One of the things I get to really enjoy—I think we all should hopefully take the time to enjoy, and I trust we all do. This time of year, we, as elected officials, get to participate in our Santa Claus parades in a lot of our communities across the province.

In Sault Ste. Marie, we had our annual Santa Claus Parade that is hosted by our Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie this past Saturday. I had a great time participating in that. We put a float together. I want to thank my staff, Kathy, Jen and Edie, for working so hard to put it together. I want to thank my mom, Lina, and my kids, Jayden, Jackson, and Jarrett, who participated with me in walking down Queen Street in Sault Ste. Marie and handing out candy canes to thousands. I think we distributed just shy of 3,500 candy canes on Saturday.

One of the fun moments is being able to participate with your family, I find, in these parades, getting to walk up and down the streets and shake hands with the members of your community. It is a fun moment that I think we all have as elected officials. I trust so many of you enjoy that as well.

Of course, the one drawback, Mr. Speaker, as I’m sure you’ve seen your fair share of parades as well, is you never—and my kids point this out as we’re always leaving the parade route. That’s when you actually see the floats, as everybody is dismantling them along the parade route. You don’t get to see them, Mr. Speaker, but it’s fun to participate and welcome Santa Claus to town.