8 October, 2013

Mrs. Laureen Harper opens new stretch of Trans Canada Trail in Manitoba

Des champions et employés du Sentier ont marché 15 kilomètres pour célébrer le nouveau tronçon manitobain. De gauche à droite : Deborah Apps (présidente et chef de la direction du STC), Ruth Kristjanson (vice-présidente, Relations d'entreprise de Manitoba Hydro), Laureen Harper (Présidente d'honneur de la campagne du Sentier), Ian Hughes (président de Trails Manitoba) et l'honorable Shelly Glover (ministre du Patrimoine canadien et des Langues officielles). | Trans Canada Trail

Trail champions and employees walked 15 kilometres to celebrate the new segment of Trail in Manitoba. From left to right: Deborah Apps (president & CEO of TCT), Ruth Kristjanson (Manitoba Hydro vice-president Corporate Relations), Laureen Harper (Honorary TCT Campaign Chair), Ian Hughes (Trails Manitoba president) and the Honourable Shelly Glover (Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages).

Trails Manitoba celebrated its 20^th anniversary on Sept. 27 by officially opening an impressive 40-kilometre TCT segment on its Border to Beaches Trail.

This new section of Trans Canada Trail connects Old Pinawa Dam to Whiteshell Provincial Park and represents a major milestone in the Border to Beaches project, linking Manitoba’s Ontario border with Grand Beach Provincial Park via 370 kilometres of high-quality Trail.

The Trail opening, which took place at the Seven Sisters Generating Station, was attended by nearly 100 enthusiastic Trail users, volunteers and loyal Trail champions. Honorary TCT Campaign Chair Laureen Harper officially opened the Trail after walking a 15-kilometre leg of the Trail with fellow event participants and speakers: the Honorable Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages; Deborah Apps, president & CEO of Trans Canada Trail; Ruth Kristjanson, Manitoba Hydro vice-president corporate relations, and Trails Manitoba president Ian Hughes.

“This Trail and the development of the Trans Canada Trail will connect us from coast to coast to coast,” Harper said. “I’d like to thank the many volunteers and organizations who have worked so hard to create this legacy for everyone to enjoy now and in the future.”

The Trans Canada Trail is proud to have contributed nearly $1 million to the Border to Beaches project. TCT has invested nearly $2.4 million in Manitoba; the Trail links more than 50 Manitoban communities from Saskatchewan to Ontario and is 92 per cent connected within the province.

Since 1992, almost 1,400 kilometres of Trans Canada Trail have been developed in Manitoba.