Nick Lalonde is being remembered as a wonderful man with a passion for life.

Lalonde fell to his death while working at a construction site at the corner of King Street and Bricker Avenue in Waterloo. 

In his hometown of London, friends and co-workers say Lalonde always had a smile on his face.  “I can’t even picture anything negative that could be said about him, nothing”, said co-worker Mike Kell.

Lalonde spent the summers working construction while returning to work at the King Edward Restaurant and Pub in Ilderton during the winters.  Richard Hunter manages the establishment.  “We were expecting him to come back when the construction business shut down this year, we were looking forward to having him back.”

Lalonde leaves behind a girlfriend and daughter.  In a statement, Lalonde’s girlfriend Chelsey Suchard says, “Nick was a wonderful man. He had a passion for life and lived every day to the fullest. His laugh, smile, and happiness were contagious. He loved his family more than anything. He was such a great father, he adored his daughter. He will be missed by many. I love him so much and I always will.”

Another friend, Kyle McKinlay, says his Lalonde had a special connection with his daughter, Aloe, “As soon as you said anything about Aloe she’d brighten right up, he’d tell you anything about her.”

A funeral for Lalonde will be held Wednesday in London.

Lalonde’s former manager says something needs to be done to better protect construction workers on the job.  “This is a senseless loss.  There needs to be a wakeup call here.”

At the scene on Friday, witnesses said a man who was working on the roof of the 12-storey building fell onto scaffolding several floors below.  Lalonde was doing masonry work at the site.

Maison Canada is the developer.  Ministry of Labour investigators have issued 17 orders to the company,.  Among them:

  • Make sure certain areas have proper guard rails
  • Maison Canada must establish a joint health and safety committee
  • No one is allowed to work on the 11th floor or higher

Ministry of Labour spokesperson Matt Blajer says the company also received five ‘stop work’ orders.  “A stop work order is issued when there is an immediate danger to workers, that the hazard represents an immediate danger.”

Since the incident, a memorial of flowers, a photo and a yellow hard hat have been placed on the fence that surrounds the site. 

Company workers have been doing work since Monday doing work to comply with the imposed work orders.

Maison Canada declined to comment.