Mr. Speaker, this year, for the first time in over 30 years, Canada's foreign affairs minister paid an official visit to Greece to discuss the conflict in the eastern Mediterranean with Prime Minister Mitsotakis and his Greek counterpart.
Speaking of Greece, today, October 28, Greeks around the world are celebrating Oxi Day, perhaps not all together like other years but virtually and in spirit, to commemorate 80 years since Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas's response to Bonito Mussolini's ultimatum to allow the Axis forces to enter Greece or go to war.
Metaxas bravely responded, “Alors, c'est la guerre”. The Greeks held the Germans back for six weeks and played a pivotal role in the outcome of World War II. Referring to their role in this war, Winston Churchill said, “Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks.”
[Member spoke in Greek]