Mr. Speaker, with yesterday's haul, the greatest day in Canada's Olympic history, Canadian athletes now have nine medals in Nagano. While I rise to salute all our Olympic athletes, I cannot help but notice that even though the prairie provinces make up only 10% of the population, our prairie athletes have brought home nearly 50% of all the medals. As of yesterday the province of Saskatchewan has as many medals as the United States of America.
Prairie people are no strangers to winter weather. We have always said that it builds character. Apparently it has also built an incredible generation of Olympic champions: Catriona Le May Doan from Saskatoon, Susan Auch from Winnipeg, Sandra Schmirler from Regina and Pierre Leuders from Edmonton. Nine medals and we still have one week to go.