Mr. Speaker, school children from around the world love contests, and last June Canadian school children got their chance to enter one.
At the request of cartoonist Ben Wicks newspapers from across Canada and the Schoolnet asked our children to depict how they felt about their country. They could submit letters, poems, drawings or paintings.
The response was overwhelming. More than 50,000 replies were received and 300 were selected for a new book called Dear Canada/Cher Canada-A Love Letter to My Country .
Today Mr. Wicks and 20 children from across Canada are in Ottawa to launch this book. The proceeds from the sale will go to needy mothers and children in Haiti and to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada.
Through this book the children of Canada are telling us what the rest of the world already knows, that Canada is the best country in the world.