Madam Speaker, as we all know, this is a private member's bill and I am delighted and privileged to have been able to present it to the House of Commons.
This began in September and here we are today with the final stage of bringing this bill to conclusion. I want to begin by thanking all of my colleagues on this side for their support, endorsement and continued encouragement as we have walked this path.
I also want to the thank the member for Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor for his support and that of his party, and his intention tonight. It was very generous of him and I appreciate his support.
In wrapping up my position on the bill, I will address a couple of things.
First, the member for Davenport addressed the issue of signed flags. I have been an athlete and have sent many flags overseas to the Olympics. I have attended many Olympic Games and the flag is a source of pride for all athletes when they compete at Olympic Games. Yes, it may contravene national flag protocol but what a sense of pride.
How about in schools? As members of Parliament, we have all had the opportunity to go to schools, to address children in junior schools and, without exception, they crave the flag. They encourage us to provide them with flags and we do just that.
This bill was designed for more than that. As I did my research in the summer, I came across many individuals who were being dealt with unfairly because they were simply not allowed to fly the flag. They did not have the privilege or the freedom to fly the flag, and that is what this bill is all about. We have changed the wording to encourage Canadians to fly the flag, but the reality is that there are Canadians today, without this bill completed, who do not have the right to fly the Canadian flag, and that is wrong.
Veterans such as Fred Norman of Ottawa and Guy Vachon, who I talked about before, are both Korean veterans who are simply not allowed to fly the flag in their apartment building. Brian and Linda-Lee Cassidy in southern Ontario, who live in an environment controlled through a ratepayers association, were told to take down their flag or they would be put in bad standing, and they subsequently were. Rose Wittemann from Mississauga sought to fly the flag in honour of a brother fighting in Afghanistan. I do not think any of us would restrict her from being able to that but today the avails of those, whether condominium boards, ratepayers associations, et cetera, can disallow people from being able to demonstrate their freedom.
All of us attend new citizenship meetings and we see the range of emotions from people who swear an oath to this great country as they are handed their flag. It ranges from tears to joy, varied emotions, as people are able to demonstrate their loyalty and swear their allegiance to Canada. The Canadian flag is the symbol of their new-found love and support for this great country.
I had the opportunity, as I hope all members have had at some point, of driving the Highway of Heroes. My business happens to be very near a bridge that crosses the Don Valley Parkway. Whenever we have lost one of our fighting forces overseas and they are brought home from Trenton, the motorcade is brought along Highway 401 and down south on the Don Valley Parkway. Invariably, when that happens, hundreds of Canadians will turn out to pay their respects to the family and the one who was lost. They do that with flags big and small. They are up on fire engines, on ambulances, on cars and hanging from the bridges.
Beyond that, I had the opportunity one particular day to drive along Highway 401 and, as the motorcade was coming the other way, I pulled over as did probably 150 other vehicles to pay our respects. This is the flag that we all supported.
I am thrilled tonight to have the opportunity to present the bill.