Fast in the 6 | Diversity.Unity.Prosperity.

Each year Lisa and I are grateful for the support and opportunity we receive from every corner to have this event - government, labour, and corporate Canada but most importantly from you all! An event where we can all express our love of our city and passion for our broader community and just come together to share a meal.

In many ways, sharing this meal and experience is a way to counteract a world that has become a little more impersonal, where we often text and tweet when maybe we should talk.

That distance can create distrust.

That distrust can create dislike as space opens for others to fill those voids with self-serving or manipulative narratives because we lose that direct connection with one another.

But there is nothing more direct than sharing a meal with one another.

Sharing something with someone is a real experience and it does not lie to you. There is no intervenor to try and convince you otherwise. Direct connection is the best way to know your neighbor and resist narratives that tear our community apart rather than bring us together no matter what anyone on Twitter has to say.

Sharing reinforces Connection and Connection nurtures Compassion and Compassion creates Community.

When we lose our Compassion, we lose our Community.

And in this connected and interdependent 21st Century economy, it’s our collective Community and what we will all do together that will determine our shared future prosperity.

And ensuring the next generation is set to be more prosperous, within an even stronger and more cohesive union, is our collective greatest responsibility. Previous generations did that for us and that is the Canadian Way.

And that is why Lisa and I want to do this event every year but most importantly, that belief in our special Canadian Way, is why all of you have joined us today.

God Bless Toronto. God Bless Canada. Enjoy.  

Fast in the 6.Diversity.Unity.Prosperity. - Community.