Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Monday, June 16, 2014

Sharon and I are so pleased to be here in Charlottetown for the reopening of this impressive theatre. Today is truly a good day for the Confederation Centre of the Arts, and for all of Canada.

In fact, we have several reasons to celebrate. Not only is the curtain being raised on this renewed and improved performance space, but 2014 marks the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference, at which the Fathers of Confederation made the historic breakthrough that paved the way for the birth of our country.

Isn’t it incredible to think that it all took place, right here in Charlottetown, a century-and-a-half ago?!

I will address three themes in my remarks today, and then I will take a seat so we can get on with the celebration. As my grandmother used to say: Stand up to be seen, speak up to be heard and sit down to be appreciated!

First, I will highlight the importance of the Confederation Centre of the Arts to Canada, and how it helps Canadians to imagine and to think big.

Second, I will briefly revisit the story of Confederation and the Charlottetown Conference, and talk about the remarkable ambition and collaborative spirit that gave rise to this country.

Third, I will look ahead, to Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, and explore this country’s great potential for excellence.

This building has such historic significance for our country, as it is Canada’s only memorial to the Fathers of Confederation. Her Majesty The Queen was here for the official opening 50 years ago, along with my predecessor, Georges Vanier.

Another of my predecessors, Vincent Massey, was here that same year to officially open the art gallery. And 25 years ago, Jeanne Sauvé unveiled the plaque in Memorial Hall marking this centre’s silver anniversary.

They were all were proud builders of Canada and passionate supporters of the arts, and I am certain that they would be delighted with how this centre has evolved in the intervening years.

It has been called the jewel in Prince Edward Island’s crown, and with good reason: it showcases the very best in Canadian arts, ideas and heritage.

It is very fitting that we have chosen to continue our celebration of the birth of Canada right here at the Confederation Centre of the Arts.

Why? Because the country we now call Canada was, first and foremost, an act of the imagination, one in which elected representatives from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the Province of Canada came together to explore a bold idea: for diverse peoples to work together in a spirit of mutual respect, tolerance and co-operation.

Let me rephrase that using the present tense, because the work of building and improving our federation will never be done: Canada is, in essence, an act of the imagination.

This centre is important to Canada because the arts and the imagination play central roles in our lives, as individuals and as a nation.

Northrop Frye, one of Canada’s greatest literary critics, noted that each of us participates in society mainly through our imaginations—and this is particularly true in a country as vast and as diverse as our own.

Canadian artists have been helping us to imagine ourselves and one another for generations, which is why it is so appropriate that we have gathered here to commemorate the Charlottetown Conference of 1864.

It is apt for another reason, too.

The arts—and the performing arts in particular—are, by nature, collaborative, drawing on diverse talents in pursuit of a common goal. We are inspired by their stories and songs, naturally, but there is also so much we can learn from those who transform a group of individual talents into a spectacle of dance, of theatre or of music.

When the Fathers of Confederation gathered at Province House, they also created something that was so much more than the sum of its parts.

I find it so inspiring to read accounts of those meetings, written by the people who were there. They give the impression that the serious business of nation-building was mixed with a remarkable camaraderie and sense of joie-de-vivre.

Here’s an excerpt from George Brown, describing the happy and productive atmosphere that prevailed during the Charlottetown Conference:

“Cartier and I made eloquent speeches—of course—and whether as the result of our eloquence or of the goodness of our champagne, the ice became completely broken, the tongues of the delegates wagged merrily, and the banns of matrimony between all the Provinces of BNA having been formally proclaimed and all manner of persons duly warned their [sic] and then to speak or forever after to hold their tongues—no man appeared to forbid the banns and the union was thereupon formally completed and proclaimed!”

Of course, it wasn’t all such fun and games! Three years of negotiations and hard work remained before Canadian Confederation and our unique system of constitutional monarchy became a reality.

My point is that the Fathers of Confederation worked together in the spirit of collaboration that has always been the hallmark of Canada at its best.

I am also struck by the sheer ambition and pragmatism of those early Canadians.

