Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to change direction slightly in this debate and talk for a moment about infrastructure. That is a keystone part of this government's budget and I would like to give the very narrow example of what that infrastructure program is already doing for my riding.
Before I go into that detail I would like to put a little anecdote together. Some 10 years ago I had the occasion to go on a courtesy flight in an aircraft of the Canadian War Plane Heritage Museum. The Canadian War Plane Heritage Museum operates from Hamilton civic airport in my riding and had at that time a collection of some 40 World War II vintage aircraft, that is pre-war and immediately post-war. I had the happy occasion to go up in an aircraft called the TBA Avenger. It was a torpedo bomber used in the second world war, chiefly in the Pacific, and this particular bomber was flown by the Canadian air force during the second world war.
I flew in the rear gunner position. The airplane was used in mock manoeuvres and it was quite an incredible airplane. The Canadian War Plane Heritage Museum also had a Hurricane and did mock dog fights and there I was. The airplane was diving and climbing and it was quite an exciting experience. It was a very daunting experience, I have to say.
While I was on that flight I could not help but realize that this was the real point of this museum. This airplane that I was in, this World War II airplane, was a full working airplane. It was not just a museum piece. It was something that had been restored, lovingly restored, and was in full flying condition even though it was almost 50 years old.
I have to tell the House a sad thing about that aircraft. A little more than a year ago it was destroyed in a fire in a hangar at the Canadian War Plane Heritage Museum at Hamilton airport, along with a Hurricane from that same vintage. This was a terrible disaster to the museum which has become in the Hamilton region one of the stellar attractions. The museum had
at that time about 40 aircraft and attracts about 80,000 visitors a year. In that fire five aircraft were destroyed and it was a very sad thing.
I wish to report however that the War Plane Heritage Museum which is chiefly staffed by volunteers, with over 6,000 members, has risen from the ashes. It has done more than that. Not only has it embarked on a very aggressive program to replace the aircraft that were destroyed, it has also put forward a proposal to build a brand new museum on the Hamilton airport property as part of the infrastructure program. It has actually put a proposal forward.
This proposal has gone before the Hamilton-Wentworth regional council and it has basically agreed to partial funding. The council is going to put up $1 million and the museum is going to come up with the other $3 million through donations and various other means and then we hope to have matching grants from the province and the federal government to bring the total cost of the museum to $12 million.
The plan is a beautiful one. They want to put up a museum which will be right next to the airport terminal. It is going to shaped like the fin on the tail end of an airplane and there will be two large hangers on either side in which to keep the restored aircraft. There will be a viewing area and all that kind of thing. It is going to be fairly close to where they are going put the new highway 6 bypass. It is going to be a very attractive project.
This seems to be a rather odd thing to be a candidate for an infrastructure program because we think more in terms of roads and bridges. The region is using much of its $53 million allocation for just that purpose. This project incredibly fits right into the infrastructure mandate as laid out in this program. It is going to create jobs and it is going to be operated by the people who have put it together.
The thing that makes this project so exciting is not only is it going to create jobs, it is going to create enormous attention for the War Plane Heritage Museum which as I explained already attracts 80,000 visitors a year and we can expect it to attract 160,000 visitors a year when this is completed. Therefore, we will see jobs created.
The thing that is so delightful about this project is that it really is a project that celebrates our past and our identity as Canadians, even though it is an infrastucture project. This is the thing that is so beautiful about it.
For instance, one the the most stellar aircraft in the collection is a Lancaster bomber which is one of only two Lancaster bombers in the entire world that will still fly. That is the kind of object that is in this museum.
The reason I bring this up is that to my mind it just shows how a program like the infrastructure program that has been presented by this government can be taken by regional politicians and by ordinary people and be made into something that can inspire our fellow Canadians, can celebrate our past and be a very fine thing for everyone involved.
I think that other communities will take this program and do many things similar to this. It is a very fine program and a very fine budget.