Bill S-223 (Historical)

Kindness Week Act

An Act respecting Kindness Week

This enactment designates the third week of February in each and every year as “Kindness Week”.

Kindness Week Act

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

, seconded by the member for Saint-Laurent, moved that Bill S-223, An Act respecting Kindness Week, be read the second time and referred to a committee of the whole.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Pursuant to the order adopted on Thursday, May 13, a member from each recognized party and a member from the Green Party may speak for not more than 10 minutes.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today as the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes to speak to Bill S-223, an act respecting Kindness Week.

Bill S-223 was originally introduced in the other place by Senator Munson. As the saying goes, “if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.” Try the senator did and he was successful.

This bill was introduced each of those times in honour of Rabbi Reuven Bulka, who is the founder of Kind Canada and the inspiration for this bill. In the same spirit that motivated the rabbi to start the first Kindness Week in Ottawa 14 years ago, this bill would see Canadians from coast to coast to coast celebrate kindness week in their communities during the third week of February every year.

As for the rabbi's inspiration for the first Kindness Week, he said:

My motivation in establishing Kindness Week in Ottawa was to counter the bullying epidemic that had invaded our schools. The logic was simple. Telling children not to do something does not help that much and at times can be counterproductive. But helping children do nice things and say nice things to others creates the type of positive energy that suffocates bullying.

I can think of no better time for this bill than in the midst of a pandemic, where the lives of people have been turned upside down and the need to be kind to one another is greatly amplified. Many people have fallen on hard times and have lost their job, seen their business close and have seen loved ones fall ill.

It would be so easy for Canadians in this high-stress environment to become callous or indifferent to their neighbours, friends and family, but thankfully we have seen the opposite. Communities have come together to help the vulnerable in need among them. We have seen people getting groceries for their neighbours and the elderly. We have seen an increase in giving to food banks, an outpouring of support for charities, even children writing letters and sending videos to folks in long-term care homes. Acts of kindness like these are happening all across our country and have truly helped us get through the stress and uncertainty of this pandemic situation.

This bill, with the creation of a national kindness week, will help to encourage values such as empathy, respect, gratitude and compassion, and lead to the improved health and well-being of Canadians. Designating and celebrating a kindness week throughout Canada will encourage acts of kindness, voluntarism and charitable giving that will benefit all Canadians as well as connecting individuals and organizations to share resources, information and tools to foster more acts of kindness.

We hope that celebrating kindness week might encourage a culture of kindness in Canada. Showing kindness to people, regardless of their station in life, affirms the human dignity that is inherent in all of us. This is especially compounded in the current situation of the pandemic.

In that spirit of kindness, I want to sincerely thank the member for Saint-Laurent for her help in getting this bill to the finish line, working with all members in this place so we can realize Rabbi Bulka's vision for a kindness week in Canada, with the help of our friend in the other place, Senator Munson, and all members of the House, in doing the right thing, in doing the kind thing and getting this bill passed expeditiously.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the time I get to speak on this bill today, Bill S-223, an act respecting kindness week in Canada.

I will begin by thanking the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, for tabling this bill in the House; Senator Jim Munson, for introducing the bill in the other place; Rabbi Reuvan Bulka, the founder of Kind Canada and the individual who approached Senator Munson with the idea, and therefore was the inspiration behind this bill; and all of the House leaders and members in this place for allowing this to pass at such a quick pace today, so that Canadians across the country may recognize the third week of February as kindness week every year in Canada.

I have seconded this bill, because I think a little bit of kindness can go a very long way. Kindness is a sincere and voluntary use of one's time, talent and resources to better the lives of others, one's own life and the world through genuine acts of love, compassion, generosity and service. We must remember that, while it is important to be kind to others, we must also be kind to ourselves. Only when we are kind to ourselves and think about ourselves in a positive and healthy way are we able to have the abundance needed to give to others.

When we return the love and joy that another is feeling, it has a huge impact on their sense of well-being.

Prior to fully entering politics, I was a high school teacher. I taught history, geography, French, and ethics and religious culture. I have to say that, of these, my favourite course to teach was the ethics class. That was because, as a teacher, I believed I played an important role in helping my students become happy, resilient, fulfilled human beings. I know there is a limited amount a teacher can do in this regard. However, I always knew that I wanted my classroom to be a safe place where students could feel comfortable being themselves and opening up about anything they were going through. In my classroom, students knew there was zero tolerance for bullying, and they knew kindness was expected of them above all else.

One of the units I covered when teaching this course was on random acts of kindness, where students learned the importance of being kind to one another; the difference a simple act of kindness can make in someone's day or, in some cases, in someone's life; and about what could be considered an act of kindness. At the end of the unit, their assignment was to do 10 random acts of kindness within a two-week period and to write about them, what their impact was on the people they were doing this act for, and how they felt in doing the act.

Members can probably imagine what those two weeks looked like in our school: groups of friends sitting with a student eating his lunch alone and being genuinely interested in getting to know him; leaving kind words on post-it notes on each other's lockers; or helping someone pay for something at the cafeteria. From what I read in their assignments, the kindness was spread beyond the school and into their homes, when they helped their parents with chores around the house or visited grandma for a little longer that week. The reflection on how this made others feel was important, because when we are kind to others, knowing we made a difference can feel so great.

I did this with my students, because I had a vision for a kinder world, a world where people choose kindness over being mean and insulting and a world where people are thoughtful and considerate and try to bring light and positivity into the lives of those they come into contact with. I believe that kindness is contagious.

Every child, parent and adult reaps the benefits of kindness, whether they are the giver or the receiver. Kindness makes everyone feel really good, which encourages them not to give up.

When we go out of our way to be kind or do something nice for someone, chances are they will want to pay it forward and do something nice in return. We have all been on the receiving end of a kind act. When it is not expected, it can surprise us and leave us feeling so appreciative. Sometimes that is not the case, because the person we are doing a kind act for may not be ready to receive the kindness, and that is okay. We cannot let those experiences get in the way of making an effort to be kind, because it is only by continuing and spreading kindness that we will change the world, one act at a time and one person at a time.

In the words of Rabbi Bulka, “Being kind is nothing more than being truly human. The kinder we are, the better all humanity will be.”

Some may wonder if designating a week to kindness really does anything and what the point of it is, especially since we already live in one of the kindest countries in the world. While that may be true, designating a week to kindness would bring attention to the act of being kind. It would allow us to reflect on our actions and motivate Canadians across the country to be kinder to one another. It would serve as a reminder for those of us who sometimes get caught up in the busyness of life and who may not be prioritizing kindness. It would give teachers the opportunity to teach their students about the importance of being kind to everyone.

As a former teacher, I can assure the House that designating a week to kindness motivates teachers, administrative staff and students immensely because it encourages enthusiasm for a culture of kindness in their school. This enthusiasm can lead to the creation of kindness clubs and the emergence of leaders among the students. It can also create an opportunity to discuss bullying with students in class.

This pandemic that we have been living with for more than a year now has left people feeling isolated and has taken away so many opportunities for us to connect with others. Now, more than ever, it is important to be kind to one another, and that can come in many forms. We can bring groceries to a senior who may still be afraid of leaving their home while public health measures are still in place; we can reach out to someone we have not spoken to in a while, let them know we are thinking of them and that we are willing to listen if they need to talk; we can send someone a nice card of appreciation for the work they are doing to keep people safe; or we can educate our children. A little kindness goes a very long way.

On this note, I would like to once again thank Rabbi Bulka for all of the important work that he has spent his life doing, Senator Munson for bringing this forward in the other place and the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes for bringing it forward here.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order, I hope my colleagues will spare me the opportunity for a brief intervention here. I know that it is not normally done during Private Members' Business, but Rabbi Reuven Bulka is a phenomenal Canadian. I do not think he would mind my saying that he has been a very good friend of mine for the past 25 years. He has passed on some very great secrets of psychotherapy from Dr. Viktor Frankl's work, who himself survived a death camp during the Holocaust. Rabbi Bulka, of course, has been a phenomenal Canadian in building bridges here in Ottawa and across the nation, and was my co-chair in the all-party interfaith friendship group here on Parliament Hill.

