Canadians should embrace “the bold path of compassion, inclusion, innovation and excellence,” Governor General David Johnston said in his New Year’s message released on Tuesday.
“Let’s continue to demonstrate to the world what a smart and caring nation can look like in the 21stcentury,” said the Queen’s representative in Canada.
“Let’s continue to build the Canada we want our children to live in, and our children’s children!”
One way we do that is through innovation, improving the way Canadians do things socially, economically and technologically, said the Governor General.
Johnston said he is looking forward to presenting the first-ever Governor General’s Innovation Awards to recognize excellence in innovation in 2016.
“In a world of rapid and profound change, we must continually adapt and improve, and part of doing that successfully means fostering a culture of innovation and celebrating those who lead the way,” Johnston said.
Looking back at 2015, the Governor General mentioned several events that marked Canada.
“It was the Year of Sport, and Canadians hosted two major international sporting events: the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, and the FIFA Women’s World Cup,” said Johnston, a star athlete in his youth who was twice selected for the All-American hockey team and was named to Harvard’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
As former president of the University of Waterloo, Johnston also made a special mention of Arthur McDonald’s Nobel Prize in Physics.
And finally, Johnston who has personally welcomed Syrian refugees arriving in Canada thanked Canadians for their “generosity to these newest members of our Canadian family.”
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