Mr. Speaker, Rob Pool from Standard, Alberta wrote to me, telling me that watching the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver “made his spirit soar”. He said that as a hockey fan he thought he would watch the hockey games and very little else, but as the games continued, he said:
I became captivated by the enthusiasm of what became a celebration of life...I can sympathize with a young girl from rural Quebec who spends her life from age five to age twenty, only to lose her mother on the eve of her greatest challenge in sports, this transcends sports and becomes life. When young Joannie rose above her misfortune and changed a negative into a triumph, it becomes the triumph of a nation's spirit over adversity.
My constituent asks the House to balance the challenges of difficult funding decisions and the taxpayers' agenda with the spirit of national pride created by Canadian Olympians. Therefore, during the next two years, our Conservative government is delivering to Canadian Olympians an additional $34 million on top of $11 million a year we already spend. We have renewed $10 million to help identify and develop superior athletes and another $10 million to the Canadian Paralympic committee.
We will continue to cheer. Go, Canada, go.