Ottawa, Ontario, Friday, June 5, 20155

I’m so pleased to join you here to bring to a close the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference.

After two solid weeks of travelling across Canada, meeting with so many people and working together alongside your colleagues, you are no doubt looking forward to one thing above all else: going home.

Before you do, though, let me say thank you for taking the time away from your lives and work and families to embark on this incredible journey.

George Bernard Shaw once said: “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”

I’ve seen more than two ideas exchanged here these past couple of days.

Indeed, your presentations were all learning opportunities, and not just for you.

As someone who still loves to learn, I’m delighted at all the lessons you’ve given me!

When we first met, I spoke about your diversity, how you represent a range of backgrounds and experiences. Judging by all that you’ve done these past two weeks, you’ve bridged any differences you may have had. By doing so, you’ve opened yourselves up to new ideas and came together to discuss issues of innovation and leadership.

You’ve challenged preconceived notions and discovered what makes a good leader.

Now you have a great task ahead of you because, believe it or not, that was the easy part. The hard part is yet to come: applying what you’ve learned here to the wider world.

When you go home, I hope that you’ll share your stories about the people you met. That you’ll see new opportunities for change. That you’ll go back not to issues, but with solutions. That you’ll see how we can better innovate and collaborate in our communities and our workplace.

I hope that you’ll leave with the realization, or perhaps with the confirmation, that there’s so much we need to know about our world and about ourselves. 

This is particularly important as we begin to approach the two-year countdown to this country’s 150th birthday. Leadership needs to be bold and it needs to be forward thinking.

So after all the questions you’ve pondered over the past two weeks, I’ll leave you with one more: how will you use what you’ve learned here to create a stronger, smarter, more caring nation at 150 and beyond?

I appreciate your participation and your dedication to this conference. Let me leave you with my words from St. John’s:

Seize the moment.

Make a difference.

This is your time.

Thank you.