Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the Progressive Conservative Party to pay our respects to all of our men and women who, in World War I, World War II, Korea and through peacekeeping, have laid down their lives and have served to make this the most wonderful country in which to live.
Next Thursday, November 11, all Canadians will be called upon to pause for not one minute but a two minute silence. I trust that we will have a lot of our young people at the cenotaphs so that they will understand the sacrifices that were made.
My hon. colleague from Charlotte County and I were flown down to Grand Manan. We were asked to go there for a special ceremony.
The young scouts in that little town did a lot of research, along with the Royal Canadian Legion and the veterans association, to find all of the graves in Grand Manan that were there for the veterans. The scouts laid little Canadian flags. It was truly very moving. It was beautiful to see those young men and young girls as they stood and showed their respect for some of their relatives and others who were not related to them who had made the tremendous sacrifice.
I also had the privilege along with some of my colleagues from both sides of the House to go to Dieppe, France. I will never forget it. We looked at the promenade and there was a Canadian flag at the top of every one of the buildings. Children came up to us and pointed to the little Canada pins we were wearing.
Mr. Speaker, I will never forget the sacrifices that our people made for you and me and for everyone in the House. We went into the harbour and I could not believe that our men and women had gone on boats into that harbour. It was like a mountain on each side and there was nowhere for them to go. Of course, Mr. Speaker, as you and I and everyone here knows, tremendous sacrifices were made.
Yes, I recognize these gentlemen who are in the gallery today, our merchant mariners. I praise and thank God that they are finally recognized as the fourth arm of the armed forces, our army, navy, air force and merchant mariners. They laid down their lives. Many of them never came back.
I ask all my colleagues when we leave here this week to go back to our communities that we make sure all of our people understand that they must get out and show the respect, that they bow their heads and that they hold that two minute silence to show the respect that all of our veterans deserve in this wonderful country of ours.
We shall always remember them.