Olympians and Paralympians of Canada and my colleagues, this winter the eyes of the world were on Nagano. A record number of athletes came together to compete in Olympic and Paralympic games.
These games represent human achievement and international friendship. They are a time for nations to engage in friendly competition and for athletes to pursue their dreams of excellence.
The men and women who represented us at Nagano were Canada's best athletes. To take part in the competitions over there represents a remarkable success. Those of you who returned with medals are recognized as being the best of the world's best.
Some of you have best ever records to your credit.
Whether we were in St. John's, Vancouver or Whitehorse, you had us all on the edge of our chairs. Canadians do not usually make a lot of noise, but when you won those medals there were 30 million people here in Canada who were damn ecstatic and very noisy.