Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to celebrate our second National Blood Donor Week, which became official following the royal assent of a bill I sponsored in the House last year.
The demand for blood is constant. Hundreds of thousands of donors are required every year to meet the needs of Canada's health care system.
What makes the system so amazing is that all of those donors are volunteers, people who choose to give their time and their blood to help their fellow citizens.
The summer months can be especially hard on the blood system. Canadian Blood Services forecasts that it needs to collect 226,000 units of whole blood and 30,000 units of plasma during June, July and August to meet hospital demand throughout the country.
This week gives us an opportunity to remind Canadians of the precious gift they have flowing through their veins and encourage them to share that gift with others.
Giving blood is easy and painless, so I urge those who have never given blood before to visit bloodservices.ca to find a donation centre near them.