PM announces support for Brandon University Fitness Centre

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Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you Merv Tweed for your generous introduction.  And thank you for all your hard work on behalf of the people of Brandon-Souris, including the key role you played in developing the important announcement that brings us here to your alma mater.

At the municipal, provincial and now federal level, you have been providing outstanding democratic representation for your fellow Manitobans for over 20 years.

Greetings as well to Premier Greg Selinger, my colleague Steven Fletcher, Member of Parliament for Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia and Minister of State for Democratic Reform, Brandon MLAs Rick Borotsik and Drew Caldwell, Mayor Dave Burgess, and Brandon University President Dr. Deborah Poff.  Thank you all very much for joining us, and thanks to each of you for the roles you and your administrations played in bringing today’s announcement to fruition.

It’s great to be back in Brandon, the "Wheat City," one of the oldest and most beautiful cities of the Canadian prairies.  And it’s great to be here at Brandon University, which has been such an important part of the community since it was founded as Brandon College in 1889.

I also know that excitement is building in this city as you prepare to host the 2010 Memorial Cup.  And the way the Wheat Kings have been playing this season, they are serious contenders to become Canada’s junior hockey champions. 

I have no doubt Brandon will do an excellent job hosting the tournament,  just as you have done in the past with events like the World Curling Championships and the Canada Summer and Winter Games.

Brandon is obviously a city that punches above its weight.

Just consider how many famous Canadians have come from here.

The legendary business tycoon Sam Bronfman got his start in Brandon.  So did Grant MacEwan, the venerable educator and popularizer of Prairie history.  A couple of seminal figures in Canadian political history, J.S. Woodsworth and Tommy Douglas, spent significant parts of their lives here in Brandon.

And a startling number of outstanding athletes have come out of Brandon, including the great Canadian golfer, Dan Halldorson, NFL lineman Israel Idonije, and probably more NHL hockey players than any other city of similar size.

What is especially striking is the number of NHL goalies from Brandon.  At least five, by my count, all the way from old Turk Broda of the Leafs to two-time Stanley Cup winner Bill Ranford.  That’s got to be some kind of record in itself, who knows, maybe it suggests a new opportunity for civic branding: "Brandon: the puck stops here."

But seriously, the preponderance of successful athletes from this city is evidence of a community where sports and fitness matter.

And that’s what brings me here today.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to announce that our Government 
is partnering with the Province of Manitoba, the City of Brandon, and Brandon University to support a major expansion and improvement of the Brandon University Fitness Centre.

This project will include the construction of new full-scale gymnasiums, weight-training equipment, an indoor walking track, medical offices and space for new fitness classes.

In the short-term, it will create jobs and opportunities for workers and businesses of the region.

And when the work is done, it will dramatically expand access to local recreational facilities for the whole community, both BU students and local residents of all ages.

The expanded Fitness Centre will also provide the Bobcats volleyball and basketball teams with state-of-the-art facilities for hosting other teams from across the country.

And it will nurture future generations of athletes who will build on Brandon’s reputation for athletic excellence.

Federal funding for this project will come from our Government’s Building Canada Plan.  This Plan represents the largest investment in national infrastructure in more than half a century.

In communities large and small, from coast to coast to coast, these infrastructure investments are creating and sustaining jobs, and building the roads, bridges, ports and municipal, educational and recreational facilities on which our future economic prosperity and quality of life depends.

Today’s announcement follows several earlier investments in Manitoba universities and colleges, including significant upgrades to information technology systems here at BU.  We’re also supporting upgrades to the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium, one of Brandon’s main cultural venues.

And under Canada’s Economic Action Plan literally thousands of such infrastructure projects are now underway around the province and across the country, creating jobs and stimulating the economic activity that will lead our country through the global downturn and into recovery.

Thanks to exceptional cooperation between all levels of government and public institutions like BU, we are getting things done for Canadians like never before.

In fact, getting things done is becoming Canada’s trademark.

Whether it’s our unprecedented national success at the Winter Olympics, our remarkably swift and effective national response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti, or our country’s comparatively strong performance during this global economic recession, the world is noticing Canada.

We are now hosting the Paralympic Winter Games and, later this year, we will host the G8 and G20 Summits, and a historic visit from Queen Elizabeth on Canada Day.

In other words, in 2010, the world will increasingly see and understand what we already know:  That Canada is the best place on earth to live and work to do business and to raise a family.

And, this country, of which we are so proud, this land of unparalleled peace and prosperity, of security and opportunity, is going to emerge from this recession in the strongest position of any first-tier economy.

Thank you.

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