Mr. Speaker, today is St. Patrick's Day. It is the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick and it is a day in which the Irish and those who wish they were celebrate being Irish. There are over 75 million Irish descendants worldwide. It would be difficult to find an area in which the Irish have not played a key role.
However, the influence on Canadian politics is unmistakable. Politics was not alive until the Irish invented it, said Don Pidgeon, a Montreal historian. The list of Irish politicians is a long one, but one that should be remembered is Thomas D'arcy McGee, one of the Fathers of Confederation who campaigned for the country that would encompass both official languages and cultures. There is no question that the Irish agenda helped to determine the politics of this country not only in the latter half of the 19th century but well into the 20th century.
Today I wish all my fellow Irish men and women and all those who are Irish today a happy St. Patrick's Day. Considering the—