“Over the past few months, our Government has continued to deliver real results that Canadian families have come to expect,” said Canada’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister, John Baird.  “Our priority has been to help Canadian workers and their families during the global economic downturn by implementing Canada’s Economic Action Plan.  While there are tentative signs of a recovery, now is not time to change course. Our Government is committed to fully implementing our two-year plan to ensure recovery fully takes hold.”

Minister Baird was joined at a news conference today by the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs; the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development;  the Honourable Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of Canada; and the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Public Works and Government Services.

The Harper Government successfully implemented an ambitious agenda responding to the priorities of Canadians and also tabled its 4th Report to Canadians indicating that 97 per cent of stimulus funding in Canada’s Economic Action Plan has been committed.

Another important accomplishment during this session was increasing the supplement earnings of low-income workers through the Working Income Tax Benefit.  When combined with other tax measures, such as the Home Renovation Tax Credit, the Government is taking action to help Canadian families, workers and those affected most by the economic downturn.

The Government is also helping to make communities safer from violent criminals and predators by introducing important legislation that will protect children from online predators and protecting all Canadians from white-collar crime.

During the session, Canada also strengthened its leadership role and asserted Canadian values on the world stage.  Specifically, the Government opened up new opportunities for Canadian businesses in emerging markets, such as India and China.

This donation is made on behalf of Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.  Instead of the customary official gift offered upon Royal visits, Their Highnesses asked that a contribution be made to an organization that supports military personnel and their families.

”The unique demands of the military life can place great pressure on Canadian Forces’ members and their families,” said the Prime Minister.  “I commend Their Royal Highnesses for their support of our military men and women.”

The Military Families Fund (MFF) was created in April 2007 to assist military families faced with unforeseen and often immediate needs that have resulted from conditions of service.  The fund continues to grow through the generous contributions of Canadians, corporations and other organizations, adding new support for Canadian Forces members and their families.

”We know in our hearts that we owe our freedom, democracy and prosperity to the millions of Canadians who have kept our True North strong and free for over two centuries,” said the Prime Minister.  “I commend this noble initiative which will augment the support provided to our military men and women and their families.”

The True Patriot Love Foundation was founded in June 2009 by business and community leaders dedicated to raising funds for programs to improve the well-being and morale of Canadian military personnel and their families, and honouring their selfless service.

“It is inspired by the recognition that the Canadian Forces are a family that includes their immediate and extended families as well as a vast network of Canadians,” added Prime Minister Harper.  “Strong morale is sustained by strong support back home.  The generosity of the True Patriot Love Foundation and its supporters follows a long tradition of public support for the men and women of the Canadian Forces.”

The proceeds of this year’s Tribute Dinner will be dedicated to the Military Families Fund.  The fund is intended to assist military families faced with unforeseen and urgent needs that have resulted from military service.

In March, the Government of Canada announced it was creating the Canadian Forces’ Joint Personnel Support Unit, a network of 19 individual service points across Canada, to provide a range of services for ill and injured Canadian Forces personnel, Regular or Reserve Force, former personnel, their families and the families of the deceased.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales today at Rideau Hall.  During their meeting, the Prime Minister presented The Prince with red caps and sweaters, emblematic of the Canadian Rangers, and announced that Their Royal Highnesses Prince William and Prince Harry have been appointed Honourary Canadian Rangers.

“The Canadian Rangers are deeply honoured to welcome Prince William and Prince Harry as Honouraries,” said the Prime Minister.  “Their Royal Highnesses are esteemed by our Canadian Forces and these appointments highlight their status among a unique and important military formation.”

The Canadian Rangers are part-time reservists who provide a military presence in remote, isolated and coastal communities of Canada.  Formally established in 1947, Canadian Rangers are responsible for protecting Canada’s sovereignty by reporting unusual activities or sightings, collecting local data of significance to the Canadian Forces and conducting surveillance or sovereignty patrols as required.

Canadian Rangers are dedicated, knowledgeable members of the Canadian Forces who play an important role in advancing public recognition of Canada’s First Nations and Inuit groups.  Canadian Rangers are easily recognized by their red sweatshirts and ball caps, and their frequent selfless contributions to their communities.  The Rangers symbolize volunteerism, service to country and the importance of northern sovereignty – all issues that are shared by members of the Royal Family.

There are currently over 4,116 Canadian Rangers in 166 communities across Canada.  This number is expected to increase to 5,000 by March 2012.

“We are here today to commemorate and to celebrate the beginning of communism’s end and the triumph of the principles of freedom and democracy.

“As the Ambassador noted in the lobby of this building, the Government Conference Centre, where, incidentally, talks relating to German reunification were held in 1990, there is a piece of the Berlin Wall.

