 Thank you very much my friends what a tremendous pleasure it is to be here today to celebrate this Extraordinary event I indeed I it's been a few years that I've I've been a supporter of this. I got to do a few wheelchair races, but The honorable former senator did it with Laurier back in his day. So it's been around for a For a while. What a real pleasure to be able to celebrate with so many people this This extraordinary event. I'll just ask for my speaking points, which would be appreciated to make sure I don't I don't forget everyone You know, thank you all for being here Senators speakers Friends It's a pleasure to be here today as part of the Rolling Rampage on the hill I want to thank the Canadian Foundation for physically disabled persons for putting together such a great event This race is a wonderful way to highlight some of the world's most talented athletes and get people talking about how we can work together To make our world more accessible. I also want to thank your co-chairs senator Putzikler senator Martin senator Munson senator Marwa for their hard work and a colleague acknowledge my colleague Minister can't hair can't as you all know has been mandated by this government to put together Canada's first well when we first Conceived of it within the platform. It was at Canada's a Canadian disability act Then we realized that it would be better to talk about it in the positive We talked about Canada's first-ever accessibility legislation now. We're talking about moving towards a Canada Free of barriers whatever they may be. There's all sorts of hard work. We're doing on it But we know there's an opportunity that Canadians expect of us all to lead In making sure that everyone has every opportunity to succeed in every possible way regardless of the barriers They may face in their lives and that's very much the focus and I thank you for all your hard work on that Kent Je veux commencer aussi par félicité les athlètes pour leur réalisation Incroyable il est remercié aussi pour tout ce qui font envers leur communauté Que vous soyez ou non sur le podium aujourd'hui que vous ayez participé à la course en tant qu'amateur ou professionnel vous représentez l'avenir de notre monde un avenir où chacun est en mesure de réaliser ses rêves et vit pleinement ses passions. C'est moi que vous expliquez pourquoi les 21 athlètes professionnels qui ont participé à la course sont des exemples de détermination d'ambition et de courage vous nous en avez mis plein la vue ce matin et c'était tout un spectacle Votre talent nous impressionne et nous inspire. Vous êtes des modèles non seulement pour les personnes handicapées mais pour tous ceux et celles qui aspirent à faire preuve d'audace, de résilience et d'excellence Nous avons beaucoup à apprendre des gens comme vous qui sont la preuve même que tout est possible And as for those of you who took part in the amateur race way to go By racing this morning you sought to understand the challenges facing millions of Canadians and people around the world every day Challenges and barriers that exist but that are too often overlooked by those who do not have a disability I remember the first time I ever spent a morning in a wheelchair for an event like this. It was astonishing to me how Carpet that was slightly too lush was an incredible barrier that I had never seen never understood And the learning process has continued Since then as we learn to understand and reduce the barriers to Full access and full participation in every aspect of life we need to develop If we're to address and reduce those obstacles we must recognize that we all have a role to play in raising awareness and making our communities More accessible So thank you for taking part in this race and taking the time to understand a reality that may be different from your own encore une fois merci à tous d'être venu en grand nombre pour célébrer le talent incroyable d'athlète accompli et soutenir une très bonne cause Merci beaucoup tout le monde. Thank you everyone for being part of this truly inspiring event