Debates of March 15th, 2010

Opposition Motion—Government Spending

[Jim Maloway, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, in her presentation, the member for Winnipeg South Centre talked about how she arrived home and found two to four ten percenters in her mailbox. I have had the same experience. I have been getting these ten percenters since I was elected.

The fact is the member for Winnipeg South Centre is still an elected member of the House. She has been complaining about these ten percenters over the last two elections and she keeps winning. Clearly, whatever the Conservatives are doing is not working too well.

I do not think that banning the ten percenters sent to other member's ridings outright is the answer. The Liberals should think about this in terms of amending their motion. In Manitoba, we had a set of rules that we had to follow for our provincial mailings. We were not allowed to attack other parties. Perhaps we should look at that as a solution in this case.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is true; we agree with the member. I think it is important to keep these ten percenters, which are effective tools when they are used appropriately to inform our constituents.

However, our position is clear: we no longer want members of Parliament from other ridings to be able to send ten percenters to our constituents.

If I took advantage of the fact that I am a female MP to send one out in the riding of a Conservative who claimed to be against abortion because it causes cancer in women, if I sent out a ten percenter criticizing this position or congratulating the member on supporting abortion, I do not think he would find that amusing.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the hon. member's comments.

Earlier, I listened to the comments of the President of the Treasury Board. He asked how we could be against ten percenters, when we send them out ourselves.

That is like saying that his party is against public funding for political parties and that he does not accept it, but he does. It is clear that although they try to deny it, the Conservatives accept public funding despite claiming to be against it.

I would like to know what the hon. member thinks about that.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question.

Obviously, political party financing is an important issue. I believe that in order to allow for a diverse opposition and in order to ensure that a democracy and its Parliament function well, it is important to maintain this financing.

I would like to come back to the question of ten percenters. As a member of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, this matter is important to me. Please understand that we are not talking about cutting all ten percenters. I have heard from many of the constituents in my riding. While they are happy to know my stance on issues, they complain about the many ten percenters they receive from other parties. And when I say “other parties”, I am talking particularly about the Conservative government. The graphics and wording in its ten percenters are very questionable and, at times, just plain wrong.

I hope that the members of the House of Commons will be in favour of restricting use to members in their own ridings and will allow our whips to make group mailings. That would allow us to maximize the rigorous and professional usage of ten percenters, which are a privilege for members.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Mr. Speaker, reference has been made many times to the issue of the mass mailings of ten percenters. In fact, that is the way the motion is worded. All of us have received ten percenters from other MPs.

Is it being suggested that not only mass mailings be curtailed? When a ten percenter is placed in a franked envelope and mailed first class, that certainly would increase the costs dramatically. Are we going to target those as well? I personally have received mailings from the NDP that were franked with ten percenter material in the envelope, a much higher cost than if we were to simply do a mass mailing.

Could the member respond to that?

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Beauharnois—Salaberry has 30 seconds to respond.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will not often say this in my lifetime, but I agree with my colleague. I believe that we should ban ten percenters in envelopes, which would save 40¢ per envelope. The Bloc Québécois agrees with this suggestion and will support it in the Board of Internal Economy when the time comes.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, like my colleague, I want to speak to the motion put forward by the Liberal Party today in the House.

The motion states that “—the government should show leadership in reducing government waste by rolling-back its own expenditures—”.

The government wants to rein in the entire population and is telling everyone to tighten their belts, while it goes on spending taxpayers' money. What concerns me here today is that the government is basically saying, “Do as I say, not as I do”. The Conservative government is in no position to give any lessons when it comes to spending.

My colleague spoke at length about the excessive amounts being spent on advertising, not to mention the twisted way money is being spent on propaganda. The government is misleading the public regarding certain positions taken by the Bloc Québécois and the Liberal Party. It is not giving accurate information; in fact, it is giving disinformation. For instance, we are reading a certain bill, which I will quote later.

