Honourable colleagues, I rise today to congratulate my home community of Wellington County and the City of Guelph, here in Ontario, on being one of the four winners of the Smart Cities Challenge.

The challenge, which was run by Infrastructure Canada, was open to all municipalities, local and regional governments and Indigenous communities across Canada.

Consulting with residents, the participating communities submitted applications over a year ago. Finalists were selected by a jury and given $250,000 in grants to develop a final proposal.

The winners were announced just last Tuesday.

Wellington County won $10 million, which will go towards creating programs contributing to Canada’s first circular food economy.

In Canada, we know in general that more than one third of the food produced is thrown out and wasted. At the same time, one in six families experiences food insecurity.

If you are thinking that’s not right, well, I agree, and so do the people of Guelph and Wellington County. Their initiative aims to increase access to nutritious foods while also creating jobs and reducing our carbon footprint.

Hopefully, Guelph and Wellington County’s example will lead other communities to undertake similar projects in coming years.

I would also like to briefly recognize the other winners.

The City of Montreal won the $50 million prize, which was open to all communities regardless of size.

The other $10 million prize, which was open to communities under 500,000 people, was won by the communities across Nunavut.

The town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, won the $5 million prize, which was open to communities of under 30,000 people.

I am absolutely confident that this money will be put to good use in making these communities smarter, healthier and more livable.

Congratulations to Guelph and Wellington County and all the other winners. I look forward to the results of their upcoming initiatives.

Thank you.