Défense nationale et les Forces canadiennes
www.forces.gc.ca
Liens de la barre de menu commune
Discour
Le premier ministre Paul Martin et le ministre de la Défense nationale rendent visite aux membres des Forces canadiennes au Quartier général de la Défense nationale
03121502 - le 15 décembre 2003
PRINCIPAL(S)/PRINCIPAUX: The Honourable David Pratt, Minister of National Defence;
The Right Honourable Paul Martin, Prime Minister
Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, may I ask you to stand and welcome to National Defence Headquarters. The Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Paul Martin. Mesdames et messieurs, veuillez souhaiter la bienvenue au Premier ministre, le très honorable Paul Martin. (Applaudissements.) Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated.
And now I'd like to introduce our Minister of National Defence, the Honourable David Pratt.
Hon. David Pratt: Prime Minister, Mrs. Gosselin, General Henault, madame Cochrane, President of the Canadian Centre for Management Development and Chair of the 2003 Charitable Campaign, ladies and gentlemen, mesdames et messieurs. I'm very pleased to be here today to address you as Minister of National Defence and I'm truly honoured to have been given the responsibility for the Defence portfolio. C'est avec grand plaisir que je m'adresse à vous aujourd'hui à titre de ministre de la Défense nationale. Je suis très honoré que l'on m'ait confié la portefeuille de la Défense.
As the former Chair of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs, I know that there will be busy and challenging days ahead. But I also know that I will be supported in my new role by an absolutely superb team here at Defence. The contributions of Defence, whether here at home or on operations far from our shores, are critical to Canada, our place in the world and to international peace and security.
You are also making a difference in your own communities through your tremendous support of the National Defence Charitable Campaign. 2003 was a remarkable year for the campaign and in many ways exemplifies the type of achievement that our government wants to foster and celebrate.
To help recognize your outstanding generosity and unwavering commitment to public service, we are fortunate to have a very special guest with us, Canada's new prime minister, the Right Honourable Paul Martin. (Applause.) I know that only the most impressive accomplishment could pull our prime minister away from his task of creating a new, dynamic and innovative government for Canadians. Please join me in welcoming the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Paul Martin. (Applause.)
Rt. Hon. Paul Martin: Merci beaucoup. Monsieur le ministre, madame la ministre, monsieur le général, mesdames et messieurs, tout d'abord permettez-moi de vous remercier de m'avoir inviter ou de me fournir cette occasion à venir vous parler sinon que brièvement.
Tout d'abord j'aimerais féliciter, vous allez le comprendre, mes deux collègues, David Pratt et Albina Guarnieri de leur nomination. I've got to say to you that some ministers are appointed to jobs and they're not quite sure why -- (laughter) -- in previous governments of another party -- (laughter and applause). But I think that you really ought to know and I think it is a great tribute to you that both Minister Pratt, Minister Guarnieri and David Price who is not here today, all three very, very much wanted to be appointed here and I think this is a great tribute to you and I've got to tell you that since they have been appointed they have been unmerciful in telling me how much money you need and what has to happen. (Laughter and applause.)
J'aimerais aussi vous remercier vraiment au nom des résidents d'Ottawa mais aussi des citoyens du Canada parce que, comme le ministre Pratt vient de dire, vous avez seulement, et le général aussi me l'a dit, vous n'avez non seulement ramassé quoi, au-delà d'un million - un milliard, c'est l'ancien ministre des Finances qui parle (rires) - un million de dollars ici dans la ville d'Ottawa mais vous avez ramassé au-delà de deux et demi millions partout au pays. Et c'est incroyable et ça c'est tant les militaires que les civils qui travaillent, qui connaissent si bien vraiment le sens des mots dévouement, générosité et entraide.
That you have raised a million dollars here, over two and a half million across the country is a -- and I gather from Colonel Pert - and I really want to congratulate Colonel Pert and I think we should really give Colonel Pert and his team a great round of applause. (Applause.) But I've got to say that this shows really tremendous dedication really to those who live around you and those who are need that you have done this. And so I must say that you make all of us feel - and I know I'm speaking for Albina and for David - you make all of us feel very, very proud of our association with you given what you have done. I think that when you talk about the things that build a country quite clearly what you have done in raising this much money at this time of year is exactly that.
I also want to congratulate the department for the e-mail, the postcard, the program which I think we're going to see an example of in a minute. I know that Sheila and I sent off an e-mail and you know and I have been told by the general and I've been told by David that when you go onboard our ships and you go on our military installations and you see these festooned all over the place, the tremendous uplift that this gives our troops, in fact I have talked to about a year ago I think it was that there were three of our troops who came back and who were from the Montreal region and I had a conversation with him and they told me what a tremendous lift it gives them and so you know when you think about them being so far away from their loved ones and doing what they're doing for our country and that you reach out in this way, again I think is a tremendous tribute to all of you.
