Mr. Speaker, we pause today to reflect on the price of peace. Since Confederation, two million Canadians have served in uniform, 115,000 have paid with their lives, and hundreds of thousands have suffered lifelong grievous injuries to self and soul.
In Ortona's Piazza del Plebiscito is a poignant memorial of two soldiers, one lying dead and one bent over in grief, created by Ottawa artist Robert Surette.
Entitled “The Price of Peace”, it speaks of the supreme toll in the “Stalingrad of Italy”, the battle for Ortona, and for all who have faced their soul in the finality of the theatre of war.
Flowers are laid daily by citizens who know too well the price paid by Canada for their peace. Fourteen hundred sons of Canada rest in nearby Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, never to return home.
The price of peace is paid in war. We ought never to forget those that serve, those who truly pay the price of peace.