Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate National Volunteer Week which begins on April 17 and runs until April 23. This year's theme is “Volunteers Grow Community”.
Volunteers are indeed the backbone of our communities, both in my riding of Perth—Wellington and across Canada. By sharing their skills and knowledge with others, volunteers make an enormous contribution to improving our quality of life. We are all grateful that 6.5 million of our fellow Canadians choose to become active citizens in this way. It is therefore only fitting that we recognize our volunteers every year with a week dedicated to paying tribute to them.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the thousands of volunteers in my riding of Perth—Wellington who give so freely of their time and talents and make such a difference in our communities. Please join me in saluting our volunteers.