Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s hard to believe there is a day and age where we still allow people to treat others in an inferior manner, in a way that bullies, and not pull out every single stop to say no. I have spoken before about losing a friend because they trod a different path. I remember people bullying.

I remember about not standing up at the time because, being young and intimidated by others, you watch people do that. I’m not the only one who has lost friends over the years because of bullying. For whatever reason, it has driven people to horrible steps that they feel that suicide is the only way out or the only answer. That is a terrible thing, a terrible state of affairs for anyone to allow that. Yet, that seems to be, if not needs to be, the call to action or the call to arms by asking ourselves, can we continue to sit idly by.

It is quite frustrating knowing that people do this out there and yet there seems to be no powers or authority to stop them. Often we will say, don’t create laws that are difficult to enforce if not impossible to enforce. I think that if we really believe strongly in this type of initiative, we will find a way.

I’m not speaking from personal experience, but you often hear these stories about people who go home and feel humiliated because they’ve been humiliated by what they thought were their friends on the Internet. It’s hard to compare what it’s like to go to high school today when it was in my day, although I’m not as old as some of my colleagues here by far, but things were different then. The reality is that school has changed. Bullying has changed. What is important is the message that we need to find new ways and tools to stop bullying.

All I can say is that it is a difficult subject to talk about. Your heart wants to do the communicating and, in some ways, you are trying to say it with

words. But for someone with children in school, it is very troublesome to think that we allow kids to bully and we don’t do enough, and I think this motion speaks to the issue of trying to find new ways to stop this behavior.

They are doing it over the Internet, which can be happening from anywhere to anywhere from anyone to anyone. A lot of times it is anonymous, and self-esteem is a troublesome thing to grow into. It is hard to imagine being attacked relentlessly by some people day in and day out.

As I said earlier, it is a shame that certain people have to go to the last resort of suicide to feel that was the only way they could send a statement. As a parent, it is quite upsetting to think that, and I hope that, I know from my perspective and I am sure you as well, Mr. Speaker, who has one of many children there, I hope my kids never feel that that is the only way they can communicate. If I ever catch them doing it, that will be another story, but the reality here is that this is a step forward and we need to fight this fight on every front to provide access and safety for all youth as well as everybody. Thank you.