Rabbi Bulka was recently diagnosed with late-stage cancer and began cancer treatments this past January. It would be my hope, because this initiative was inspired by him and it commemorates his efforts, that the Speaker of the House would send a special note to Rabbi Reuven Bulka just to say that all parties agree that kindness week would be a great idea, it is something that is truly Canadian, and we would like to thank him for inspiring it.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

I thank the hon. member for the recommendation.

Do I have the consent of the House to do this?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

(Motion agreed to)

I will convey this message to the Speaker.

Resuming debate. The hon. member for Berthier—Maskinongé.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak about kindness. I, too, would like to recognize Rabbi Reuven Bulka for his initiative and tell him that our thoughts are with him. I sincerely hope that this exemplary show of solidarity by members of the House will bring him some comfort and perhaps give him some hope for the world.

What does it mean to be kind?

First of all, I have to say that I took it as a compliment that my party asked me to speak today. It is true that I generally try to be kind. Being kind involves doing little things, being attentive to and looking out for others. It is offering to carry a bag for someone when we have nothing in our hands and their hands are full. It is holding the door open for someone. It is smiling at people.

It has been a bit hard to smile over the past year. However, we have all noticed that people can also smile with their eyes. As a joke, whenever we take photos now, I tell people to crinkle their eyes. It means the same thing because when we smile, it shows in our eyes. Most of us do not like wearing masks because they are hot and we feel like we cannot breathe, but masks also make us focus more on people's eyes. Even if we cannot show that we are smiling with our mouths, let us show it with our eyes, but let us smile.

World Kindness Day already exists. We celebrate it on November 13. As I have learned, it has been recognized since 2014 in Quebec and since 2017 in Canada. It does not get much attention.

Psychologist Pascale Brillon of the Université du Québec à Montréal theorizes that November 13 was chosen because that is when dreary days set in and the temperature drops. It is a time when kindness can soothe people's souls.

Today's proposal would designate the third week of February as kindness week. Once passed, which I am sure it will be, we will have a World Kindness Day as winter sets in and a kindness week around the time everyone is sick of winter. It will go a long way toward warming our hearts.

Kindness can sometimes be interpreted as a weakness or flaw, especially in the political realm. It is actually anything but. Kindness is a sign of great emotional intelligence.

Psychologist Pascale Brillon said, “people with high emotional intelligence experience greater professional success. Emotional intelligence is also the ability to care for others, to tune in to them, and to be kind.”

Kindness is not a weakness, far from it. It is a sign of strength, courage, empathy, altruism and compassion for others. It is possible to take a stand and be true to oneself while being kind and civilized. I say that because it is something that I am trying to put into practice, even though, if I am being honest, I do not always succeed. I think that our job here is a strong incentive to do that every day. I therefore invite all members of the House and all Canadians and Quebeckers to implement these good practices.

Earlier, I gave some examples of acts of kindness. It is human nature to be kind. For anyone who has ever spent any time with young children, have we not all marvelled at how a one-year-old infant will try to help someone carry a bag or open a door when they can hardly even walk yet?

The naysayers who claim that people are fundamentally bad are mistaken. What makes people a bit more cruel and combative is likely the competitive, capitalist world in which we live.

Let us come back to the world of politics. We are working in an environment that encourages us to say, on a daily basis, that we are not the problem, someone else is. Members are always saying that it is others who are not being nice or talking about how, when their party was in office, they did this or that. Personally, I listen to what is being said and I learn from it. I have not been here very long, but I often hear that kind of thing.

I also have a message for my colleagues. I have been sharing some funny examples, but I have also seen some not-so-funny things in the House. I will not name names. It is water under the bridge. However, kindness is also the ability to convey one's message without attacking others in a mean-spirited way. That is key. I think that is what the rabbi wanted to accomplish. He wanted people to do better and be better.

We lost a great Quebecker recently. In all honesty, I think Serge Bouchard was probably the wisest man I have ever heard speak. Every time he opened his mouth, he exuded the humility of a human being on a lifelong quest to become the best possible version of himself.

