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PM at the lighting of the Christmas lights across Canada
4 December 2008
Ottawa, Ontario
PLEASE CHECK AGAINST DELIVERYGood evening, everyone!
Thank you for your warm welcome on this chilly evening, and greetings to everyone watching from all across Canada. Rachel and I are pleased to join with all of you tonight on Parliament Hill as we launch the festive season with Christmas Lights Across Canada.
This event will see the National Capital Region and all provincial and territorial capitals lit up every evening throughout the holiday season. In a few minutes, we will set aglow hundreds of thousands of twinkling Christmas lights – many of them energy-saving LED bulbs, here on Parliament Hill, throughout our nation’s capital, and all across our great country.
I would like to congratulate the National Capital Commission, which has organized this event for the past 24 years. Each year since 1984, Christmas Lights Across Canada have lit a luminous trail From coast to coast to coast. It is a tradition that links us together as Canadians and brings light to our hearts.
For many Canadians, Christmas is an opportunity to spend time with loved ones. It is also a time for giving, sharing and renewing our faith. Christmas is also a time to reflect upon the year that has passed. In 2008, we experienced highs and lows. We welcomed new babies and said goodbye to old friends. We celebrated and we commemorated.
For Canada, 2008 was a year of anniversaries. Together, we celebrated the founding of beautiful Quebec City, Canada's first capital, four hundred years ago; we celebrated the 250th anniversary of representative government in Nova Scotia; we marked British Columbia’s 150th birthday; and we honoured the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, the Great War, the tragic conflict that nevertheless marked Canada’s coming of age as a strong and independent country.
Many of these historic milestones remind us of the great sacrifices made by those who have gone before us to defend and protect Canada. We are the heirs of the sacrifices and the gains of our ancestors, which we are duty-bound to protect. We are the beneficiaries of the strong and peaceful land our forebears built. And it remains our duty as patriotic citizens to protect this inheritance and to bestow it upon our children stronger than ever before.
Today, at the front lines of protecting Canada are our brave men and women of the Canadian Forces serving abroad. As we count our blessings with friends and family this Christmas, I’d ask you to spare a thought and a prayer for them, and for their families who are spending this season without them. Their courage and sacrifice is a credit to all of us.
On behalf of Canada’s Government, I wish you and yours the very best – and brightest – of the holiday season, and a happy and healthy New Year!
Merry Christmas.
