Madam Speaker, I too will begin by speaking about why I am in this House.
My sense of this country and therefore my mission as a member of Parliament comes from two main things. First, my father was an immigrant. I do not remember when I first heard how lucky I was to be a Canadian, how lucky I was to live in this wonderful country, to have this as my home and as my future. Having come from Europe my father was very much aware of what a wonderful future this nation has.
The second reason that gives me a sense of why I am here, of what my purpose is and what this country is all about I owe to a grade five teacher whose name I have even forgotten. I was 10 years old and I learned about this country from coast to coast from that teacher. I learned about the Rockies, the west coast, the east coast and the north. I also learned about the voyageurs who had opened up this continent for us. They had travelled on rivers and through mountain ranges nobody had ever travelled before, except our aboriginal peoples. From that I have such a strong sense of the importance of the two founding peoples of this country. Without the French settlers and explorers who came to the country we would not have what we have today.