, and hotel manager, Wolf left us this month just shy of his 98th birthday. Wolf’s love of a just cause was unrelenting to the very end. At Ste. Anne’s Hospital, he was a tireless advocate for the rights and dignity of his fellow veterans. He launched an internal newspaper called the Veteran’s Voice and, armed with his iPad, employed the written word to amplify and defend the interests of his cohort at the hospital.

I ask members of the House to join me in expressing our deepest condolences to Wolf’s wife, Louise, and sons David and Andrew.