Mr. Speaker, it is a personal ambition of mine. It is a professional obsession, in fact. I love sport. I love community sport, high-performance sport and international sport, summer, winter.
Yesterday, I was the keynote speaker at the Ottawa Special Olympics Festival Breakfast and I had a great time. The athletes there were amazing, as always. They were articulate, kind and generous. They wore their medals. The Ottawa police and the Ottawa fire were there. My message to everybody was about participation.
Participation is key. Whether it is in democracy or in sport, we have to stand up for each other and ensure we show up, whether it is to hand out medals or to do a little talk, to coach or to hand out sliced oranges. Whatever it is, sport requires participation. It makes our communities healthier and more active.
The survey that my friend and colleague pointed to was a great step forward for Canada. It is an educational tool. It is another layer of accountability to ensure that people are undertaking those reminders on a regular basis.
Despite having worked on the policy and having contributed, I still learned something from that survey, and that is remarkable. I am so proud of the work we have done. I am proud that it has been remarkably non-partisan despite some accusations in the House. I am so proud that the government has taken action on protecting young athletes, ensuring that high-performance athletes, Olympics and Paralympic athletes, have access to services, additional funding and supports. I am also proud that the community sport for all initiative has funded organizations like Spirit North in western Canada, the North American Indigenous Games in eastern Canada, just recently, and so many little community sport opportunities that I have visited, from free basketball games to cricket in Mississauga. It has been a fantastic thing and I hope it continues.