A funeral service will be held next Friday in Alberta for Conservative MP Jim Hillyer, who was found dead in his office near Parliament Hill early Wednesday morning.
A statement sent on behalf of Hillyer’s family said the Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner MP’s service will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Stake Centre in Raymond, Alta. Raymond is about 250 kilometres south of Calgary.
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Hillyer leaves behind his wife and four children. There will be a family gathering Thursday night.
Hillyer, 41, was a cancer survivor and had a bone marrow transplant in 2003. He broke his leg in a skiing accident in 2013 and took three weeks away from his job for surgery and rehabilitation. Hillyer was plagued with infections that required subsequent surgeries. He often walked with a cane and some were surprised to see him back on the Hill this week after his latest hospital stay, following a surgery to deal with an infection on his leg.
READ MORE: Conservative MP Jim Hillyer dies in office
Hillyer had told the Medicine Hat News on Tuesday he felt it was important to be in Ottawa this week for the budget.
“I’m OK,” he said. “I’m still on antibiotics three times each day but they set me up with a portable pump for the week so I could make it to the budget.”
He was first elected to the House of Commons in 2011 as the MP for Lethbridge. He was re-elected in 2015 in Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner. He was a member of the Standing Joint Committee of the Library of Parliament and various other committees.
With files from Global’s Leslie Young and The Canadian Press
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