Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight to all my colleagues in the House of Commons the tremendous work that railways do in our country. Before I start, I would like to offer my sincere condolences once again to the citizens of Lac-Mégantic for the unfortunate incident they had during the summer.
When I was a young immigrant to Canada, our family boarded the train in Halifax at Pier 21. Through the great Atlantic provinces, through la belle province, through the Canadian Shield, the terrific Prairies, on through the Rocky Mountains and settling in British Columbia, our family used the train to settle in the Vancouver area.
I highly recommend that all my colleagues make sure to take a train this winter or this summer, because it is a fantastic way to travel. If there is an ambassador from India or China looking in now, I encourage the use of the Port of Halifax to move their freight to our port and on to our rail lines, because this economy moves by trains.
I want to congratulate all the companies and all the workers who work on our railways every single day to build our economy and to give all Canadians a wonderful opportunity to see what a great country this really is.