“The significance of this day is that the Wall, of which this slab was once a part, could no longer contain the yearnings of a people demanding to be free.  Of course, it did not happen all at once.  But, the point of no return was reached 20 years ago today, on November 9, 1989.  That is when, with the world watching, thousands of Germans from the east poured across a border that would soon cease to exist.  They chose with their feet the principles long upheld by Canada and our allies: freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.  Border guards at first uncertain in the face of so many, became unwilling, and quickly unable, to stop them.

“The life had gone out of the communist system.  It was a day of joy in Germany, and of relief in Europe.  No more would a people be kept apart.  No more would Europeans fear that the division of their continent would lead to nuclear war.  No more would the state seek to deny the dreams, to suppress and to torment its own citizens.

“This piece of concrete is a tangible reminder of that.  It reminds us that life in East Germany, the so-called “German Democratic Republic,” so impoverished the soul, that the Communist government required a wall to prevent its own citizens from leaving.

“It stands here now, not as a barrier, but as a tombstone for the regime that built it.  Once, however, there were 160 kilometres of concrete like this around West Berlin, to keep East Germans from entering.  It was topped with barbed wire and protected by guard towers. It shielded a wide area of raked sand – a kill zone – in which guards were under orders to shoot to kill so-called “traitors,” anyone who might try to escape across it.

“And, what happened when somebody tried?

“Not long after the wall went up, a young man named Peter Fechter decided he would no longer live as just a creature of the state.  With all the burning passion of youth he determined to cross the wall and live as a free man, like the people he could see, and hear, just metres away over the concrete and barbed wire in West Berlin.

“A city of light it must have seemed to him.  There he would find no commissars, no secret police, no torturers.  And surely the job of a border guard was just to check passports, not really to stop people from leaving.  For, my friends, thousands of people tried everything to get out of East Germany and the other hostage nations of the East Bloc. Nobody, nobody jumped this wall to get in.

“So, Fechter and a friend hid near the wall in a carpenter’s shop.  The wall was only two metres high at the time – half the height it would eventually reach as the Communists became increasingly desperate to hold back their restless people.  Freedom looked so possible, so close.

“Choosing their moment carefully, Fechter and his friend ran.  Shots were fired.  His friend made it over.  Fechter did not.  Hit in the pelvis, he fell back.  And there, at the foot of the wall, his government allowed him to bleed to death.  No doctor came, no commissar took charge, no border guard dared walk a few short metres to give first aid.  In agony from his wounds, Fechter took an hour to die.

“Peter Fechter was just one of almost 200 people thought to have perished along the wall over the years, in their bid for liberty.  And just one among countless hundreds of thousands of eastern Europeans who lost their lives in those terrible decades, in purges and prisons, yearning for the free and democratic society in which we as Canadians have always lived.

“Peter Fechter was only 18.  I tell his story to remind us all of what was overthrown that day the wall came down.  The wall the Communists built was more than a physical division.  It symbolized another darker view of life.  Beyond the wall, people lived in freedom, exercised democracy, experienced justice.

“On the Communist side, there was no freedom.  Individuals did not matter.  Justice and law were only what best served the interests of the state.  People belonged to the state, and served it.  It was the difference between whether the people choose who governs them or the government chooses the people by choosing who will live or will not.  The difference between a system that is good and a system that was evil.

“Because we should acknowledge Communism for what it was, not a flawed or inefficient system, but, like its totalitarian cousin, fascism, the antithesis of our highest values, one of the two great 20th-century threats to the very existence of our civilization, an evil to be understood so that it may never again be repeated.

“It is profoundly wrong to condemn whole populations based on class, just as it is to condemn them based on race.  And it is profoundly evil to seek to resolve political debates through the annihilation of the other side whether it is called a “final solution,” the “end of history,” or any other such euphemism.

“This evil comes in many forms and seems to reinvent itself with each generation: the promise of a perfect society, if only those unworthy are first eliminated.  The inferior races.  The class enemies.  The infidels.

“This is an evil that Canada has always resisted.  As Canadians, as Conservatives, as Liberals, as others we are opponents, but we are not each other’s enemies, we are each other’s fellow citizens.  We battle with ballots, not with bullets.  One side wins and accepts the rights and the responsibilities of government.  The other lives in opposition and in freedom to fight another day.  And so it has been for over 140 years and even longer, and we are all better for it.

“But we have done more than just experienced and lived under freedom and democracy.  Our forebears have fought and died that we may enjoy them.  That is why a million Canadians joined in the fight against fascism.  It is why more still then went to Korea.  It is why our young men and women today risk their lives to stop the spread of terrorism from and to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.

