On the 40th anniversary of my own graduation
Address to Streetsville Secondary, 2009

Divine Providence sometimes offers up a precious gift that no riches could ever buy. Forty years ago, in October of 1969, I received my secondary school diploma. On the 40th anniversary of my own graduation, I spoke to the graduating class of Streetsville Secondary School on their convocation. I had scarcely thought of my own high school experiences since I left, but this autumn, I had looked on the web, and had remembered where all the classrooms were in a school that no longer exists. For those who had asked, I had had a very long day, starting just after six in the morning without letup, and ten minutes or so before I was to speak, while in the platform party on stage, I had not thought of what to say. I scribbled a few notes on the back of my briefing papers, and I have to say I enjoyed making this speech. I re-created those remarks here, from my original notes. I am very flattered by those who told me they enjoyed them.

Distinguished guests; faculty and staff; parents, family and friends; and men and women of the hour, our graduates…

This is a very special day for you. And if I can be permitted a personal observation, it is a very special day for me as well. Exactly 40 years ago, on this October evening in the year 1969, I sat where you sit. I heard the speeches, I shared the experience with my friends, and like you will, I received my secondary school diploma.

We could not have foreseen then, just after the summer of the first moon landing and the music of Woodstock, how the world would unfold, and how we would help shape it.

It was unfathomable to us in 1969 that, after the first two humans left the pull of our planet's gravity to walk on the moon, and after we had learned how to reach the moon, we would simply stop stop going. We could not have imagined how, in our working lives, we would harness information technology and enable our world to come together in ways we could never have imagined when we sat waiting for our diplomas.

In your working lives, we will almost certainly still be driving on roads in land vehicles we would recognize today as a car. I am not sure what will power it, but I know you will figure it out. In 1969, we looked at the muscle cars of the day as our ideal vehicle. As you look back on those cars, you'd likely say, "What a piece of junk! And you paid good money for this?"

I will wager that you will solve the defining issue of this era in your working lives, and that is climate change. You will solve it not just because you are our best hope, but because you are our only hope.

I personally hope that one of you here will escape the earth's gravitational pull, and look back at the blue oasis we call home, and have the adventure of your life. I hope you will return home safely to tell the tale.

Some things will stay the same between the time I graduated and the time you look back to today as I look back to that era:

Many, if not most of you, will likely live to see age 100. Today, a new drug can cost a billion dollars to develop. In the years to come, we can expect advances in biotechnology and fields like nanotechnology to not merely extend our lives, but to enhance the quality of your lives.

Streetsville Secondary will also be here as you progress through your careers, though the buildings and facilities you knew will certainly change with the times.

Today, you graduate. Today you are the pride and joy of everyone in this room, and everyone in our community. Congratulations from the Province of Ontario. We share with everyone here an intense pride in you and all that you will do in the days and years ahead. You are our pride and joy, the very best we have.

Welcome to the future.

Thank you.

Date posted: Friday, October 16, 2009