Mr. Speaker, today is World AIDS Day. Sadly thousands of Canadians are all too personally familiar with the tragedy of AIDS and HIV.
The human cost of AIDS is immeasurable. Each day our communities lose valuable and talented members to this disease. Right now AIDS is one of the primary causes of premature death of Canadian men. We must devote greater resources to its control and elimination.
AIDS has preyed particularly severely on Canada's artistic community and this impoverishes every Canadian. Museums, galleries and art shops across the country will be closed today in commemoration of a day without art to honour artists lost to AIDS.
Recently, there have been breakthroughs in the fight against this terrible disease, but we now have a responsibility to guarantee stable and adequate funding for research, and to assist individuals and their families.