Former Alberta premier Jim Prentice is among four people dead after a small plane crashed Thursday night outside of Kelowna.
The Cessna Citation jet had departed from Kelowna and was headed toward Springbank, Alta., a rural community near Calgary, said Bill Yearwood of the Transportation Safety Board.
The plane disappeared from radar soon after takeoff and a search team found its wreckage northeast of Winfield, B.C.
“Tragically, all four people on board have lost their lives,” Yearwood said.
Surrey Air Traffic Control Centre alerted Kelowna RCMP and Lake Country RCMP at 10:07 p.m. that it had lost contact with the jet shortly after takeoff from Kelowna International Airport.
In a statement, Southeast District spokesman Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said RCMP investigators located the crash site in a heavily wooded area approximately 4 km north of Beaver Lake Road and east of Lake Country.
A TSB team has been dispatched to investigate. Mounties are aiding in the investigation.
Prentice was 60 years old.
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B.C. Premier Christy Clark, speaking before Prentice’s death was officially confirmed Friday morning, told reporters in Vancouver that it was “a terrible loss for Canada.”
“I got to work with him when he was elected premier of Alberta, and I don’t know if in politics I have met many people who are of such good character,” said Clark.
“Jim Prentice was that guy who you could make an agreement with for any amount of money on a handshake and he’d keep it. He was a guy who would keep confidences no matter what would happen. He was a man of his word, and a man who wanted the best for the people that he served. It’s hard when we lose anybody who has devoted themselves to public life, but I think it’s really hard to lose people who were really the best.”
Prentice served as Alberta premier from 2014 to 2015 and was a federal Conservative cabinet minister from 2006 to 2010.
B.C NDP leader John Horgan issued a statement on behalf of his party, saying he was saddened to learn of Prentice’s death.
“Like all public figures, Mr. Prentice devoted his time trying to make life better for people in the way he thought was best. We thank him for his contribution to the people of Alberta,” Horgan said.
“Our hearts are with his family and friends as they try and make their way through this difficult time.”
As a lawyer, Prentice was involved in Aboriginal land claims and from 2010 to 2014 held a senior position with CIBC.
Earlier this month, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of Northview Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust.
In June, Prentice was hired as an energy analyst by private-equity firm Warburg Pincus LLP. He was a global fellow at the Canada Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.
More to come.
