Canadian Tire gives O'Leary man Christmas to remember

The Canadian Tire staff Christmas party in Summerside, P.E.I., hosted a very special guest this year a former longtime employee and Canadian Tire devotee, Ross MacKay of O'Leary, P.E.I., who was partially paralyzed in an accident last year.

MacKay left the Island in the 1950s, finding work at Canadian Tire in Toronto where he worked from 1957 to 1976, then retiring and raisinghis four children on the Island. Last year in a two-storey fall from a ladder,MacKay broke his backand is now paralyzed from the waist down.

The owner didn't have to do this, he just did it out of the kindness of his heart. Jamie MacKay

"My daughter works at the Canadian Tire store and their Christmas party is usually in January, cause they have no time to take their party in December," Ross's son Jamie MacKay told Mainstreet P.E.I.'s Angela Walker, after sharing the story on Facebook.

Samantha MacKay, 23,was considering taking her grandfather, 81, as her party guest and and asked her boss, Claude Landry, if that would be OK, sharing the senior's nostalgia about his nearly two decades with the company and his ongoing support for the store. Ross MacKayhad even knownthe store's founding brothers.

Landry's interest was piqued: he and the store manager, along with Samantha, made a trip to the O'Leary hospital to visit Ross MacKay, along with a Christmas gift and an invitation for he and his wife Sheila to come to the staff party. Landry also paid for special wheelchair transportation to the event.

'Pretty overwhelmed'

Not only did Ross MacKay and his wife enjoy the party with a meal, they were presented with gifts roses for her, and a signed letter from one of the store's current owners expressing her thanks for MacKay's service, as well as a signed book on the history of the company.

"He was pretty overwhelmed," said Jamie MacKay. "He doesn't get out much anymore, doesn't get to any parties anymore."

Ross MacKay has now been invited to all of Canadian Tire's future Christmas parties.

"The owner didn't have to do this, he just did it out of the kindness of his heart," said Jamie MacKay. "I just thought it was a nice story and people should know everybody loves a good news story."

Canadian Tire was founded in 1922 by brothers J.W. and A.J. Billies who bought a Toronto tire store with $1,800.

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