The motion also talks about the government's use of aircraft for travel. The same day the Minister of Finance presented the budget, he used the government plane, which I believe cost $8,000. Another means of transportation could have been found, such as a commercial flight, which would have cost $800. The government is telling everyone else to tighten their belts, but it can continue to do whatever it wants at taxpayers' expense.

There is also the issue of mass mailings into ridings other than Conservative members' own. These mailings are very expensive and the privilege has been abused. The budget for mailings has been doubled. I will provide the numbers later on.

The government is still allowing itself many privileges. It could have made other choices. For instance, it decided to maintain the tax regime for banks, which is still very generous. The same goes for the oil industry, which is benefiting from tax breaks that are far too generous. It is the middle class, workers who have lost their jobs, who will have to pay the price.

In the Quebec City area, a number of pulp and paper plants have had to close their doors. The forestry industry has received a measly $170 million over two years. And yet, some $10 billion was allocated to Ontario's automobile industry for its survival. All that was done on the backs of the unemployed. The necessary funding is not being provided to help certain industries get through this crisis. The manufacturing industry has been asking for help for five years, saying that it cannot go on this way. There have been technological changes. Companies could have invested in equipment renewal and product diversification.

Help is not getting to the least fortunate and to seniors. Old age security has not been improved. We wanted to see it increased by $110 a month. The government offered seniors their own special day, but stopped short of offering them the money they need for better living conditions.

I have been sitting in the House since 1993. What upsets me the most is to see that they are going to pilfer $19 billion from the employment insurance fund, like the Liberals used to do. We thought we had seen the end of that. The Liberals took $40 billion from the fund. Now, the Conservatives are going to take $19 billion from that fund between 2011 and 2015. That is not something they are bragging about.

I know that the employment insurance fund has a slight deficit, but it will bounce back; that amount will be doubly recovered by 2015. A lot of money is being allocated to military spending, which will continue to increase.

They also could have tapped the wealthiest in society, those who earn over $150,000, in order to help those most in need. They could have collected higher premiums from those who earn more.

In the throne speech, they stated that they wanted to balance the books. Parliament was prorogued and, according to many observers, it was just a charade. We realize it, and it is not going to do much good.

First, there are questions about decisions by the Minister of Public Works and Government Services, who awarded a $6 billion contract to Profac to maintain federal government buildings. Last week, the newspapers revealed a number of things immediately after the budget was tabled. Some departments are not vigilant enough about expenses incurred under such large, unaudited contracts. The Liberal Party came in for a great deal of criticism, but I believe that it will now be directed at the Conservative Party.

I will give just a few examples. All Canadians have probably read that it cost $1,000 to install a doorbell, almost $2,000 to purchase two green plants, and no less than $5,000 to install lights. It will not take long to spend $6 billion with expenses such as these. If I were renovating my own home, I hope I would not be charged the same amounts, because I would not be able to pay and I would have to file for bankruptcy.

The Minister of Finance is also telling us to tighten our belts, as I said, but what are they doing? Are they actually tightening their belts? Did the Minister of Finance show the way by paying ten times the cost of a commercial flight to hold a press conference at a Tim Hortons?

We question the good faith of the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister when they openly do what the papers are reporting.

That is not setting a good example. That is why the Liberals have introduced this motion in the House.

The revelations that have been made prove the complete opposite now. For example, in the Prime Minister’s Office, from 2010 to 2011, there will be a 22% increase in the operating budget. There again, the Prime Minister is not setting an example. He put on a bit of a show the other day, at a press conference, where he said he wanted to eliminate positions that were already vacant. That was a fine performance, but it did not fool anyone. It was just smoke and mirrors designed to conceal the truth as to how genuine their intention of cutting unnecessary spending is.

That is one side of the coin, but there is another side. The unemployed are being ignored, as are people who have lost their jobs in the manufacturing and forestry sectors. As I said a moment ago, the forestry and manufacturing industries have been put in jeopardy and left to their own devices. The government also could have increased the guaranteed income supplement for seniors living below the poverty line.

