Mr. Speaker, on Friday I had the honour of laying a wreath at Canada's National War Memorial for those brave Canadians who took part in the attack on Vimy Ridge.
Eighty-eight years have passed since that cold, wet morning when all four divisions of the Canadian corps launched their assault. Thought by many to be impregnable, by that afternoon the Canadians had captured most of Vimy Ridge. I believe Lord Byng described it best when he said:
There they stood on Vimy Ridge, (on the 9th day of April, 1917.) Men from Quebec stood shoulder to shoulder with men from Ontario, men from the Maritimes with men from British Columbia, and there were forged a nation tempered by the fires of sacrifice and hammered on the anvil of high adventure.
Said to be the turning point of the great war, some 3,600 Canadians were never to return, so in the warm Ottawa sunlight I laid a wreath and said a silent prayer of thanks to those who not only took Vimy Ridge, but they forged a nation in the process.