Mr. Speaker, congratulations to those involved with the 13th annual Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival.
The five day event attracted over 70,000 people who enjoyed more than 150 shows last week in Fredericton. It keeps getting bigger and better every year with larger crowds and more impressive performers visiting New Brunswick from across the country and the United States. The headline acts this year were Canadian blues and rock veterans Colin James and David Wilcox.
This hugely successful festival would not be possible without the tremendous support of 700 dedicated volunteers and an enthusiastically engaged corporate community.
The Government of Canada has been a major contributor to this event. We provided close to $200,000 from the sponsorship program, Heritage Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts and the summer career placement program in the last 10 years; this year almost $50,000 to Harvest Jazz and Blues.
Congratulations to everybody associated with it and we will see you again next year.