10 September 2010
Cranbrook, British Columbia
Thank you very much. Well, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, thank you, Jim Abbott, for that generous introduction, and thank you for seventeen years of tremendous dedicated service to this riding. I know everybody here appreciates it. I’m going to have some time tonight when we talk to the party faithful to really elaborate on your years of tremendous service to this riding, but I think everybody here appreciates it, and I appreciate it as well.
I want to acknowledge all of the dignitaries who are here today, Mayor Scott Manjak of Cranbrook, also Mayor Jim Ogilvie of Kimberley, Mayor Dean McKerracher of Elkford, Kathryn Teneese, Chair of the Ktunaxa Nation Council and Cheryl Casimir, Chief of St. Mary’s First Nation. So thank you all for being here today.
It is great to be here. As Jim mentioned, in the past 20 years I’ve been to Cranbrook and been to the east Kootenay region many times, and whether I’ve flown in or driven here, as I used to, it always does my heart good to look at the Rocky Mountain trench and these two mountain ranges, the mountains of opportunity as you call them.
It is a beautiful, beautiful part of this province and of our great country that you’re able to call home. It is no wonder that pioneers were drawn here 150 years ago, and it is no wonder that in more recent years, you’ve been able to present it as a premiere tourist destination. And it’s to your credit that you have made the far-sighted decision to invest in those things that make it easier for more people to come here. Tourism is a win-win. The visitors enjoy what you have to offer: the golf, the skiing, the lake. You enjoy the jobs and the prosperity that they bring.
The improvements you have made to this airport are particularly noteworthy, improvements that, by the way, thanks to the tireless advocacy of your Member of Parliament, Jim Abbott, were among the earliest infrastructure investments that we supported after forming government in 2006. In fact, Jim and Scott Manjak back then were already lobbying me even before I got into office, on the necessity of making the investments here.
But first of all, you lengthened the runway out there to 8000 feet. This meant that your airport could safely handle the regional jets favoured by the airlines for short and mid-range flights in both Canada and the United States. Then you rebuilt the terminal of the Canadian Rockies International Airport to handle international arrivals and departures. As a result of these upgrades, YXC now fits seamlessly into the hub and spoke system of continental air transportation. To put it another way, because of the work you have done together on your airport, the entire continent is now your marketplace.
And that brings us to what we are doing here today. This is a relatively high elevation airport where flying is affected by a wide range of seasonal temperatures and conditions. These circumstances place added demands upon those responsible for its safe operation.
I’m therefore very pleased to announce further funding for safety-related equipment and rehabilitative work on the taxiways and the runways here at Cranbrook. Now, I appreciate that laying down new tarmac doesn’t usually make an exciting headline, but for the people who fly, and that’s most Canadians these days, there’s nothing more important than safety.
That’s why we have extended the program through which we fund improvements such as this, and it is why, including today’s announcement, we shall be investing in safety related improvements at 38 airports right across this country.
What our government has announced today will maintain and enhance safe operations at the Canadian Rockies International Airport. It will be to the benefit of citizens of Cranbrook and indeed the whole east Kootenay region. It will also be to the benefit of visitors, and the benefit will endure for a very long time.
But this is not the only investment our government has made in the east Kootenays. Once again, thanks to the advocacy of your Member of Parliament and others last year, in partnership with the government of British Columbia, we funded expansion and upgrading on the College of the Rockies campus. We’ve also supported, among other things, activities to reduce forest fire vulnerability, upgrades to Cranbrook’s Memorial Arena, improvements to on-reserve housing, and grassland restoration.
Many of these investments in positive change were undertaken under Canada’s Economic Action Plan. This is the Plan our government announced last year. It’s part of our strategy that in cooperation with our partners in the G20 has been intended to fight the effects of the worst recession, the worst economic crisis since the Second World War.
And it is working, friends. I do not mean to suggest that the future holds no economic challenges; of course it does. The recovery remains very fragile. And our economy, at the same time, we have to remember, remains vulnerable to decisions and events elsewhere over which we have no control. However, all of that said, 18 months of economic stimulus has done good work for the economy.
Commitments are now in place for almost 16,000 projects from coast to coast to coast. Federal, provincial, municipal and also private sources have invested billions of dollars. The construction of much-needed roads, bridges, docks and yes, airport improvements, has been accelerated. All this, by the way, while cutting taxes and assisting Canada’s most vulnerable citizens.
So what do we see? The indicators that matter most have been trending our way. Growth is up year over year. So is GDP, the sum of total economic activity, and last year, despite the most recent figures, around 400,000 net new jobs have been created; that is regaining almost all of the jobs lost during the depths of the recession.
The consequence of the actions our government has taken is this: the legacy of the recession will not be memories of despair. Instead, it will be a mood of hope embodied in these long-term investments. It will be a national expectation of greater things to come, and it will be further evidence, if such is needed, that when bad things happen to good Canadians, they do not surrender to adversity.
Now, on that point, ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you an unusual story before I relinquish the podium. It concerns one of your own, a man from Cranbrook. One of the greatest rewards, I have to say, of serving our great country, one of privileges of my office, is the opportunity to meet men and women who by the way they lead their lives make Canada the great country that it is.
We’ve been talking today about aviation safety. We’ve also been talking about dealing with adversity. Cranbrook, as you know, has known no greater adversity, no sadder occasion than that February day almost half a lifetime ago, when PWA flight 314 crashed. Now, I’m not going to dwell on the details, because they’re all well known to you here.
However, of the few survivors that day, the most seriously injured was Ron Simms. Many of you know Ron, but today has been my first meeting with him. Ron was seated in the rear of the aircraft, which is how he survived. But as a result of his injuries, he lost both legs six inches above the knee. Now, for some people, they would have been ruined by that for life. Certainly travel by air would have held little appeal for them. But this is what Ron did. After surviving this dreadful event, he went out and learned to fly. And before he hung up his keys a few years ago, he had logged more than 500 hours on a microlight aircraft with controls adapted to compensate for his lack of legs. 500 hours. That’s almost three weeks in the air.
Where I live in Alberta, we call that getting back on the horse that threw you. I suspect you probably call it something like that here as well. At any rate, Ron, it is an amazing story, and it’s an inspiring one, and I know I congratulate you, and we all congratulate you.
And Mayor Manjak, if that is how the people of Cranbrook handle trouble, I’d say there are indeed all kinds of opportunity in these mountains.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for being here.
