Mr. Speaker, during this joyful holiday season many Canadians are spending time in hospitals either as patients or visiting loved ones. It may not be very pleasant but we can rest assured that Canadians enjoy world class medical care.
In my great riding of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke we have a number of wonderful health care facilities, including the Renfrew Victoria Hospital. This facility's caring, compassionate staff is under the very able administration of Mr. Randy Penney. He is one of those rare, young, talented individuals who makes an immediate positive impact on the community.
In fact, 75 kilometres up the road from Renfrew, Mr. Penney is also administrator at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in Barry's Bay. His talents are so much in demand that he has acted as a consultant to foreign hospital administrations.
Last Friday night I participated in the Renfrew Victoria Hospital's tree of lights ceremony which funds many health care programs. Mr. Penney and his staff are brilliant beacons of hope for patients and their families in the upper Ottawa Valley.