Madam Speaker, I want to thank the parliamentary secretary for expressing the same concerns that we have. I also want to bring to the attention of the House a special individual.
Mental illness and suicide certainly play as important factors in all levels of life. In this House, we are probably among the strongest people, in that we keep very heavy schedules, we go back and forth to our ridings, and there is a lot of demand on our time.
Not too long ago a member of my colleague's caucus, the late Dave Batters, who was elected in Moose Jaw, said that he would not be running for election in 2008. In June 2009, he committed suicide. It also affects us in this House that we also are probably one of the toughest breeds of people in existence.
I wonder if my colleague would, in memory of his caucus colleague, agree with me that we need not only methods and best practices but also cash and a program in order to ensure that we have a national strategy, and that we need to put resources to it in order to prevent suicide in all levels of our society, even among the strongest here in the House of Commons.