Mr. President, Excellencies, members of the UN and distinguished guests:

On behalf of the federal, provincial, territorial  and private sector partners of the network of Canada Business Service Centres, I am delighted to accept this award from the United Nations. I represent 275 dedicated people from coast to coast, hard at work as this ceremony unfolds, hopefully pausing for a moment around this time to share vicariously in this honour. As with most successful endeavours, the commitment of our staff to service excellence is the key to success.

We are particularly delighted to receive this award at this point in time as we are also celebrating our 10th year of service to Canadian entrepreneurs. The CBSCs started quite modestly a decade ago as one of the first "single window" public service initiatives, at the forefront of a new trend that has now firmly taken root in Canada - the delivery of public services from the perspective of the client.

A quick word about our clients. Small business is important in Canada in all sectors of the economy, both urban and rural. Over the last decade, small business has been responsible for the net increase in new jobs and continues to be a resilient, adaptable engine of economic growth. Entrepreneurial Canadians both demand and deserve service excellence in dealing with government. The CBSCs provide this "whole of government" approach to meeting client needs through partnerships. There are some 40 federal departments and agencies in Canada that have a regulatory role, program or services to offer a business client. Provinces, territories and municipal jurisdictions also add to this complex array of jurisdictions. Our job is to work with these organizations to ensure that we also have their business information; and to provide a "comprehensive" seamless service to the business client through a simple phone call, a visit to a CBSC, or frequently these days, a "click" on our web site.

The network of CBSCs is most honoured to receive this award. I would like to thank the United Nations for recognizing our achievement. I would also like to extend my congratulations to others receiving awards and look forward to sharing the details of these wonderful projects in the seminars this afternoon. Thank you.