Mr. Speaker, in the beautiful riding of Mississauga South stands an unassuming red brick building, all that is left of Small Arms Ltd., a crown company that produced close to two million rifles, pistols and machine guns during the Second World War. At its peak, it produced 1,250 of the famous Lee-Enfield rifles per day and employed 5,500 people, most of whom were women.
These women stand as examples of all those Canadians who sacrificed and contributed to the war effort here at home during those difficult times. Today they are known affectionately as the “bomb girls”. One of these women is Patricia Brookes, who worked at the Small Arms building and to whom I recently had the privilege of awarding the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for her service.
In 2009, the Small Arms building was officially designated a heritage building. The plan is for it to be developed as a centre for arts, culture, heritage and environmental science. I thank the Mississauga South bomb girls for their contribution to the war effort and to Canada.