Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is the first Friday of the month of February, and February is Heart Month. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the statement on the web site on the Heart and Stroke Foundation that it takes a village to build heart health, and I am also pleased to announce that I will once again be joining thousands of people across Canada and the Territories going door to door to collect donations for vital Heart and Stroke Foundation research, and distribute health information over the next two weekends.

Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to tell you that the NWT raised $34,000 in a door-to-door campaign in 2004, the latest stats available. This is quite a feat, given how cold and blusterous our weather can be.

Mr. Speaker, it should be known that cardiovascular diseases account for the deaths of more Canadians than any other disease. In 2002, the latest year for which Stats Canada has information, cardiovascular disease accounted for 74,626 Canadian deaths, placing more burden on our health care system than any other illness.

Mr. Speaker, 32 percent of all male deaths in Canada in 2002 were due to heart disease, diseases of the blood vessels and stroke. For women, the total was even high. Thirty-four percent of all female deaths in 2002 were due to cardiovascular disease.

Mr. Speaker, the Stroke and Heart Foundation research funds more than 60 percent of all the heart and stroke research money in Canada, and it's work that I'm proud to be doing a little part of it. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to just take

this opportunity to thank all the volunteer canvassers, and encourage everyone to open their pockets a little wider when they see the canvassers show up at their door, some of them very young volunteers and some of them may even be their MLA as I will be canvassing in Ward Crescent, and Jeske Crescent, and Jeske Court is in my riding. So I look forward to engaging with my constituents over the next two weeks for this cause. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause