Mr. Speaker, I am happy to rise today to bring attention to a very important cause, one that often goes unnoticed but can change our lives dramatically. We should take the time to reflect on just how lucky we are to have the gift of sight.
Today the Canadian National Institute for the Blind is hosting its second annual World Sight Day. It is through the Vision 2020 initiative that the CNIB hopes to bring awareness to this highly preventable disease, find solutions and hopefully eliminate all preventable and treatable blindness by the year 2020.
It is worth paying close attention to the Vision 2020 plan, as its benefits are twofold. If Vision 2020 were to become a reality, not only would we prevent 100 million people from going blind but this would in turn amount to a savings of about $150 billion U.S. on a global scale.
While this is a major undertaking, it can become a reality with our help. If not for ourselves, consider this cause important because of the children facing this fate of blindness at an alarming rate of one child per minute.