“Do as I say, not as I do.” We could just keep repeating that over and over to describe the actions of the Conservative Party. There is no end of examples of waste on the part of the Conservative government. It tells us that we must all put our shoulders to the wheel to balance the budget, but what is it doing itself? It is demonstrating the complete opposite. It is doing its own spending without considering the impact on the public as a whole.

A moment ago I referred to the cost of the finance minister’s Cessna. It was $31,000, not $8,000. I was out by quite a lot. It was $31,000 for a return trip by Cessna from Ottawa to London, Ontario. I thought it was in England, but no, it was Ontario. When I was told that, I joked about it, but no, it was in fact a press conference in London, Ontario.

Is the government setting an example? I can understand the public. We saw it in the polls this morning: the Conservatives are losing speed. They are incapable of showing the public that they can set an example.

I am glad I found the $31,000 figure.

I am told my time is up. That is unfortunate, because I had several other examples, including subcontracts. I could talk about everything the Conservative Party has done in terms of balancing the budget—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Elmwood—Transcona.

[Jim Maloway, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the opposition motion by the member for Malpeque is very clear. It talks about:

—the government should show leadership in reducing government waste by rolling-back its expenditures on massive amounts of partisan, taxpayer-paid government advertising, ministerial use of aircraft, the hiring external “consultants”...

We have listened to the President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, and we will listen to other members of the government today, who totally avoided dealing with the motion at hand. I listened to the minister for 10 minutes and not once did I hear him address any point in the motion.

That is what we want from the government. We want to know why it is not providing answers or at least admitting that it is trying to solve the problem by cutting back on over-expenditures and restricting the use of government aircraft. Clearly, members of the government are not intending to do any of those things because they are avoiding all the questions brought up in this motion.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his comments. In fact, the Conservative Party has no interest whatsoever in telling the truth. They would have liked to keep Canadians in the dark about unnecessary expenditures and government waste, such as a $31,000 plane trip to London, Ontario.

There is also the issue of astronomical subcontracts, which are not subject to any controls. When the Conservatives were in opposition, they criticized the Liberal Party a great deal for inflated expenditures and the sponsorship scandal.

The Conservatives who are in power today are no better. They are not giving Canadians the straight goods. That is why they are so intent on getting out their propaganda through their ten percenters. They send out pamphlets to our ridings to misinform the public.

The Conservatives would have been very happy to keep their unjustified and unjustifiable expenses from Canadians, especially since they are trying to make a good part of the population toe the line.

[France Bonsant, Bloc, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her position.

In our ridings, we have all received ten percenters from the Reformers, as I still like to call them. Although no longer called Reformers, the Conservatives have the same Reform mentality. Only the colour of their tie has changed.

People in my riding have written to tell me that they are shocked by this waste of money. Furthermore, they reply to these ten percenters, incurring further costs not included in the $10 million.

I would like to hear what my colleague, as a representative of the Bloc Québécois, has to say about the abuse of ten percenters.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague brought up a good question.

In one mailing, we were portrayed as supporting pedophilia, which was untrue. The bill in question did not even have to do with protecting children. We will get back to that, since I do not have time to talk about it any further.

There was also a mailing that claimed that a Liberal member, who is Jewish himself, was anti-Semitic. That was also untrue.

These mailings are very expensive. The Conservatives have already spent 62.37% of the total budget for mailings.

The Bloc is in favour of the motion that would prohibit members from sending mailings to voters in ridings other than their own, as long as the whips keep the privilege to send ten percenters to ridings not represented by their party, with a monthly quota. What the Conservatives are doing is costing taxpayers a lot of money.

I remember the Conservatives calling for fiscal restraint when they were in the opposition. I remember the speeches they made against the Liberal Party. But the Conservatives are even worse than the Liberals.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to enter the debate on the Liberal Party's opposition day motion regarding eliminating government waste, balancing the books, et cetera. I should serve notice that I would like to share my time with my colleague from Vancouver East.

