Mr. Speaker, I rise today as co-chair of the Canada-Portugal Parliamentary Friendship Group to express a very warm Canadian welcome to the Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa. Thirty-six years ago, under then Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada welcomed the first official visit of then Portuguese Prime Minister Francisco Pinto Balsemão.
Canada is home to a vibrant Portuguese-Canadian community of over half a million Canadians of Portuguese origin.
As a Canadian of Portuguese descent and as MP for Mississauga East—Cooksville, along with the member for Brossard—Saint-Lambert, we are proud to be strong voices for the community. This visit provides the opportunity to strengthen our people-to-people ties and trade relations as both countries look to future opportunity and prosperity.
It is my pleasure to welcome Prime Minister Costa and his delegation.
[Member spoke in Portuguese as follows:]
Bem vindos a todos.