Mr. Speaker, on May 12 of this year, the 19th annual M&M Meat Shop's charity barbecue day was held and it was a great success.
On that day, franchisees, staff and thousands of volunteers at 430 M&M Meat Shops across Canada joined together to raise $1.91 million for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada. To date, M&M Meat Shops franchisees, customers and volunteers have raised more than $14 million to fight this affliction.
Every cent raised will go directly to the foundation to help find a cure for inflammatory bowel disease, a disease that affects more than 170,000 Canadian men, women and children.
On behalf of all my colleagues, I thank all the franchisees, their staff and the numerous volunteers who made this possible.
I would like to say a particular word of thanks to Guy and Collette Galipeau who own the franchise I visited that day in Ottawa—Vanier. I congratulate them and all the M&M franchisees and ask them to keep up the good work.