moved for leave to introduce Bill C-456, An Act to establish Leif Erickson Day.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate being seconded by the member for Edmonton—Strathcona who of course is the hardest working member of Parliament from Alberta in the House of Commons. The bill would create a Leif Erickson Day in Canada. In the United States those Americans of Scandinavian origin are already honoured every October 9 with a Leif Erickson Day and that day has existed since 1964. But in Canada we have not in a formal way honoured the many Canadians of Scandinavian origin who have contributed to our country. There are dozens of organizations across the country that support Scandinavians, those of Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Finnish origin, and those organizations are supportive of the bill. There are more than 1.1 million Canadians of Scandinavian origin who have come to enrich our country, enrich our land, including my family, the Moum family, from Fredrikstad, Norway. I hope the bill will receive the support of the House of Commons.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)