Dear Friends,

My dream has always been to visit you in the wheat province, the breadbasket of Canada. Today I have fulfilled it. I am very happy to be here in the Queen City.

I know I have come a little early to celebrate the Centennial of the Province of Saskatchewan. Exciting days lay ahead of you all when you will be celebrating 100 years of growth, progress and accomplishment as a province of Canada.  You will mark next year this anniversary by honouring past successes and by celebrating the promise of a wide-open future. The Swiss colony has also played a significant role in the development of the province and you can also take your part in the congratulations on this event. I would like to acknowledge these great ambassadors of Switzerland.

On September 4th  1905,  the Canadian Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier said in this Capital:
"I would vision those vast prairies inhabited by a strong, independent patriotic people building towns, cities, and villages and making the stubborn prairie soil yield its wealth in order to provide happy and prosperous homes for multitudes, and helping to furnish sustenance for dwellers in less favoured regions, living in harmony and peace, and fulfilling their destiny as patriotic Canadians."
Our Swiss Parliament will be meeting next December. On the agenda we have the budget for 2005 and different measures to reduce public spending and the National debt. We will also discuss the second round of bilateral agreements with the European Union.
After the rejection of the European Economic Area Agreement, we started negotiations for agreements in seven sectors (Free Movement of Persons, Trade in Agricultural Products, Public Procurement, Conformity Assessments, Air Transport, Transport by Road and Rail, Swiss Participation in the Framework Programme for Research). The Swiss people, consulted by referendum on May 6th 2000, approved the agreements.
For the past two years, negotiations have been conducted in areas such as: Improved co-operation against fraud; Participation in the European Environment Agency, statistics and on the MEDIA programme; Participation in the 6th Framework Programme for Research and Development; Liberalisation of trade in processed agricultural products; Liberalisation of services; Participation in of the Schengen and Dublin agreements on border control and asylum policy; Savings taxation. The most disputed agreements relate to the Schengen/Dublin agreement and also the extension of free circulation of Labour to the new 10 Eastern European countries. A referendum is expected and a vote is due to take place on June 5th 2005.
I am a member of the NEAT Delegation, which supervises the construction of new tunnels across the Alps under the Loetschberg and the Gothard. These transalpine infrastructure projects are very expensive enterprises bound with surprises. These pharaonic works are not only in the interest of Switzerland but also of the whole European continent.
Dear Friends, here were a few information about your country. I wish all the best for your future in this beautiful province and thank you for your attention.