“And it is why, through four decades, tens of thousands of Canadian service men and women confronted Communism in Europe at the Wall, and at the Iron Curtain, until the great day came twenty years ago today that made it no longer necessary.

“Friends, the Berlin Wall divided a nation.  But its fall united a continent in a hopeful future.  Today we reflect with pride on the part Canada played in that downfall.  And we celebrate the triumph of ideas that liberate the human spirit over those that bound it in chains: the free and democratic ideals of Canada and its allies.

“I am pleased to announce that this section of the wall will be relocated to the Canadian War Museum, as an important relic of the Cold War.  There, it will honour the men and women of the Canadian Forces who served during that confrontation. It will also complement the memorial to the Victims of Totalitarian Communism, planned for the capital region by Tribute to Liberty.  Alide, I want to congratulate you and your bipartisan group on getting this done.

“It shall stand as a reminder that all political systems are not the same, that our democracy, that our freedoms are to be cherished, exercised and protected.

“This is our history and our inheritance and may God help us ensure that it will always be so.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today participated in the inaugural presentations of the newly-created Sacrifice Medal at Rideau Hall.  The Sacrifice Medal formally recognizes those Canadians who have either been wounded or who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the name of their country during military service.  Forty-six medals were bestowed today in the name of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second.

“Time and again, Canadians have proven themselves to be among the bravest, most skilled and most successful soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen on earth,” said the Prime Minister.  “I want to thank each and every one of today’s recipients, as well as their families and loved ones, for nobly upholding Canada’s proud tradition of courage and sacrifice in the face of any odds.”

The Sacrifice Medal was created to provide a lasting form of recognition for the members of the Canadian Forces as well as other eligible recipients who have been wounded or killed in action, and to Canadian Forces members who died as a result of service.  First announced in August 2008, the Medals are awarded to those who have been serving under Canadian military command since October 7, 2001.

“The Sacrifice Medal is one small way to pay tribute to those Canadians who have given so much in the name of their country,” said Prime Minister Harper.  “The sacrifices made are the extraordinary acts of people devoted to their fellow human beings and Canada.”

“The point of no return was reached 20 years ago today, on November 9, 1989.  That is when, with the world watching, thousands of Germans from the east poured across a border that would soon cease to exist.  They chose with their feet the principles long upheld by Canada and our allies, embracing freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” said the Prime Minister.  “Border guards at first uncertain in the face of so many, became unwilling, and were quickly unable, to stop them.  The life had gone out of the communist system.”

For almost thirty years, the Berlin Wall separated East Germany from West Germany, a tangible symbol of the Iron Curtain between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc.  On November 9, 1989, the government of the former German Democratic Republic announced that travel restrictions had been lifted and that citizens could visit West Germany.  In the following weeks and months, citizens began tearing down the concrete division and poured across the border, escaping Communism and finding freedom.

Prime Minister Harper used the occasion today to announce that the section of the Wall housed at the Government Conference Centre since 1991 will be moved to the Canadian War Museum.  It will be made available for public viewing.

“I am pleased to announce that this section of the Berlin Wall will be relocated to the Canadian War Museum as an important relic of the Cold War,” said the Prime Minister.  “There, it will honour the men and women of the Canadian Forces who served during that confrontation.  It will also complement the memorial to the Victims of Totalitarian Communism, planned for the capital region by Tribute to Liberty.”

The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, is participating in the Berlin Wall Commemoration Ceremony today.  This ceremony will mark the 20th Anniversary since the Wall came down.  The Canadian Forces (CF) were stationed in Germany for 40 years during the Cold War, with nearly one million CF members and their families stationed in Germany during that period.  The heavily-guarded Wall separated East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989.

On receiving the award along with 13 other Canadian recipients honoured by the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, the Prime Minister said he was moved by the honour and reiterated his government’s commitment to the promotion of French in Canada and throughout the world.

“Our Canadian Francophonie enriches the nation, inspiring communities throughout the country, and unites us with many other countries through a common language,” said the Prime Minister.  “For Canadians, it is a source of great pride.”

The Government’s commitment to the promotion of linguistic duality and the development of official-language minority communities is set out in its Roadmap for Linguistic Duality in Canada 2008-2013: Acting for the Future.  The Roadmap is an unprecedented, government-wide investment of $1.1 billion over five years reaffirming the Government’s commitment to linguistic duality and the vitality of official-language minority communities.

Created in 1976 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (APF), the Pleiades, Order of the Francophonie and the Dialogue of Cultures, is awarded to individuals in the Francophonie who have distinguished themselves by serving the APF’s ideals.  The APF chiefly works to promote and defend democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights, the international influence of the French language and cultural diversity.