Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I ask today to bring recognition to International Women's Week being held this week, and, in particular, International Women's Day being celebrated throughout the world, March 8th. Mr. Speaker, the Canadian theme for this year's International Women's Day is worldwide women surfing the digital revolution. With the advent of the World Wide Web, Mr. Speaker, It has opened up a whole new world of digital communication for people throughout the world.

While the Internet has brought important social and economic benefits with it, we must be very careful of the risk it poses to women. Mr. Speaker, I have spoken in the House of the need for stricter regulations against the use of pornography on the Internet. Currently, Mr. Speaker, there are over 300,000 pornographic Web sites on the Internet. Mr. Speaker, I believe very strongly that sexual exploitation of women must end. Our society has made some strides towards this goal but far more has to be done. Mr. Speaker, our society appears to have become desensitized to graphic images and that is very disturbing, Mr. Speaker. We need to stand up, Mr. Speaker, and make the point known that sexual exploitation of women cannot be tolerated.

Mr. Speaker, in recognition of International Women's Week, I would like to publicly thank all the people who are diligently working to eradicate sexual exploitation of women in our society. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause