Former Alberta premier Jim Prentice was among the four people killed in a plane crash near Kelowna, B.C.
According to Bill Yearwood of the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) the Cessna Citation jet, which took off from the Kelowna International Airport and was on route to Springfield Airport on the evening of Thursday, Oct. 13 when the crash occurred.
It disappeared off radar at 8,600 feet at 10:07 p.m. The Surrey Air Traffic Control Centre alerted the Kelowna RCMP and Lake Country RCMP detachments.
“It was during the climb out from Kelowna that something went wrong, obviously, to cause the aircraft to descend and collide with terrain,” Yearwood said, adding a TSB team was heading to the crash site near Winfield, in Lake Country, north of Kelowna.
Jim Prentice was the 16th premier of Alberta. He won the PC party leadership in September 2014 and lost the provincial election in May 2015.
Before becoming premier, he served as vice-chair and senior executive vice-president with CIBC from 2010 to 2014.
Prentice also had a career in federal politics. He served as MP for Calgary Centre-North from 2004 to 2010, with stints as industry minister, environment minister and minister of Indian affairs and northern development in Stephen Harper’s cabinet.
Prentice leaves behind his wife Karen and three daughters. Jim Prentice was 60 years old.
-with files from the CBC.
