Mr. Speaker, as a member from Atlantic Canada I am very proud and very pleased that my government, the Government of Canada, has recognized the 12,000 Canadians who voluntarily served in the merchant navies of Canada and other allied countries during the second world war. Many of those merchant mariners came from Atlantic Canada and one out of ten died on the high seas.
Yesterday, after 51 years, this government represented by the hon. Secretary of State for Veterans and the hon. Minister of National Revenue in twin ceremonies in Halifax and in Vancouver presented the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal to veterans of the Canadian Merchant Navy. With the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches just a few days away, it is very appropriate and timely that this government acknowledge the success of the allied war effort vested in large measure in the considerable sacrifices made by allied merchant seamen.
Today Canada salutes the veterans of the merchant navy and we thank them for their ultimate sacrifice.