Mr. Speaker, February is Black History Month. It is a time for all Canadians to cherish our country's history.
Yesterday the Reform member for Calgary East spoke and I could not agree with him more. The ancestors of Canada's black community have made a tremendous contribution building our great nation.
That is why the government, through HRDC and the jobs creation partnership program, invested in the Nazrey AME Church, the first black national historic site designated in Canada. Located in the town of Amherstburg, this architecturally distinctive stone chapel is an example of the small refugee churches from Ontario associated with the underground railroad.
For once I hope the Reform Party will recognize this useful spending.
It is a sad day for Canadians when the Reform Party extols the virtues of history in this country while at the same time trashing one of the very programs that preserved it.