Waterloo

08 April 2008

Waterloo -- I had a fantastic visit to the Waterloo Region of Ontario on Tuesday, April 8, 2008. It’s a region that I’ve heard an awful lot about over the years and I was glad to finally have an opportunity to see it for myself and meet so many of the region’s leaders.

- Read the Waterloo Speech
- Listen to the Waterloo Speech
- Watch the Slideshow

We began the day with a very informative roundtable with local business leaders at the beautiful Langdon Hall in Cambridge. John Doherty, the Chair of Canada’s Technology Triangle, assembled a broad group of business leaders and we had a good discussion about some of the issues they are facing. We spent some time talking about commerce, trade, and the impact that the border has on their operations.

Ambassador Wilkins delvers keynote at Rotary Club lunch (Photo by Thomas Adamski for Canada's Technology Triangle).

I then went to the Waterloo Inn where my old friend Neil Aitchison gathered together the five Rotary Clubs in the region. About 400 people heard my speech, Canada and the U.S. – Politics, Policies and Achieving Democracy and Stability in an Unstable World. It was a great chance to meet a lot of folks and we had a very good conversation about a variety of topics. At the conclusion of the program, Moira Taylor, President of the Kitchener-Westmount Rotary Club and President of St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, gave the formal thank you and announced that the proceeds of the lunch would go to Rotary International’s Polio Plus, helping to advance the international effort to eradicate polio. Many of the costs of the event were sponsored, and thanks to a challenge grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the contribution to help eliminate polio will be doubled.

After the lunch, I spoke to several members of the local media, including a brief chat with Daiene Vernile from CTV for the ProvinceWide show.

Ambassador Wilkins delvers keynote at Rotary Club lunch (Photo by Thomas Adamski for Canada's Technology Triangle).

Next stop was a visit to Research in Motion (RIM), the home of the BlackBerry. They have done an amazing job of capitalizing on the brain power of the region and producing a device that has become such a critical part of so many organizations, including my own.

To learn more about the region’s higher education institutions, Dr. John English hosted a discussion with the area’s university presidents at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. The Waterloo region has really figured out what it takes to drive economic growth by capitalizing on the resources of higher education.

Last stop of the day was the Transylvania Club, where the Ambassador Team of Canada’s Technology Triangle assembled a group of business and political leaders for an Oktoberfest in April celebration. Peter Miller bravely invited me to join Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Conductor Edwin Outwater to tap the keg. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time with the mayors of the region.