North Bay, Ontario, Thursday, March 31, 2016

Allow me to begin by acknowledging that this ceremony is taking place on the traditional territory of the Nipissing First Nation.

It’s good to be back in North Bay!

I have some great memories of this city. I grew up in Sault Ste. Marie and used to play high school hockey and football here—North Bay was always a worthy opponent.

Sometimes a little too good, in fact!

What a delight to be here this evening with so many volunteers and service club members from North Bay and area. I have such respect for what you do.

I also happen to have a long personal and family association with the Rotary Club.

My eldest daughter had a wonderful experience as a Rotary fellow at the University of Hong Kong, and my nephew won a Rotary scholarship to study at the University of Geneva.

I myself will always be indebted to the Rotary Foundation for a fellowship I received to study law in England.

One of my happy responsibilities during my time in England was to visit Rotary Clubs. During school holidays, I’d travel to seven or eight towns a week and give a little speech about Canada which, come to think of it, sounds a lot like my current job description!

So I’m indebted in more ways than one!

I used to end those speeches with an old song from Newfoundland and Labrador, which I still think illustrates an essential truth about Canada. I won’t inflict the whole song and dance on you, but the chorus went like this:

When I first came to this land
I was not a wealthy man
But the land was sweet and good
And I did what I could.

The land was sweet and good / And I did what I could. These lines could be applied equally to the people who’ve lived in and around North Bay, beginning with First Nations peoples right up to the present day.

We’re all very fortunate to live in this “sweet and good” country, which is why it’s so important that we’re all able to say “I did what I could” when the day is done.

As North Bay citizens who are dedicated to serving others, you know this instinctively.

I’d like to talk briefly today about your service to this city, and I want to do so in the context of 2017, the 150th anniversary of Canada, because plans are underway across the country to celebrate this milestone.

And if I can ask you to give one sesquicentennial birthday present to Canada, it’s this:

Take a fresh look at your unique strengths and assets as a community, and imagine innovative ways to harness them.

As you know, North Bay has some remarkable strengths, several of which I’ve seen while touring the city today.

This morning, I visited 22 Wing North Bay, the Canadian Air Defence Sector.

Later, while Sharon visited the North Bay Regional Health Centre and One Kids Place, I attended a discussion on Aboriginal education at Nipissing University.

In the afternoon, we visited Héritage Public School to learn about North Bay’s Francophone community, and later I met with regional mayors and chiefs while Sharon visited the North Bay Indian Friendship Centre.

So here are my top three takeaways after spending one day in North Bay:

1. This city is diverse, and it is full of caring, energetic people who want to make a difference.

2. This city is smart and home to some cutting-edge institutions and initiatives in health, education and the military.

3. This city is unique in its history, its geography and its people, and it has something unique to offer Canada.

Sometimes, taking a fresh look at our surroundings can help us locate untapped reservoirs of creativity. Time and again in my life, I’ve seen this process in action.

I’ve seen it in Waterloo, where the presence of universities, colleges and a strong co-op program gave birth to the city’s high-tech sector.

I’ve seen it in Quebec’s Chaudière-Appalaches Region, where an innovative, entrepreneurial spirit paired with unique natural resources have made it a global leader in the production of maple syrup.

I’ve also seen it down the Trans-Canada Highway in Sudbury with SNOLAB, the renowned physics lab located two kilometres down at the bottom of a nickel mine!

Already, North Bay is innovating and harnessing strengths in unique ways.

But I ask: are there partnerships you haven’t yet explored?

Projects undreamed of?

Creativity waiting in the wings?

I’m reminded of a story I once heard about Tom Thomson, who did a lot of his painting not far from here in Algonquin Park.

Today, Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven are internationally celebrated, but when they first exhibited in England, their work was not well-received.

The setting was an elite London art gallery.

The paintings were vigorously panned by London’s leading art critic.

He cited one Tom Thomson work in particular, an iconic painting of a lonely pine tree growing in rock and leaning precariously. The critic suggested that this painting had none of the pastoral gentleness, the soft, soothing colours or sense of grace of a Turner or a Constable, the great English landscape painters. He described Thomson’s work as cruel, surreal and grotesque.

In response, a less noted but more perceptive critic who had seen the Canadian landscape first-hand and knew its character, said: that is just the point.

This lonely pine tree emerged from granite, he continued.

It has had to withstand a severe temperature range from intense summer heat to winter ice.

It has grown and thrived in gale force winds.

It is tough, creative and resilient.

That’s the nature of Canada, the critic said, and this painting is the essence of the Canadian character.

As you know, most critics eventually came around to the idea that Tom Thomson was a genius! Like the pine tree he painted, he had the qualities of toughness, creativity and resiliency to do something truly bold and new.

When I think of the towns and cities located across this vast country, I sometimes think of that pine tree, and all the challenges it faces, and all the creativity and resilience it shows.

I think of Canada itself.

So let me ask you to take a fresh look at this city and see it anew, as if for the first time.

Thank you.