It was my profound honour yesterday, November 11, 2015, Remembrance Day, in Port Coquitlam, to lay a wreath in memorium on behalf of the Parliament of Canada:
It is a real priviledge, as my first public function as your new Member of Parliament, that I am able to appear here today as a representative of the people of this riding, and of the Parliament of Canada.
Canada owes its continued existence as a free and prosperous nation, and its Parliament as a free institution, to the commitment and service of so many who have gone before, and to those who still answer that ancient call of duty, honour, and sacrifice.
It is critically important to remember and honour such service, such duty and sacrifice — not to honour or glorify war itself, but so that we can draw lessons from the past, so that, both as a nation, and as citizens of a global civilization we can learn and grow toward a world where aggressions of greed or power, and grave disputes among nations are not settled by violent and bloody conflict, but by due and just process, and the rule of law.
Canadian War Cemetery, Normandy, 2007
To those many men and women who have so proudly and so honourably served, therefore, who have given so much; those many who still do; and those many who yet will — on behalf of the people and the Parliament of Canada, let me say:
Thank-you. We Remember.
