Mr. Speaker, last week was Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week. Pediatric congenital cardiologists were the first to perform open-heart surgery in 1944, thereby starting the modern era of cardiac surgery.
We Canadians should be particularly proud to know that we have world leaders in this field, including Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children with renowned physicians such as Dr. Lee Benson and Dr. Gil Gross.
In Quebec, the Sainte-Justine university hospital centre conducts humanitarian missions every year under the direction of Dr. Joaquim Miró and Dr. Nancy Poirier. Medical teams travelled to Morocco, Egypt, and Ethiopia to perform heart surgeries and teach their skills to local doctors.
In summary, anyone who has been touched by heart disease should know that we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the wonderful men and women who work in the field of congenital heart disease.