Mr. Speaker, last week Canada's new government signalled its support for sport in Canada by committing up to $400 million to assist Halifax and area in hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Canada's new government is proud to support Halifax and the province of Nova Scotia in their bid to host these games.
TheMinister for Sport travelled to Halifax for the announcement. He used this opportunity to pledge an additional $738,000 to the Atlantic high performance sports strategy. This amount will be matched by the four Atlantic provincial governments resulting in a total commitment of $1.4 million.
This new strategy aims to increase the number of carded athletes from Atlantic Canada and of top eight performances at the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
These recent announcements further serve as evidence of this government's commitment to the city of Halifax and to all Atlantic Canadians, who are all very grateful.