Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the NDP, our thoughts and prayers today are with the family and friends of Jason Lang and Shane Christmas of Taber, Alberta. We share their grief over Jason and their anxiety and hopes for Shane and the shock that a fine Canadian community like Taber must feel at having this happen in their midst.
This event challenges us all. It should challenge the media to ask themselves whether the way in which they report such events is part of the problem. It challenges people of all ages and not just young people to treat our fellow human beings in such a way that no one feels excluded or like an estranged loser. It challenges all of us, politicians and citizens, to ask how we can free our collective psyche from the growing fascination with nihilistic violence and death that permeates elements of our mass culture from video games to music and movies.
The victims in Alberta and Colorado are like canaries in the mine. The cultural environment is toxic. Let us clean it up before it is too late.