I invite everyone here to embark on that quest, much like the rabbi who prompted this very debate. Kindness can be part of politics too. I am inspired by Quebec society, which has created a social safety net that, though far from perfect and with room for improvement, is nevertheless exemplary. Quebec has done more to reduce social inequality than any other place in North America. We still have inequality, but less than elsewhere. Let us also continue working toward that.

We must be vigilant about what we accept in our society, on social media, for example. Lately, a lot of people seem to think that they can say or do whatever they want because they are hiding behind a keyboard. The member who spoke before me was talking about teaching. I was a teacher for 25 years and had to intervene in serious cases of cyberbullying. The only way to move forward and make progress is for the person who committed the act to understand what they did.

I think that is the idea behind this proposal. Today I am thinking about all of the municipal elected officials who recently announced they were leaving politics because they were tired and emotionally spent from dealing with insults on social media. We must be vigilant.

I think that this kindness week will allow us to take another step forward. People who are unkind to us often behave that way because they are hurt or in distress. If meanness did not exist, there would be no merit in being kind. If we have the strength to be kind, receive criticism, listen to the message and understand it, the other person will feel seen.

Even if it feels like we are not getting back what we give, it is not so bad. It is called paying it forward. We probably did a good thing for the other person, who will do a good thing for someone else, before that good deed comes back to us. Everything balances out.

I think that when we are attentive to others, we can never go wrong. I invite the government to be kind in the policies it is voting on, namely to take care of seniors by increasing old age security and to take care of sick people who contributed to employment insurance their entire lives but are now entitled to only 26 weeks of benefits instead of 50.

It would be kind to adopt these types of proposals in general, and I am pleased that we are passing this bill today. Let us think about it.

I will close with a saying by Jacques Weber: kindness is the nobility of intelligence.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Madam Speaker, on behalf of the NDP caucus, I would also like to thank the member for Saint-Laurent and the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes for their initiative in bringing this important legislation before the House today and for the discussions that will follow.

This also shows how important it is for all members to come together to have these conversations and get this bill passed.

I would also like to thank Rabbi Reuven Bulka and everyone at the Kind Canada Généreux organization.

Our thoughts are with Rabbi Bulka. We hope that his health improves and wish him a full recovery. Our thoughts are with him today.

We are talking about kindness. Putting in place a kindness week is an important symbol of where we want our society to go, how we want our society to interact and how we want people to work together. I believe we all want to build a society of kindness. Of that there is no doubt.

We have seen particular examples of the imperative of kindness through the course of this pandemic. I will mention just a few cases of how we have seen Canadians and people around the world come together in an unprecedented way during the pandemic, and one might argue because of the pandemic.

In my community, we have seen people taking care of each other's neighbours, making sure shut-ins seniors are getting what they need, whether it is groceries or medication. People are taking care of each other, showing acts of kindness in a very deliberate, organized and focused way.

We have also seen the countless acts of kindness that come from our health care workers and first responders. They are on the front lines. They are vulnerable to COVID and its variants, yet we have seen countless cases of nurses, health care workers and first responders such as firefighters stepping up despite the danger and showing ongoing acts of kindness and its importance.

The stories of health care workers who share the final moments of people passing away from COVID despite the risk to themselves, knowing nobody else can come in and spend those final hours with those COVID patients, have been repeated across Canada, but we have also seen them around the world. There have been countless cases of courage and kindness coming together at critical, dangerous times.

I have seen organizations in my community come together to put into effect the importance of kindness. Two community organizations that have come together during COVID are Caring During COVID in Burnaby and Helping Hands in New Westminster. These are groups of local residents: volunteers who have come together to perpetuate, amplify, repeat and multiply acts of kindness throughout the community.

These are all examples of the strength kindness can bring to a community, a region, a country and indeed to the entire world.

We see these very acts of kindness repeated across the country. Look at the nurses, doctors and health care workers who often risk their own lives to perform acts of kindness.

