Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to be here.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for allowing me to speak to you today. My name is Tom Russell and I'm the executive director of the 1000 Islands Community Development Corporation, an organization funded by the Government of Canada to encourage economic development of the communities that we serve, the communities of the Thousand Islands.

I'm here today to encourage your support of Bill C-370, which would see the name of the St. Lawrence Islands National Park of Canada changed to the Thousand Islands National Park of Canada. I can understand that some of you might consider this name change as insignificant or of little consequence, but please let me assure you that your decision matters greatly to those of us who live in the region. It matters to us because we fully understand that this simple adjustment will assist us in our efforts to encourage greater visitation to our communities, and greater visitation means greater economic impact for our largely tourism-dependent economy.

The importance of your decision is further validated by many of our local municipalities and chambers of commerce having already formally endorsed the passing of this bill. The vast majority of Thousand Islanders feel the time is right to make this change.

The St. Lawrence River is a majestic and beautiful body of water, but there are many communities that call it home. As such, the St. Lawrence River by name alone is not very site-specific. Simple Internet searches, as Gord has mentioned, of the St. Lawrence River, of the St. Lawrence Islands, or even of the St. Lawrence Islands National Park, could lead you anywhere from the city of Kingston all the way to Quebec City and on to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. For those of us who understand Canadian geography, this might not seem like such a big deal, but imagine the confusion it can create for less-informed tourists looking to visit our region, the Thousand Islands.

On the other hand, if you were to do an Internet search of the Thousand Islands, you'd see that it provides hundreds of links and almost every single one of them is specific to the corridor between Kingston and Brockville. In other words, a search of the Thousand Islands actually takes you to sites located in the Thousand Islands, and isn't that exactly what we want?

Even if you were to simply leaf through our local telephone directories, you would find pages and pages of businesses and organizations named after the Thousand Islands, but a similar review for businesses and organizations named after the St. Lawrence Islands would reveal one entry, the St. Lawrence Islands National Park.

The Thousand Islands brand name is highly recognizable, it is unique to one territory in our country, and it is our local trademark. That's why the organization that I work for is called the 1000 Islands Community Development Corporation and not the St. Lawrence Islands Community Development Corporation. It seems like such a small distinction, but I can tell you that the people in our region really do understand the value of this adjustment.

International visitor tourism surveys regularly show that the Thousand Islands is a destination of choice that benefits greatly from name recognition, yet our very own national park is not capitalizing on this opportunity. Professional marketers speak of consistent messaging, multiple exposures, and top-of-mind awareness as critical components to building successful marketing campaigns. At the core of all strategies is the need to build brand-name recognition.

In the Thousand Islands we already have the good fortune of a powerful and recognizable brand name. The power of this brand is the reason why the city of Kingston is promoted as a Thousand Islands destination. It's the reason why the town of Gananoque declares itself as the “Gateway to the Thousand Islands”. It's the reason why the city of Brockville markets itself as “The City of the 1000 Islands”.

If we truly wish to encourage visitors to enjoy the wonders of this marvellous location, then it will ultimately be the reason why the St. Lawrence Islands National Park of Canada is repositioned and renamed as the Thousand Islands National Park of Canada. Any other approach or any other decision will continue to stifle the tremendous potential of this magnificent national treasure.

Mr. Brown spoke of our local mayor of the city of the Brockville. He had the misfortune last week of being diagnosed with a cranial aneurysm, a life-threatening condition, and he's here recovering from a five-hour surgery last week. He's here at the Ottawa Civic and I had a chance to speak with him.

He specifically asked me if I would share with you that he would really, really appreciate it if the decision to support this bill was positive, because he really doesn't want to have another aneurysm.

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