Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, Habitat, paid a very special tribute to his honour the mayor of Hull, Yves Ducharme, appointing him special advisor to the United Nations.
Mr. Ducharme is the only mayor in North America to sit on the UN local authorities advisory committee, a body set up by the UN to consolidate the role and increase the involvement of cities in the Habitat program.
As the ambassador of the City of Hull to the world, Mr. Ducharme will thus have the privilege of sharing his expertise on urban development with the mayors of such cities as Moscow, Barcelona, Venice and Johannesburg.
I therefore take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Ducharme on this prestigious appointment and I am sure he will worthily represent his citizens in providing advice on the challenges and opportunities in growing urbanization at the dawn of the new millennium.