PM launches Christmas Lights Across Canada

Thank you, Christina Lenny.  Your Excellency, Mr Speaker, parliamentary colleagues, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s a pleasure to be with all of you here as once again, with the National Capital Commission’s annual Parliament Hill lighting, we officially kick off the holiday season right across our vast and fabulous country.

We are here tonight not only to light up Parliament Hill, but also to join all our fellow Canadians in communities throughout the country as we celebrate the holiday season together. Being here with you on Parliament Hill reminds me of the wonderful year Canada has had.

As Canadians, we are indeed finishing what has been a tremendous year.  In fact, being here on the Hill tonight brings back some warmer memories of July first, when we celebrated Confederation’s 143rd birthday right here with Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, and a record crowd of over 100,000 Canadians. 

I think back farther to last December when we welcomed the Olympic torch relay to Ottawa.  We were all part of a wave of Canadian pride that was just beginning to sweep our country, unlike anything we had seen since our centennial in 1967.  The Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, Canada’s games, brought Canadians together like nothing before.  Make no mistake, it was a historic celebration. 

Canadians from coast to coast to coast burst with joy when we won our first gold medal on Canadian soil, with the extraordinary performance of the great Alexandre Bilodeau.  And that was just the first of many.

When Sidney Crosby scored in overtime it did more than clinch a gold medal for our hockey team.  It put our entire Olympic team, athletes from all sports over the top as together they set a record: not only the most gold medals in Canadian history, not only the most gold medals ever for a host country, but the most gold medals for any country, ever, in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. 

Friends, it’s no wonder that everybody seems to be walking a little taller this year, and I’m sure that after our children watched our Olympians perform, Santa’s elves are now working overtime to make sure there are plenty of skates and sticks and skis for Christmas morning.

This was a very good year for our country, and not only in sports. We hosted not one, but two successful international summits.

The G8 and the G20; in fact it is the first time any country was ever host to both of these summits. 

This year, Canadians are leading the world in many different fields:  arts, literature, business, research, technology, and many other important activities. But no list of our success stories would be complete without expressing our gratitude to the men and women of the Canadian Forces. We can also all celebrate the rapid response of Canadian soldiers in Haiti. 

And let’s also applaud the great work done after hurricane Igor caused so much devastation in Newfoundland.  Ladies and gentlemen, the courage, the bravery and the dedication of our men and women in uniform inspires us throughout the year.

And at Christmastime it should also make us remember the sacrifice that our troops in Afghanistan make and their families make in being separated by such great distances and at great personal risk to represent our country and keep us all safe.  We can never thank them enough.

Friends, if I can say one thing in closing, it’s that over the coming weeks, as we all take time to celebrate the holidays and count our blessings, I hope everyone can take a moment to reflect on how fortunate we all are to live in a such a prosperous and peaceful nation, the best country in the world.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Season’s Greetings to everyone.

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