Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in this place and to speak to this bill that has been brought forward by my colleague from Brandon—Souris. Let me also commend him as the colleague from Westlock—St. Paul has done for his perseverance in keeping this before the House. I know he has been at this for four and a half years. It has been introduced three times and he has done a very good job each time.
I was just going through my BlackBerry and I noted that on Saturday, April 24, I was in Chestermere Lake attending the Chestermere Public Library spring gala. I recall waking up early in the morning that day, heading in a snow storm to an early meeting in Hanna and then a board meeting and then heading to Three Hills for a graduation ceremony. I travelled close to Calgary into Chestermere for the gala, where the theme was the 1920s. In the midst of this spring snow storm, the hall was full. It was held at the golf course. People came in the costumes of the 1920s. Music from the 1920s was being played and people were there to support their local library. They understood that if the library were going to succeed, if the library were going to meet the needs of their community, they had a role to play in that. The community came out in force that night to enjoy the evening, first of all, but also to raise some significant dollars through a live auction and also a silent auction.
Make no mistake about it, throughout my rural constituency, these types of meetings are held fairly frequently. People were there because they have a remarkable library in Chestermere. I can recall going into the Hanna and the Bashaw libraries and getting tours through a number of libraries in my riding. This issue of the library book rate, this issue of funding and being able to shuffle or move books around from library to library, was always brought forward to me by librarians and parents.
In my hometown of Killam, the post office sits kitty-corner to the public school and the community library. I am amazed at the number of people who frequent that library. In the summertime, it is not uncommon to see young mothers pulling a wagon or pushing a stroller with one or two children, heading down to the local library. Young—