Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today, I want to recognize International Women's Day. I believe I am an advocate for women. It's important to me. I still am learning exactly what that means and how to advocate in the best way.
Last year on International Women's Day, I stood here in this House and said something similar, but when I reflect over the past year, somehow now it feels like the ground has shifted, like things are very different. When I was a boy, my mom was my hero. She was a successful businesswoman and a single mother. I like to think she did a pretty good job of raising me. I thought she embodied the qualities that every person should live up to.
Being raised by such a woman, I have always believed in and supported equality. I try to be open-minded and fair and I always thought, or maybe I hoped, that, except for a few bad apples, our society pretty much held those same values.
Events of the past year have shown me that my view is optimistic and my hope was somewhat blind. The Me Too and Times Up movements and the stories that have emerged from the hearings into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls have shown us in a harsh and undeniable way what brutal obstacles and discrimination women face. We must recognize they face them today as much as ever. In spite of years of enlightened thinking in some parts of society, many women today face systemic discrimination, dehumanizing disparagement, and sometimes physical brutality at the hands of men.
The theme of International Women's Day 2018 is Press for Progress. Progress is made towards gender parity and equality every year, but the 2017 World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report says that gender parity is 200 years away. Two hundred years, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it's good to see Me Too and Times Up gather momentum, but it's clear how much work remains to be done. We can't rest on our few achievements when so many obstacles to equality remain.
Each of us as individuals, together as leaders, must make our voices heard. We must be loud and unwavering. We must unite and challenge our friends, our colleagues, and our communities to think, act, and be gender inclusive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.