Mr. Speaker, thousands of residents in Ajax and across Canada are observing Ramadan, and to them I say Ramadan Mubarak.
For the fifth year in a row, I am going to be fasting in support of a phenomenal charity that is blowing up across the world, called Give 30. We fast and then take the money we save from fasting and give it to local food banks to help those in need.
Ramadan is a powerful tool that connects us, through fasting, to the suffering of others. Unfortunately, here in Canada, we still have those who are suffering, but we have made remarkable progress. We are three years ahead of our targets on poverty reduction, having lifted 300,000 children out of poverty.
As we observe Ramadan, this is an excellent opportunity for us to say, “Inshallah, we can get rid of poverty in this country altogether.”