PM Announces New construction for CentrePort Canada Initiative

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Greetings everybody.  First of all, I want to acknowledge some notables who are with us today, obviously beginning with Premier Doer.  Greetings also to Mayor Katz and to Reeve Bourgoin.  To members of the Board of CentrePort Canada who are with us today.  I'd also like to acknowledge my fellow Parliamentarians, President of the Treasury Board, Manitoba's senior minister, Vic Toews; Member of Parliament for Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia and Minister of State for Democratic Reform, Steven Fletcher is here; Member of Parliament for Kildonan-St. Paul and Chair of the Commons Health Committee Joy Smith; Member of Parliament for Selkirk-Interlake, Chair of the Commons Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, James Bezan; Member of Parliament for Winnipeg-South and member of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Rod Bruinooge is here; Shelly Glover is also here, Parliamentary Secretary for Official Languages; And finally, last but not least, our new Member for Portage-Lisgar and member of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women as well as Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, Candice Hoeppner. 

Many places in the world bill themselves as the centre of something, the crossroads of this or that, or the gateway to somewhere.  But few have a stronger claim to all of these markers than Winnipeg.  Geographically, the city sits smack in the middle of North America.  Historically it was a vital hub of the continental fur trade, so critical in Canada’s early development, and later the gateway to the west for wave after wave of immigrants.  And culturally, it's no exaggeration to call Winnipeg the crossroads of Canada, because of its incredibly diverse population.  So I think the city got it just about perfect last year when it rebranded Winnipeg the "Heart of the Continent."  It's true in just about every sense, including the warm, open spirit of Winnipeggers themselves. 

Today's announcement is about building on Winnipeg's place at the heart of the continent, and it's about the federal and provincial government as well as the city and the business community coming together during a period of extraordinary global economic uncertainty to transform a crisis into opportunity.  That’s why I'm pleased to announce that the Government of Canada is making a substantial contribution to the further development of Winnipeg's inland port.  The port is an ambitious, farsighted initiative, a massive transportation, trade, manufacturing, distribution, warehousing and logistic centre on 20,000 acres of industrial land here in Northwest Winnipeg, adjacent to the James Richardson International Airport. 

Under our Building Canada Plan, which is the largest national infrastructure renewal effort in half a century, our government is partnering with the province and CentrePort Canada to build CentrePort Canada Way.  This four-lane, divided, high-speed transportation corridor will enable the safer and more efficient movement of goods between Northwest Winnipeg's major intermodal and distribution facilities.  The design and construction of CentrePort Canada Way will create jobs and opportunities for construction workers, paving crews, engineers and other contractors and suppliers just when these jobs are most needed. 

Planning and design work is already underway and construction will begin early next year and extend into 2011.  I will leave it to Premier Doer to give you more of the details, but let me just note once again that today's announcement is part of our government's Economic Action Plan to guide Canada through the global recession.  The plan includes an economic stimulus package significantly larger than the two per cent of GDP proposed by the International Monetary Fund.  Across the country, we are accelerating long-term investments in order to generate economic activity in the construction season that is now arriving.  For Vancouver to Levis to the Annapolis Valley, this action plan will put Canadians to work building the infrastructure needed to achieve greater prosperity when the recovery takes hold. 

Today's announcement is, at its heart, about where we are headed as a country.  As the world struggles with the effects of global recession, we as Canadians are looking ahead.  We are using our strong fiscal position to aggressively fund initiatives in communities across the country, initiatives that will generate economic growth for many years to come.  By looking forward today and investing in key infrastructure like Winnipeg's inland port, we are seizing opportunities that will get us through these tough times and ensure that our country emerges stronger than ever.  Thank you very much.

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