And then the last thing that I want to say and it is again a tribute to all of you who are here and it is very much a tribute to our forces across the country and abroad, c'était pas si longtemps que j'ai visité la région de Halifax après l'ouragan. Et ce que j'ai vu, la dévastation qui a été créée mais vraiment le sentiment de dévouement de la part de nos militaires pour les aider, if you take a look at the last couple of number of years, I certainly in Montreal lived through the ice storm. My own riding was very badly hit and I can tell you that if it had not been for the military, the amount of suffering that would have gone on in that part of Montreal would have been incredible. (Applause.) But you know it wasn't only the fact that obviously what they were doing was helping people in distress, which they were doing, but that they were present, that they were there and that Canadians and the people certainly in my riding and in that part of Montreal saw them, knew that in fact the country had come together to help them in their time of need. And I know, I saw the same thing in Halifax not long ago when I was there after the hurricane and we went out. And it was tremendous. We went out and I talked to the young men and women who were out there and who were doing it and they were doing a tremendous, tremendous job and the residents came out of their houses and they sat and they watched them and they helped them and there was a tremendous feeling of coming together.
I've got to tell you one story. The TV cameras were following me around and you've always got to watch when you're a politician. You never know what somebody's going to say to you. (Laughter.) But anyway -- so I went up to this one young soldier and I said to him, "Well look, how's it going?" And he said, "It's going fine, Mr. Martin." And I said, "Well, keep it up." I went to the next one and he said, "Good to see you, Mr. Martin." So I began to get quite confident so I told my people, I said, "Bring the TV cameras over." I went up -- (laughter) -- I went up to the next young soldier and I said to him, I said, "How's it going?" And he said, "It's going fine, sir." And I said, "That's great." And as I turned away, he turned to his colleague and the TV camera and the guy said, the young soldier said, "Who was that?" (Laughter.) Anyway. Do we have any Americans serving in our forces? (Laughter.)
In any event, there is -- this morning's news or yesterday's news of Saddam Hussein is obviously tremendous news for the world, tremendous news for the Iraqis. When you see the kind of world in which we live, Iraq today, Afghanistan today, the Gulf, the problems that exist around the world, it's pretty clear that with the end of the Cold War has come a different kind of conflict, a different kind of international trauma. No nation can isolate itself from the perils and the trials, the tribulations that the world goes through. And our capacity as a nation to respond on behalf of the world community is very heavily dependent upon the men and women of our armed services.
And so at this time, Christmas, when in fact it is supposed to be a time of goodwill, I think that we understand that goodwill is not necessarily something that exists in vast segments of the world and our ability as a species, our ability as human beings to come together to deal with it, our ability to essentially make the world understand that there is a common humanity among us all and that we have got to come together is dependent upon many factors: our diplomacy, our ability to exercise our independent sovereignty and our ability as a nation to call upon the men and women of our military forces to in fact implement that because you are in many ways that part of the nation which represents our values abroad and obviously our values within our borders.
And so as one Canadian to you, there is no other word that I can bring forth except to say how proud I am of you. No better way to put it than to express that pride on behalf of all Canadians. On est tellement fier de vous. On est tellement fier de ce que vous représentez puis on est tellement fier de ce que vous faites. That one word is thank you. Merci beaucoup. (Applaudissements.)
Moderator: Thank you very much. Please be seated. I will now ask Lieutenant-General Penney and madame Janice Cochrane to approach and come up on the podium with the Prime Minister. La plaque que le Premier ministre va maintenant présenter a pour but de commémorer notre succès lors de la campagne 2003 de charité en milieu de travail du gouvernement du Canada dans la région de la capitale nationale. Comme vous le verrez sur l'affiche à votre gauche, la communauté de la Défense nationale de la région d'Ottawa a amassé un montant record.
If you permit me, now I'll read the inscription on the plaque prior to handing it to the prime minister. It reads, "Congratulations to all employees of National Defence and members of the Canadian Forces in the National Capital Region for the most generous contribution ever towards the Government of Canada's Charitable Workplace Campaign - $1,032,736." (Applause.)
It continues, "Votre esprit d'entraide et de générosité est un exemple à suivre ici comme ailleurs dans le monde."
(Presentation of plaque.) (Applause.)
LGen Penney: Mr. Prime Minister, on behalf of all the men and women employed by National Defence and all the members of the Canadian Forces, wherever they may be, your presence here this morning is greatly appreciated and, Mr. Prime Minister, we certainly thank you for recognizing our contributions to the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign. It's quite special and an honour to have you with us here today. Votre présence parmi nous ce matin est grandement appréciée. De la part de tous, merci, monsieur le Premier ministre. (Applaudissements.)
Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the formal portion of our event today. We thank you very much for taking the time to be with us. Merci et bonjour.
-30-
Bien que le SMA(AP) ait préparé la présente transcription avec soin, elle ne peut en garantir l'exactitude. Nous nous efforçons d'assurer la précision des renseignements que nous fournissons, mais la rapidité des opérations médiatiques nous empêchent de vérifier minutieusement les transcriptions. Le SMA(AP) n'est pas responsable des inexactitudes, des écarts ni des omissions concernant la présente transcription .
RSS Nouvelles MDN/FC (Quel est RSS ?)
