Mr. Speaker, on December 13, 1991 Canada ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ensuring the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. However development cannot begin unless we provide the most fundamental necessities of housing, clothing and, above all, nutrition.
The government's commitment to children is very clearly demonstrated through our numerous initiatives such as the prenatal program, the Canada child tax benefit and our national children's agenda.
We all need to do our part in our communities to see that children do not go hungry, especially at this time of year.
When I held my open house for the holidays, I invited the people of the riding of Ahuntsic to help out those less fortunate by donating food to Magasin-Partage of the community help and nutrition service (SNAC). Thanks to these donations, some 350 families will have food for the holidays.
I congratulate my colleagues who have put forward such initiatives. We must all do our part, not only during this holiday season but year round.