We are being asked to look at ways that we can once again tighten our belts to assist in balancing the budget. We heard the Minister of Finance deliver a budget recently and conspicuously nowhere in his budget or in the opposition day motion put forward by the Liberals today do we hear any reference whatsoever of going after the real architects of the fiscal meltdown that we find ourselves in today. Nowhere in the federal government budget or in the Liberal opposition day motion do we hear any reference to the corporate greed and wretched excess that caused us to plummet and spiral into this financial mess we are in today.

While we do not disagree with the Liberals that we should be shaking every bush and turning over every stone to look for ways to come back to a balanced budget, we have to take note that the current government and previous governments squandered Canada's fiscal capacity to cope with periods of predictable periods of financial downturn which were built into a fair tax regime that existed and developed, and put us into a balanced budget situation.

Nowhere in the federal budget or the opposition day's motion does it acknowledge that we squandered in a reckless and irresponsible fashion the fiscal capacity to cope with a financial crisis, and it leaves us $50 billion in the hole. The government gave that fiscal capacity away to its friends in the corporate community in the blind faith and hope that it would pull us out of the financial mess we are in. It does not.

Part of the Liberal Party's opposition day motion today deals with government communications and criticizes the government for what it spends on government communications. Let us be honest, government communications has always been a cesspool of abuse and fraud in successive federal governments going back to the Mulroney and Chrétien years. Do I have to remind members of the name Chuck Guité for Heaven's sake? As we visit this notion that government communications today may be taking liberties with taxpayers' dollars, let us be honest with ourselves and take note that it has always been problematic.

If the federal government were truly interested in balancing the books, it would be more creative. All we have heard from the President of the Treasury Board so far is that the Conservatives are going to balance the books by freezing public sector wages. In other words, this whole financial crisis is now our problem, it is now ordinary Canadians' fault. We are the ones who are going to have to tighten our belts. They are even going after public sector pensions as a way to balance the books. Talk about a complete absence of any creative thought in terms of dealing with a financial crisis.

In the short time that I have let me raise one suggestion that has conveniently been overlooked by both the Liberals and the Conservatives. This is tax time. Most of us are filling out our tax forms. Year after year, Parliament after Parliament, government after government, I have been harping on the same theme: “tax motivated expatriation” is the term chartered accountants use. “Sleazy, tax cheating loopholes” is the term that I use. Big enough offshore tax havens exist big enough to sink a yacht and believe me, that is what is going on, to an estimated $7 billion worth of lost revenue.

Instead of going after the nickel and dime small potatoes that the Liberals suggest today and instead of going after public service pension plans, the government is again willingly overlooking $7 billion in lost revenue so that its friends in the corporate sector, the high rollers, the architects of the fiscal problems we are having today can continue to enjoy their tax-free status without compromising or sacrificing all the benefits of being a Canadian.

I learned from a book that I recently read called Who Owns Canada Now: Old Money, New Money and The Future of Canadian Business by a right-wing columnist, and I do not think she would mind being called right-wing, Diane Frances, a frequent contributor to The Financial Post et cetera. She points out that Canada allows its wealthy families to go offshore paying a one-time departure tax on their wealth of a 25% capital gains tax, thereby avoiding the 46% taxes they would pay if they withdrew any of that money in this country. From that day forward any money that pocket of money generates exists tax-free and can be repatriated into the country tax-free.

So these wealthy families move all of the money in their trusts offshore. They leave their children in Canada, generate even further wealth with that money through investment offshore in a tax haven, and then support their families in this country tax-free. Their children pay no tax on it when it is repatriated and they pay no tax on it when it is generated outside of this country.

The United States of America is not that stupid. Every nickel that goes into the country as offshore earned capital is taxed. A beneficiary in the United States pays 35% tax on that money, yet we overlook this.

How did the Minister of Finance miss this? I do not think he missed it. I think the government deliberately overlooked it, just like the Liberal government overlooked this same situation when the former Prime Minister of Canada moved his entire Canada Steamship Lines to an offshore tax haven. He pays 2.5% tax in that country.

