Madam Speaker, I commend the member for his initiative. As a former president of the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association, this is something with which I am very familiar. Obviously, amateur sport plays a very important role in the development of our society and I would indeed say in the development of Canadian identity. It is very important to so many people at the community level.
Clearly, sports contribute to a healthy lifestyle. We talk about healthy lifestyles in the country. It enables Canadians to live healthier and to live longer.
In this vein, members will recall the Mills report, which was quite descriptive about the health benefits of sport. Regular physical activity can reduce coronary heart disease, colon cancer and non-insulin dependent diabetes by as much as 50%. Something we often talk about around this chamber is the need for members to stay physically active because so many members are at meetings, are sitting down all the time, living with unhealthy lifestyles, and are grabbing a bite here and there. It is not very good, so this is important.
Sport enhances as we know, national pride, particularly through our elite athletes. They proudly honour our values here and abroad and enrich us all by their courage and their persistence. One only has to remember the immense joy and pride we all felt when our men's and women's hockey team won the gold medal last year in Salt Lake City.