Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

A Conservative member of the legislature lauded as "a big man with a giant heart" was killed Monday after stopping on an icy Central Alberta highway to help a motorist whose car had flipped in a median.

Manmeet Bhullar, 35, who represented Calgary-Greenway, was one of only 10 Conservatives to win re-election this spring when the Tories under his longtime friend Jim Prentice were swept from power by the NDP.

"It is hard to express how significant this loss is to our province and to our country. He was a pillar of strength for everyone who knew him," said Prentice in a statement.

"(I am) devastated to hear of the death of my friend and incredible public servant," said Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

He called Bhullar "a true warrior for fairness and justice ... a man who defined integrity, who was genuine in everything he did, who never stopped fighting so that everyone could live a life of dignity."

As a winter storm descended on Alberta around noon on Monday, Bhullar was heading back to Edmonton after attending the launch in Calgary of a research project.

RCMP did not identify Bhullar, but issued a news release about the death of a 35-year-old man on Monday afternoon on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway north of Red Deer.

RCMP said at about 2:20 p.m., a vehicle lost control and rolled, and two other vehicles stopped on the shoulder of the highway to assist.

A semi-truck then lost control and struck the rear of the first vehicle, then continued into the median and struck the driver and sole occupant of the second vehicle, who was standing in the median. RCMP said the man was seriously injured and taken to hospital but later died of his injuries.

"It's typical that he would die in a selfless gesture of trying to help somebody else in need," former Alberta treasurer Jim Dinning in a telephone interview from Montreal.

"He was just a big, imposing guy and yet I always thought of him as a softie. He was determined and fierce but really cared about not so much about what people thought but how we could be doing better than we are."

Calgary MP Michelle Rempel said Bhullar was one of the first friends she made in Calgary and had a bright future in the rebuilding of the Alberta Tory party.

"I'm in shock," she said. "I still can't believe it's real."

Premier Rachel Notley called Bhullar's death a "terrible tragedy" and said "all Albertans should be proud of his significant contributions to public life," calling him a passionate advocate for the province. Opposition Wildrose Leader Brian Jean echoed those sentiments and said Bhullar's absence will be felt across the province.

Interim federal Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose tweeted her condolences, saying "we have all lost a friend."

Bhullar had been minister of human services in the government of former premier Alison Redford, held the infrastructure portfolio under Prentice, and was most recently serving as the Tory party's critic on finance, the Treasury Board and infrastructure.