As historian Richard Gwyn points out in his biography of John A. Macdonald, our first prime minister understood that Confederation was, above all, a means to an end. That end was an independent North American nation with enough “will and nerve” to survive alongside the great powers of Britain and the United States.

They had no choice but to create an ambitious country. That’s why the constitution included a pledge to start work on a trans-Canada railway within six months of Confederation and, ultimately, to extend our borders all the way to the Pacific.

The story of the Charlottetown Conference reminds us that Confederation was achieved in order to secure our future well-being, rather than for reasons of short-term gain. It was a shared effort—the result of many years of planning, negotiation and compromise.

To quote the editors of Canada’s Founding Debates: “Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Confederation doesn’t happen in a year!” There was a great deal of debate and deliberation in the colonial parliaments of the day and, perhaps more importantly, in the homes and gathering places of ordinary people.

What lessons can we draw from this history, as we celebrate 1864 and look ahead to 2017, Canada’s 150th birthday?

Let me respond by borrowing a phrase from Thomas Symons, a good friend of mine whom I have long greatly admired and who has devoted so much of his life to studying Canada. Tom is also a very good friend of PEI, having adopted the island as his second home over 50 years ago. He has been instrumental in so many good things that have happened here, including the development of the Confederation Centre of the Arts.  

It was Mr. Symons who, more than four decades ago, exhorted us “to know ourselves” as a nation through a greater understanding and appreciation of Canadian studies. It was therefore a great honour to be invited to deliver the Symons Lecture on the State of Confederation in this very auditorium in November 2010, shortly after my installation as governor general.

To know ourselves. It is still our ultimate goal, one that we are closer to achieving, thanks to the efforts made by all those who support and enliven the Confederation Centre of the Arts.

I would like to build upon Mr. Symons’ exhortation, and call on all Canadians to go further as we approach 2017; let us exceed ourselves in our efforts to build a smarter, more caring Canada.

Why must we exceed ourselves and strive to build an even better country on an already strong foundation?

We must do so because, for all that has changed in the 150 years since the Charlottetown Conference, at least one important fact remains constant: we again choose to be an ambitious country.   

Once again, Canadians must be bold, seek new horizons and work together. Only this time, our challenge is to build a smarter, more caring nation in a rapidly changing and profoundly global context.

Let me quote a recent speech by Kevin Lynch, the former Clerk of the Privy Council and current Vice-Chair of BMO Financial Group, in which he spoke of the reasons to guard against complacency.

“Our world is in the midst of a profound transformation,” he said. “The information revolution is changing everything, but we seem more transfixed by each new device and less fixated on how this revolution is transforming, before our eyes, how we do business, do government, do health, do education, indeed do everything. The demographics of aging is inexorable in western societies, but we are slow, even hesitant, to draw out its implications for health care costs, immigration, education and housing to name a few. Globalization has created an immense new marketplace, but it has unleashed competition on a scale and of a sort that we have yet to get our minds around in the west.”

We are so fortunate to live in a country that, despite challenges, is the envy of the world in so many ways. But our future well-being depends on our ability to embrace change and achieve excellence across our society.

Throughout my mandate, Sharon and I have focused our efforts on several key priorities that we view as essential to the Canada of which we dream: fostering learning and innovation; encouraging volunteerism and philanthropy; and supporting families and children.

Canadians have achieved wonderful successes in each of these spheres, but Canada’s next 150 years will not resemble those of the past.

As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference and prepare for Canada’s sesquicentennial in 2017, let each of us ask ourselves: what can I do to build a smarter, more caring nation?

Can we exceed ourselves while embracing change and reinventing Canada, holding on to and strengthening the values and ideals that are most dear to us?  

Let that be our goal as learners and innovators, as volunteers and philanthropists, as members of healthy and strong families, and of smart and caring communities.

Let excellence be our goal for Canada in 2017, for reasons just as practical as those behind Confederation.

Let us exceed ourselves because we can, and because we must.

And let us start here, in Charlottetown, where this great experiment called Canada began.

Happy anniversary, Charlottetown!

And happy anniversary, Canada!