Mr. Speaker, I am also pleased to stand in support of my hon. colleague's bill. I have a leg up on the hon. member who just spoke because I already am a grandfather.
I put this all into perspective. It is a great privilege to be part of a family. When I think of the influence my parents have had on our children and indeed the influence my grandparents had on
me, I think that we greatly err if we do not do everything possible to preserve that familial connection.
I remember when I was a young man leaving home for the first time to go to university in Saskatoon. My parents made a special point of taking me over to my grandparents' place to say goodbye to them. I will never forget that my grandfather, who is long gone now, took the time to pray with me. That was very important to our family. We had an opportunity to pass on those most deeply held values from generation to generation. Our grandparents were of great assistance.
I think also particularly of my children's grandfather, my father-in-law, who was a tremendously strong influence in their lives. He was most influential and was such a solid and loving man.
To a large degree I will speak on behalf of grandfathers. At the beginning of this debate it was our female members who were promoting it which is wonderful. However I do not want people reading this record to think that we men do not care because we do care deeply. I am thinking particularly of my own children and the high esteem in which they held Grandpa Klassen as we called him, my wife's father, and how we all were so close together during that time when he was fighting cancer. He passed away just a little over a year ago. Therefore those are extremely important connections.
I think too of the occasions that we have had in working together with a number of families in recent years who have experienced this devastation of the family breakup. I remember not long ago speaking with the father of a couple, I will not identify them, who were breaking up and how he literally cried when he thought of his grandchildren.
I can only, as forcefully as I can, support this bill and say how important it is for children, for grandfathers as well as for grandmothers. I commend and congratulate my colleague for bringing this forward.