Mr. Speaker, Mr. Don McKinnon from northwestern Ontario recently became a member of the Order of Canada. Mr. McKinnon received this very high honour because he identified, staked and promoted Hemlo, one of the largest gold deposits in the world. Hemlo is in northwestern Ontario, about 25 miles east of Marathon. The Hemlo discovery has led to the Williams, David Bell and Golden Giant gold mines.
From 1985 to the present, those operations have produced in excess of $4.5 billion in wealth for the area. This discovery has led to great economic development in northwestern Ontario. I can attest to that. When I was a lawyer for the firm of Weiler, Maloney, Nelson of Thunder Bay, I helped to open the first law office in Marathon and I saw first hand what a development like this means to an area.
I guess I could tell other stories, but not today, about the opening of that law office. As the MP for this area all citizens I am sure join with-