Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the thoughtful remarks of my colleague from the Liberal Party. I am thankful for the Liberal Party's support throughout this initiative, and for that of the Green Party, and I am hoping as well for the support of the Government of Canada.
I also need to talk about a very brave woman named Dr. Frances Kelsey, who is from Shawnigan Lake. She is 100 years old and was the person who was awarded the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service by John F. Kennedy. Why? It is because she is singularly responsible for thalidomide not being sold in the United States market. She was working with the Food and Drug Administration there.
A school in the riding of my colleague from Nanaimo—Cowichan, in Mill Bay, British Columbia, was named the Frances Kelsey Secondary School in her honour, because she represents what my colleague was saying—namely, the need to show compassion.
We should all be proud of the kinds of things that have happened since in the Canadian regulation of drugs. Great steps have been made, but at the time they were not. She stood up to the drug companies in the United States; our government did not. We are here to do the right thing today to make sure those victims are looked after.