I urge members of Parliament to take note. While we chase our tail going after nickel and dime abuse of government communications programs, there are big fish to fry out there. There is big money, low hanging fruit, that the government could have, and should have, gone after. It could have plugged these outrageous offshore tax loopholes. Sometimes I think Liberal and Conservative governments view the taxpayers of Canada in the same way P.T. Barnum used to view circus-goers, as a bunch of suckers. Goodness knows, we have left a lot of money on the table and it is an outrageous situation.

In the minute that I have left I also want to remind members of Parliament that if we are serious about prudence and probity, and honesty and high ethical standards in governance, the most effective and efficient way to ensure those things on behalf of the people that we represent is through a robust access to information and freedom of information regime in this country.

We cannot legislate morality. We cannot legislate moral and ethical standards. It is the oversight and the scrutiny of an informed general public that encourages behaviour that we can be proud of in our public service. They are the only instruments by which we will elevate the standards of moral and ethical behaviour and good management of our money.

I have also seen in the years that I have been here successive federal governments ignore repeated requests from all sides of the House to make our freedom of information act work. We should change the name of that act to the public right to know act because the public has a right to know what its government is doing with its money, and now that information is being denied to them.

It was the shroud of secrecy that allowed corruption to flourish in the Liberal years, and that shroud of secrecy is alive and well in the present Conservative government. In fact, the government is obsessed with secrecy, obsessed with denying the public the right to know basic information about its budgets, about its behaviour overseas, about all of its activities. The government has built a barrier around itself unlike any we have ever seen.

Freedom of information is the oxygen that democracy breathes. We cannot have a robust democracy in this country without enforcing the public's right to know. It is in that way we will encourage good behaviour with our money, and it is in that way that we will eliminate the waste that the government is being accused of in the opposition day motion today.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is somewhat humorous to hear the hon. member talk about this, especially his distrust of the Liberals, when a short time ago he was prepared to enter into a coalition government with his good friends in the Liberal Party. I can only assume that he has forgotten about that.

Only a member of the New Democratic Party would suggest that cutting taxes for families is a bad thing. Only a member of the New Democratic Party would suggest that cutting taxes for small businesspeople, so that they can invest in their businesses, is a bad thing. Only a member of the New Democratic Party would suggest that cutting taxes for students is a bad thing.

Is the reality not this? The NDP is so bereft of any policies that those members have absolutely no vision for this country. Realistically, those members are embarrassed to tell people what they want to do because they have no policies. Is the real issue not the fact that the Liberals and the NDP coalition partners, the people who wanted to rule this country, have no policies?

Here we are a week and a half after a budget and we are dealing with ten percenters. That is the best that the opposition can bring forward at this time. They have no policies, they have no vision, and they have nothing to say about--

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for Winnipeg Centre.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank goodness, Mr. Speaker, somebody has come to the aid of the Bronfman family and the K.C. Irving family, and the persecution that they suffer under our tax regime. We should have a tag day for the Irvings, the Bronfmans, and the Paul Martins who have spirited their family fortunes out of the country.

For the member to imply that I am against tax breaks for Canadian families by suggesting that those Canadian families should pay their fair share of taxes is so absurd it is pretty well comical.

What I did not get to explain to this member about those offshore tax havens is that the current Canadian law also allows them to spend 180 days a year within Canada, enjoying all of our benefits, and it still allows them to bring their family back over here if they have a chronic illness and they need the benefits of our health care system.

This was a law written for the hog-troughers of days gone by. It is a loophole that should have been plugged years ago. We have asked the Liberals to do it, we have asked the Conservatives to do it, and neither of them will do it, neither of them will even talk about it.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, I listened closely to the member for Winnipeg Centre. Usually he is quite forceful in telling us where he stands, but if ever I heard anything in terms of his remarks today, he basically talked around the motion.

Just where does the NDP stand on this motion? Is it willing to stand in this House and vote against government waste through false communications that it uses through consultants? Is the member willing to stand in this House and stop the waste of members here who send out these ten percenters, which are nothing short of hate mail and propaganda?