This shows that courage and kindness can work together, even during a pandemic, and even when people's lives are at stake.

I am not sharing information that we do not know when I also say we have seen a disturbing rise in the opposition to acts of kindness, the toxic opposition which is acts and incidents of hate. It is something that we need to call out. We have seen increased cases of racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and transphobia. All of those hatreds have also increased during this pandemic.

There is no doubt that the vast majority of Canadians know the importance of ensuring that acts of hate and incidents of hate are eliminated, but it does show that the idea of a kindness week and perpetrating acts of kindness is not a passive work. It is an active work and it also makes it a part of all our responsibilities, the importance of stepping up against any act of hate, any hate speech and any incidents of hate that occur in our community.

Kindness also means fighting hatred. Unfortunately, during the pandemic, there has been an increase in hateful acts and hate speech. If we, as Canadians, want to promote kindness, we must do everything possible to put and end to these hateful acts.

How can we go beyond the acts of kindness in a kindness week? How can we ensure that we are truly a kind society? It really starts at the top. What that means is that when we talk about kindness and a kindness week, it is not only the relationship of Canadians with each other; it is also the relationship of our institutions with Canadians.

When we see the rising number of homelessness in our country, that is very clearly an abandoning of leadership around perpetrating acts of kindness. When we see people who are crying out for medication and public universal pharmacare and do not have the wherewithal to pay for their medication at this critical time, that is also a call for acts of kindness that come from our institutions and ensure that kindness is at every level of our society. We see people, as I do in my community, who do not have access to basic dental work. I have seen first-hand the critical impact of not having dental care in our country when a person's teeth start to fall out. That also is a call to action for kindness at every level.

When we are talking about acts of kindness and when we are talking about our institutions reflecting acts of kindness, we are also talking about our institutions reflecting and responding to the needs of Canadians. What that means is that we, as parliamentarians and the government, should constantly keep in mind that if we adopt this legislation, our institutions as well must be wedded to the vision of a society of kindness.

We must work on all fronts to ensure that our institutions also reflect the importance of kindness throughout society.

I will end with two quotes.

The first is from Rabbi Reuven Bulka who said, “Being kind is nothing more than being truly human. The kinder we are, the better all humanity will be.”

The second quote is from former official opposition leader, Jack Layton, who many believe to be the greatest prime minister Canada never had. Just before he passed he said, “Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world.”

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, it is an honour and a privilege to rise today on behalf of the Green Party of Canada to speak to Bill S-223 from the traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation and to serve the communities of Nanaimo—Ladysmith in the unceded territories of the Snaw'naw'as, Snuneymuxw, Stz'uminus and Lyackson first nations.

This bill was inspired by the work of Rabbi Reuven Bulka, who has been advocating to designate the third week of February as kindness week since 2007. Rabbi Bulka is the founder of Kind Canada, an organization that aims to inspire Canadians to cultivate kindness in their day-to-day lives, support charitable causes and enhance the well-being of others.

My colleague, the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, is a good friend of Rabbi Bulka. Rabbi Bulka has been an important part of her life for longer than she has been in the Green Party. They met around the year 2000, when the Rabbi invited her to take part in a program on community cable in Ottawa as a guest. The two of them did many shows together and discussed many topics, including the environmental movement and the idea that human dominance over other creatures is a misinterpretation of scripture. The hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands has asked me to pass on her best wishes to the rabbi and to thank him for pushing to have this legislation for kindness week passed in this House as soon as possible.

I really appreciate the preamble to this bill. These are things that all of us can strive for. Kindness encourages values such as empathy, respect, gratitude and compassion. Kind acts lead to the improved health and well-being of Canadians. It is important to encourage acts of kindness, volunteerism and charitable giving to the benefit of all Canadians. We need to encourage a culture of kindness in Canada throughout the year, but we must not limit our acts of kindness to Canadians and encourage a culture of kindness only in Canada. We must extend kindness to all people and all living things on the planet.

On the topic of kindness, researcher and author Brené Brown said, “First and foremost, we need to be the adults we want our children to be. We should watch our own gossiping and anger. We should model the kindness we want to see.”

