Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the parliamentary secretary for allowing me to jump in with a couple of questions.
Dan, I want to thank you for bringing this legislation forward. I think this is a very interesting discussion.
I'm from Nova Scotia. We have the Nova Scotia Remembrance Day Act. It means a day off school. Businesses are closed. It's a really big event. It's become bigger over the years. I think your legislation is timely, considering the age of our World War II and Korean War veterans. I can remember, as a child, watching the World War I veterans. All of them are now gone. My grandfather was in World War I. I have military history in my family that is very similar to yours.
As a former elementary school principal, I can tell you that the local legions, in the 19 cenotaph services in my riding, are very active in all the elementary schools, the junior highs, and the high schools in the area, but particularly in the elementary schools. The schools embrace the legions. There's a really strong partnership.
On Remembrance Day you'll see a lot of the youth organizations—the Cubs, the Scouts, and particularly the Cadets, of course, because they're involved directly in the ceremony itself—all wearing their uniforms, and they all attend these services. In Atlantic Canada we have a stronger connection to the military, I think, than a lot of other areas of the country do, based on participation. We have 12% of the population, and about 22% of people in the military originate from Atlantic Canada.
Is there a concern that if we were to bring this legislation forward and put it in some of these other provinces, particularly ones with a huge influx of new Canadians who don't have that tradition, that military history within their own families within Canada...? Is that why you think the legions in other provinces are concerned? The legions in Atlantic Canada are fully behind and engaged in this. Can you comment on that a bit?