Mr. Speaker, like the colleagues who have just spoken from the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois, I, too, am presenting part of the very large petition that was collected by Grandmothers for Africa.
Members of the House have already heard a bit about this petition. I should mention that it is signed by 30,000 grandmothers of all ages and individuals of both genders. In others words, many people have joined on to this worthwhile cause that the grandmothers started.
Rather than dwelling on the specifics that they have asked for, which have been dwelt on by my colleagues, I will mention the extreme importance of the underlying issues that the grandmothers are trying to draw attention to: the epidemics of tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria in Africa that claim quite literally millions of lives every year and which represent, arguably, the greatest tragedies of our times.
This is a very worthwhile cause and, were it not against the rules to mention the presence of individuals in the gallery, I would draw attention to the presence of some of the grandmothers here.