Is he willing to stand up in this House and tell us where the NDP actually stand? Stop talking around the issue.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, honestly, the member for Malpeque has more gall than Caesar and he had all Gaul.

It is the Liberals who do not show up for votes on key critical votes. We have a policy in our party: we vote for things we believe in and we vote against things we do not believe in. That is why people trust us. That is why we are honest brokers in this place.

We never know where the Liberals are going to come from. Faced with something that may adversely affect them, they either hide under their desks or they bolt behind the curtains. There he goes right now, bolting behind the curtains, rather than facing real debate.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. That sounded suspiciously like making a comment on the presence or absence of a member in the House. I will ask the member to refrain from doing that.

The member for Beauharnois—Salaberry has 30 seconds to ask a very quick question.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the member. I want to know what he thinks about the mass mailings, known as ten percenters.

His party uses a technique that is very costly to taxpayers. It puts its ten percenters in envelopes, which costs taxpayers an additional 40¢ for each ten percenter. This is not just in their own riding, but across the country.

Is he prepared to convince his party to stop this practice?

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry, I was not even listening. I thought my time was up. I am sorry I missed my colleague's question. Perhaps, she could ask me later in the lobby.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Winnipeg Centre made the best speech of the day. He really hit the nail on the head and he got quite a good rise out of everybody. His forceful debate about the real high rollers and the big fry, the ones who get away, is really what we should debate in the House.

We know the motion before us has two elements. One deals with government made waste and the other deals with ten percenters, and I want to focus on the latter part of the motion.

The member for Winnipeg Centre is known as a very strong advocate around the Wheat Board. He is known for protecting it and farmers.

All of us in this caucus, and many other members of the House, are passionate advocates for what we do. One of the problems we have with the motion before us and the way that it is worded is it will completely eliminate the ability of members to communicate with people across the country.

When we look at the wording of the motion and the way it has been constructed, there are some problems with which we need to deal.

We should be dealing with the abuses of ten percenters, not the legitimate use of ten percenters. I want to say very forcefully that in our caucus we understand what ten percenters are about. We use them legitimately. There may be a mailing here and there where somebody disagrees, but we agree that these ten percenters and mailings that are sent out, whether it is by a caucus or a party overall or whether it is by an individual, should not be used to launch negative attacks on individual members or another party. They should focus on public policy issues, on areas that we deal with in our critic area.

For example, under the rules, the member for Winnipeg Centre can send out material across the country to people who are interested in the very important issue of the Wheat Board and what happens, just as I should be able to send out ten percenters about housing issues and the bill that I have before the House, or multiculturalism or foreign workers. These are some of the ten percenters I have sent out beyond my riding.

What we want to bring forward today in this debate is that while the motion from the Liberal Party focuses on government waste, and we certainly concur in that, it is very surprising to me that its response to the issues around ten percenters is to basically abandon the whole program.

I realize we are now on to statements by members.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The member will have seven minutes left after question period to conclude her remarks.

Rimbey and Area Olympic and Inuit Games

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Mr. Speaker, for two weeks in February, Canadians of all ages embraced the spirit of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Young people from coast to coast dreamed of being Sidney Crosby. They learned a lesson in courage from Joannie Rochette, and we are all proud of our local champion, Melissa Hollingsworth.

Inspired by their heroes, 350 students from the Bentley, Crestomere, Bluffton and Rimbey Christian and elementary schools staged their own mini Olympics. To the delight of local residents, the Rimbey and area Olympic and Inuit Games began with a torch relay through the town.

The auditorium of the Rimbey Community Centre became Canada House. Participants vied for medals in traditional events like hockey, curling, sledge hockey and snowshoeing. Sports that are part of the Inuit Games, including the blanket toss and high kick competition, added to the fun and excitement.

The commitment, dedication, spirit and success of our athletes ignited our passion for sport and allowed the students at the Rimbey and area Olympic and Inuit Games to share in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games experience.

Now our focus has turned to the Paralympic Games. Let us all get behind our Paralympic athletes. Go, Canada, go.