quadriplegic on January 11, 1996, after hitting a moose with his vehicle while travelling to a geological engineering job in northern Manitoba. The accident left him completely paralysed below the neck, and he now requires 24-hour-a-day attendant care. He was unable to speak for several months, and only regained this ability after a long process of recovery. In the immediate aftermath of his accident, Fletcher was told that he would have to spend the rest of his life in an institution. Years later, he joked: "I don't think the doctors ever thought the institution would be Parliament." When asked about his disability during his first campaign for public office, he quipped: "I would rather be paralyzed from the neck down than from the neck up." Before his accident, Fletcher was a wilderness canoe enthusiast. He served as president of the Manitoba Recreational Canoeing Association, was a two-time former Manitoba Kayak Champion, and competed in national events. He was able to resume his life as an outdoorsman in the mid-2000s through inventions such as the TrailRider, a device which allows quadriplegics to travel over rough terrain. In late 2004, he was able to stand again with the assistance of an hydraulic wheelchair. He recently competed in water races, and has won awards using "sip and puff" steering technology. In 2006, he visited the Burgess Shale in the Rocky Mountains with the help of a TrailRider and other hikers. Fletcher has said that the accident changed his political views. He acknowledges that he "didn't give the less-fortunate any consideration" before 1996, but now describes himself as a "compassionate conservative". Students' union president Fletcher returned to the University of Manitoba in 1997 to take a Master of Business Administration (MBA) program. He was elected president of the University of Manitoba Students' Union (UMSU) in February 1999, and identified his main priorities as improving the university's public profile and increasing access for students in financial need. He also called for greater university access for disabled students and for higher aboriginal enrollment. In October 1999, he met with federal Finance Minister Paul Martin to lobby for increased student funding. Fletcher's political views often put him at odds with other campus organizations during much of his tenure, and he was sometimes accused of administrative bias against left-wing groups. In early 2000, he supported a decision by student council to freeze university funding for The Manitoban, a