Thank you. Merci beaucoup.
As Mr. Rudge said, I am a proud Canadian by choice. Like so many of us, I wasn't born here, but I belong here. I belong in Canada because this is where I was greeted with love and given an opportunity. I belong to Canada because this is where my family and I feel the desire and obligation to serve our community and in that way humbly do our part to build this great nation.
The sense of belonging is what comes from the Grey Cup. It is about all Canadians. Nothing brings Canadians together year after year, decade after decade, quite like the Grey Cup. Prime Minister Diefenbaker suggested that it was Canada's greatest unifying force. It is more than a football game, though; it is a cultural phenomenon, one that is distinctly and intensely and proudly ours.
Thousands make a pilgrimage each year to the host city from every region of our country, and millions join them in spirit via television. They watch a championship football game, of course, but what they are really championing is Canada, the idea that we have our own game and our own league, but more important, our own traditions, history, and culture, our own story, our own sense of belonging to something big and special and unique, and that's Canada.
The 100th Grey Cup in 2012 is a truly historic opportunity to celebrate this sense of belonging and in doing that help build a stronger, prouder, and more united Canada. Our mission is to make the 100th Grey Cup a truly national celebration, with events spanning the entire year in every region of our country and culminating in the biggest and best festival ever.
The Vancouver Olympics reinforced for us a lesson taught annually by the Grey Cup: that when you combine sport and culture and passion, well, you have a recipe for national pride and unity. The Own the Podium concept transcended sport and became an audacious expression of belief in ourselves.
Celebrating the Grey Cup has the potential to convey the same sort of strength, the kind of strength that enables a country to overcome challenges and seize opportunities, that empowers a country to take on the world—