We live in a time when it has never been so easy to be unkind to others. How many Canadians have received a negative comment on social media in a way they would never receive in person? This is especially true for elected officials and public figures, but it happens all the time to people who are not in the public eye as well. Why has social media become so toxic? Why do so many people act in unkind ways online?

This is not by chance. It is a by-product of the way social media platforms are designed. Social media algorithms are designed to make us spend as much time as possible on their platforms, in order to sell our attention to advertisers. What the algorithms have discovered is that a great way to keep us engaged is by angering us, so the algorithms feed us posts that fuel our anger, which increases polarization and destroys kindness.

Campaigners have learned this too. Everywhere we look in the public political discourse these days, we see the weaponization of anger for short-term political gain. Feeding the dark and unkind sides of human nature will come at a great cost and will be hard to undo. Some thinkers have dubbed what is going on right now “a war on sense-making”. Once upon a time, opposite political sides could engage in a rational and respectful debate about policy disagreements. We now have political forces that are fanning the flames of total delegitimization of their opponents, not just their opponents’ policies and ideas, but their opponents themselves. Some of the language being used in emails sent to MP offices these days is alarming.

Those who fan the flames of fear, mistrust and anger are at the same time strangling kindness, empathy and mutual respect. We will all pay dearly for this irresponsibility.

The Dalai Lama tells us, “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”

The kindness of discomfort can be one of the most difficult forms of kindness to embody in our lives. Confronting injustice requires difficult conversations about privilege. It requires us to acknowledge how we benefit from systemic oppression. It requires us to examine how we consciously or unconsciously perpetuate it. The kindness of discomfort means not being afraid to take responsibility for our own uncomfortable feelings. It means continuing to show up and do the work of creating a more just society.

The kindness of discomfort is an especially important idea to talk about right now. In my riding, there have been recent high-profile incidents of anti-indigenous racism toward the Snuneymuxw First Nation, when there was an outbreak of COVID-19 in its community, and when a memorial for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls was desecrated in the territory of the Stz'uminus First Nation.

Canada is also experiencing a surge of anti-Asian racism. Racism is part of our history and our present. We do not like to see ourselves this way, but it is essential to take the blinders off and sit in the discomfort of that reality. When it comes to breaking down the structural and systemic barriers of racism, bias and discrimination, the kindness of discomfort is the greatest form of kindness we can practise on a personal level. The kindness of discomfort is a conscious choice to become a better ally in the work of building a more equitable and inclusive society. American aviation pioneer and author Amelia Earhart wrote, “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.”

I support the kindness week act and I deeply appreciate the work of Rabbi Bulka, who inspired it. Opening up opportunities for Canadians to cultivate kindness through education, action and service also increases our opportunities for connection. Our disconnection from each other is a foundational problem in our society, and we are all living the outcomes of that problem in the mental health crisis, the opioid overdose crisis, the homelessness crisis, the struggle against poverty, the struggle for peace, the crash in biodiversity and the climate crisis. Every act of kindness is an act of defiance toward a social order that goes against our natural impulses toward compassion and empathy.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The conclusion of the time provided for debate has now expired. It being 3:30 p.m., pursuant to order made on Thursday, May 13, the motion is deemed adopted and Bill S-223, an act respecting kindness week, is deemed read a second time, referred to a committee of the whole, deemed considered in committee of the whole, deemed reported without amendment, deemed concurred in at report stage and deemed read a third time and passed.

(Motion agreed to, bill read the second time, considered in committee of the whole, reported without amendment, concurred in, read the third time and passed)

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

If I may, I would like to take two seconds, on the theme of kindness.

I would really like to thank my colleague in the chair, the hon. member for Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, for agreeing to work with me today to ensure the conduct of the sitting.

It was a long one and I appreciate all colleagues' participation. I thank everyone who has made it so easy.

Pursuant to an order made on Thursday, May 13, 2021, the motion that the House do now adjourn is deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until Tuesday, May 25, 2021, at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Orders 24(1) and 28(2).

(The House adjourned at 3:31 p.m.)