P.E.I. man killed in collision near Fort McMurray was 'salt of the earth'

A P.E.I. man killed in a collision near Fort McMurray last week was a fly-in, fly-out worker and a member of Teamsters Canada, according to a statement put out by the union.

Two men from the Maritimes were killed in a head-on collision north of Fort McMurray on Highway 63 on Thursday, according to RCMP. One was a 40-year-old man from Nova Scotia and the other.a 56-year-old Islander.

The P.E.I. man was driving a semi-tractor hauling two large water tanks when it was struck head-on by a pickup truck, according to the union.

RCMP have said a pickup truck was travelling north in the southbound lanes at the Albian Sands turn-off when it struck a tractor-trailer.

The P.E.I. man worked for the same company for 10 years, said the union.

His name has not been released, nor has the name of the driver of the pickup truck.

"On behalf of our 125,000 members, I would like to express our sincerest condolences to the family and to his co-workers," Teamsters Canada president Francois Laporte said in the release.

"The man we lost was the salt of the earth," he said. "He worked hard to support his family, and he was really well liked by his colleagues."

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