Mr. Greg Rickford (Kenora, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, some 300 young athletes and artists from Canada are currently in Beirut proudly defending our country's colours in top-level competitions.
    
Three delegations, from Canada, Canada—Quebec and Canada—New-Brunswick will be competing over the next few days in various events.
    
Can the Minister for La Francophonie tell us what the Government of Canada is doing to contribute to the success of this event?



Hon. Josée Verner (Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister for La Francophonie, CPC):
 
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Kenora for his question.

I recently had the pleasure of announcing that our government was giving $1 million to the International Organization of la Francophonie to help organize the sixth edition of these games in Beirut. More than 3,000 young athletes and artists from five continents are currently in Beirut, Lebanon, in one of the largest gatherings in the history of the Francophonie games.
   
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the judo team for already winning four medals. I am sure that our athletes and artists will all do as well in the coming days.