I would first like to say how much I appreciated Vancouver's festive atmosphere and welcome. Unfortunately, I was not able to visit Whistler, but from all I heard, the festive atmosphere was so pervasive that no one could remain insensitive to it.
Visitors from all over, truly, were made to feel welcome. I had a conversation with a former Quebec minister who said that the French language had been given an impeccable treatment on the ground, i.e., in British Columbia.
Such a festive experience can have a profound influence on a city and province, although it might take some time to fully define. In terms of influence, young people were inspired by the performances they saw. There were interviews with young athletes who said how they themselves were inspired by Olympic athletes 15 years ago. The speed skating medallists spoke of how they took great inspiration from Gaétan Boucher. That might be the kind of thing we hear about in 12 years, i.e., the extent to which today's young Canadians were inspired by this experience.
The same is true for the games' legacy. First of all, there is the legacy infrastructure. The Richmond oval now has signs in both official languages. There was a time, before the games, when polls showed that the people who were most critical of the games were Vancouverites and British Columbians. They saw the negative side of the preparations, including the traffic congestion, and were quite pessimistic. I think that there has probably been a reversal in attitude today. I think that everyone can be proud of what was accomplished with those games.
As with the experience in federal institutions, we do hope that all this will raise the service standards in both languages. I also hope that this event will have helped instil a sense of pride in our bilingualism.