August 30, 2006

Check against delivery

It is great to have the Prime Minister here today to really carry forward a celebration, and I want to say how pleased we are to have you here today in the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people.

I'm very pleased to be joined today by Chief Ernie Campbell from the Musqueam First Nation. But you know, Prime Minister, the Tsleil-Waututh, the Squamish and the Lil'wat are also very important parts of this Olympic partnership which you have reinforced yet again today.

I'm very pleased to be here with Minister Emerson, who has been a strong advocate for the Olympics, for British Columbia, for our Pacific region and for the future of Canada here on the Pacific, which is so important to our national future across this country.

I also want to say thanks to Colin Hansen for the work that you have done, Colin, as the minister responsible for the Olympics.

And, Prime Minister, it is a very exciting time for communities across the province, as I know your Members of Parliament have told you, Colin has been our point man on this and has been supported by all of our MLAs in British Columbia. It's important, I think, today that we have the MLA from West Vancouver-Garibaldi, Joan McIntyre, with us today. Lorne Mayencourt from Vancouver-Burrard joins us today from this particular constituency, and Iain Black joins us, as well, today. I want to say thanks to all of our MLAs for coming and being part of this.

The Olympics is an incredibly important opportunity for Canada. I want to underline that. It's an important opportunity for Canada. It's an important way for Canada to show the world this incredibly diverse, this incredibly exciting, area of our country and all that it has to offer the world. Someone once said that Canada is a reflection of all that the world would like to be, a place where people of different nationalities and cultures come together and really strive to make a better place for their families to live and for the future of their chosen nation.

I'm also particularly pleased, Prime Minister, to be joined today by two Olympic medalists. Danielle Goyette joins us today. Danielle was a member of our gold medal women's hockey team. Danielle was also the person who carried Canada's flag into the Torino Olympics. And what a proud flag-bearer she was, and how proud you made us all to be Canadians, Danielle. Thank you very much for coming and being part of this today.

And we're also joined by Melissa Hollingsworth-Richards, a bronze medalist from Torino in the skeleton. I don't know how many of have you seen the skeleton. I think it's frightening just to get into those uniforms, let alone to go down the hills. So, Melissa, thank you very much for coming and joining us today as well.

The Olympics is first about athletes. It's about striving to be the best you can be. It's about dedication and commitment and really pursuing a goal, an objective and a dream. It's an incredible accomplishment to achieve an Olympic medal and to actually be on Canada's Olympic team.

And, Prime Minister, I don't know if you were aware of this bit of trivia, but Canada's hosted two Olympic games. We are the only host country never to win a gold medal while we were hosting the games. Now, Prime Minister, that's got to stop. We are going to actually win a number of gold medals: women's hockey, men's hockey, sledge hockey.

We are joined today by the mayor of Richmond, Mayor Brodie, whose community is creating a speed-skating oval that will, I'm sure, be the centre of many gold medals for Canada. Malcolm, thank you for that excellent facility you're providing.

Prime Minister, that facility will be provided for athletes well before the Olympics. It will give our athletes a chance to really get used to the site, get used to the venues, train and be the best they can possibly be.

To reach higher, to be better, to go faster, to be stronger: that's what all the Olympics is about. But it's more than that. It's about our country coming together. It's a unifying force that pulls everyone together. And I was very fortunate to be in Prague in July of 2003 and to watch as our team, not just of government, but the bid team, the four host first nations – the Tsleil-Waututh, the Squamish, the Lil'wat, and the Musequem – were there with Steve Podborski, Wayne Gretzky, Charmaine Crooks. And those folks that were there to say this is about showing the world what Canada can be. And so today your announcement is a huge boost, I think, to the games and to all of us.

You're right. British Columbia will be matching your $55 million commitment to these venues. It was part of our contingency plan when we started these games, and we are still within the budget that we've set for these games.

But these games are going to reach well beyond the 16-day sporting event. These games are going to reach across the country. We're going to encourage other provinces to come and be part of the cultural activities or to encourage cities like Mayor Sullivan's Vancouver to have a true celebration for that full 16 days, where we show off our cultural diversity, the incredible expanse and excellence that Canada has to offer the world.

We're going to make sure up in Whistler that that is a place that the world comes back to and wants to come back to. To do that, we have to recognize, we have to imagine what we can be, and then, just like our athletes, we have to pursue it.

This $55 million additional commitment — I want to underline that "additional" commitment — allows us to truly lead, to truly set an example to the world, to truly show Canadians what we can be here in British Columbia on the Pacific, in Vancouver and Whistler. Across this province now there are 90 separate projects called Olympic Live Sites, which are trying to touch the hearts of young athletes all over British Columbia — amateur athletes who want to strive to be like the medalists that we have with us today, and who want to be their best. FirstNnations kids, kids from the Kootenays, kids from Prince George are all part of our Olympic dream in British Columbia, and we're reaching out to the rest of the country to say join us.

I should tell you, Prime Minister, in 2003, when I came back home having won the games, I immediately had to go to Prince Edward Island for a meeting. I got in the cab at the airport, and the cabbie said to me on Prince Edward Island: "Isn't it great that we won the Olympics?" This is going to be Canada's Olympics. This is going to be Canada's chance to show the world what we are as a nation, what we can be as a nation, and this partnership that you've reinforced today allows us to say to the people of Canada: "We will not let you down. British Columbia won't let you down. Vancouver won't let you down. Whistler won't let you down."

We will show the world what we can be, and most importantly, we will create a field of play for our athletes where they can be the best they can possibly be and they have gold medal performances which are matched by a gold medal Olympics for all of us.

Thank you very much for your commitment.