Families to get compensation

Families of the victims of the OC Transpo tragedy will get the compensation they were promised

Ontario's premier restored a compensation promise to the families of four slain Ottawa-Carleton city workers who were shot and killed by a co-worker.

A provincially appointed amalgamation transition board had originally overturned the deal giving the families compensation.

The board was appointed to oversee the merger of 11 Ottawa-area municipalities. Premier Mike Harris vetoed the unelected body''s decision less than a week after it decided to strip the families of the compensation packages.

Last April, a disgruntled OC Transpo employee gunned down four city workers in a bus garage. The man then killed himself.

Ottawa-Carleton regional council voted to offer the families of the victims approximately $100,000.

At the end of the political roller coaster, union leaders representing the 2,000 Ottawa-Carleton transit employees say it finally brings some closure to the tragedy.

The healing is ongoing and it's going to take awhile. "It will take a generation of workers before this is really closed," says Denis Grandmaitre, treasurer of the Amalgamated Transit Union.

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