Mr. Speaker, in 1980 the little Vancouver Island town of Chemainus was suffering economic hardship. The community's major industry had suffered a severe blow with a slumping lumber trade and the plant closure of MacMillan-Bloedel's 120-year old sawmill.
However, since those dark days the town has become an inspiration for all Canadian communities because of its bootstrap tourism project. Chemainus is now known as the little town that did for its outdoor murals that have seen tourism become a multi-million industry. Four hundred thousand tourists from around the world flocked to Chemainus last year to see its 32 murals.
Recently the architect of the Chemainus murals, Karl Schutz, was in London where he accepted the prestigious British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Award for the America's, beating out 120 others.
I congratulate Mr. Schutz and all the enterprising citizens of Chemainus, which is now the mural capital of Canada if not the world.