Mr. Speaker, the future belongs to those who fight. A century ago today, the first issue of the daily newspaper Le Droit rolled off the presses.
Created by laymen and Oblates in reaction to the hated Regulation 17, the purpose of this newspaper was to support continued education in French in Ontario.
Since then, Le Droit has become a unifying force for Canada's francophones in minority situations.
My grandmother learned to read by perusing its pages, and so did I. I was their paper boy from 1959 to 1964 and served as a summer correspondent in 1967.
Le Droit enabled Ontario's francophones to get quality information on both world wars, on linguistic minority struggles and on the decisions of the last 30 federal parliaments.
To the people who put this newspaper together, congratulations and thank you for contributing to the French fact in Ontario.
Certantibus Futura.