Mr. Speaker, all parliamentarians in the world could not believe what happened in Armenia yesterday. The Prime Minister, the Speaker of the House, the Deputy Speakers, ministers and members were brutally assassinated while they were exercising their duty on behalf of the people of that troubled land.
We are all very shocked. We want to say very strongly that violence is absolutely unacceptable and is the last way that problems can be solved.
For us to see what happened to the Prime Minister and the others in that country is completely unacceptable. We are very sad and we are praying for their families and for the people of Armenia that the situation will come back to normal.
I also want to pay tribute to the president of that country, which is currently undergoing an incredible crisis, for the calm that he displayed, for negotiating to put an end to the murderers' attack, and for promising them a fair trial.
On behalf of the Parliament of Canada and all Canadians, I wish to offer to Armenia, to its leaders and to the grieving families our most sincere condolences.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs will be there on Saturday to represent Canada. He will be accompanied by a member of this House who is of Armenian origin, the hon. member for Brampton-Centre. They will fly there in a few hours to represent us at the funerals. Let us hope that a tragedy of such magnitude will never happen again in any democracy in the world.