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Canadian Club Toronto, formerly known as The Canadian Club of Toronto, is a non-profit speakers' forum in Toronto, Ontario. [1] It meets several times a month to hear speeches given by invited guests from diverse fields, including politics, law, business, science, media and the arts.
The Canadian Club of Toronto was founded in 1897 to encourage interest in Canadian public affairs. [2] It subsequently developed a role as an opinion-formation vehicle for some of Toronto's most prominent citizens.
Speeches were initially given in the evening, but starting in 1902, the club moved to its present lunchtime format. [3] In 1903, several members of the Canadian Club, concerned that the club was not sufficiently opposed to the wave of anti-British sentiment being expressed in the wake of the Alaskan Boundary Tribunal decision, left the Canadian Club to found the more pro-British Empire Club of Canada. [3]
In the days before radio and television, the club provided a chance for influential Torontonians to have contact with Canadian and international leaders in a variety of fields. Today, the club hosts events in a number of different formats, but most events use the traditional luncheon style. [4]
Speakers that addressed the club since 2000 have included Paul Martin, [5] Stephen Harper, [6] Vladimir Putin, [7] Justin Trudeau, [8] Paul Bremer, [9] Bob Rae, [10] Michael Dell, [11] Jean Charest, [12] John de Chastelain, [13] Hillary Clinton, [14] Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, [15] Margaret Atwood, [16] Karen Kain, [17] The Right Honourable David Johnston, [18] David Frum, [19] Pamela Wallin, [20] David Suzuki, [21] Beverley McLachlin, [22] Dalton McGuinty, [23] Belinda Stronach, [24] David Dodge, [25] Pinball Clemons, [26] Galen Weston Jr., [27] Louise Arbour, [28] Adrienne Clarkson, [29] Donovan Bailey, [30] Mark Carney [31] and Jack Layton. [32]
David Takayoshi Suzuki is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster, and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a PhD in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department at the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001. Since the mid-1970s, Suzuki has been known for his television and radio series, documentaries and books about nature and the environment. He is best known as host and narrator of the popular and long-running CBC Television science program The Nature of Things, seen in over 40 countries. He is also well known for criticizing governments for their lack of action to protect the environment.
David Jeffrey Frum is a Canadian-American political commentator and a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. He is currently a senior editor at The Atlantic as well as an MSNBC contributor. In 2003, Frum authored the first book about Bush's presidency written by a former member of the administration. He has taken credit for the famous phrase "axis of evil" in Bush's 2002 State of the Union address.
The Toronto Argonauts are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1873, the team is the oldest existing professional sports team in North America still using its original name, as well as the oldest-surviving team in both the modern-day CFL and East Division. The team's origins date back to a modified version of rugby football that emerged in North America in the latter half of the 19th century. The Argonauts played their home games at Rogers Centre from 1989 until 2016, when the team moved to BMO Field, the fifth stadium site to host the team.
Belinda Caroline Stronach is a Canadian businesswoman and philanthropist, and was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2008. Originally elected as a Conservative, she later crossed the floor to join the Liberals. From May 17, 2005, to February 6, 2006, Stronach was the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal in the government of Paul Martin. After leaving politics, she served as the executive vice-chairman of Magna International, Canada's largest automotive parts manufacturer, until December 31, 2010.
Beverley Marian McLachlin is a Canadian jurist and author who served as the 17th chief justice of Canada from 2000 to 2017. She is the longest-serving chief justice in Canadian history and the first woman to hold the position.
The Empire Club of Canada is a Canadian speakers' forum. Established in 1903, the Empire Club has provided a forum for many thousands of different speakers.
The fuddle duddle incident in Canadian political history occurred on February 16, 1971, when Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau was alleged to have spoken or at least mouthed unparliamentary language in the House of Commons, causing a minor scandal. Trudeau mentioned the words "fuddle duddle" in an ambiguous answer to questions about what he may or may not have said in Parliament.
Michael Lutrell "Pinball" Clemons is an American-Canadian sports executive and former running back and return specialist who serves as general manager for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is considered by many to be one of the greatest and most famous Argonauts players of all time, as well as one of the most popular professional athletes in the history of Toronto.
Pamela Wallin is a Canadian senator, former television journalist, and diplomat. She was appointed to the senate on January 2, 2009, where she initially sat as a Conservative.
Linda Frum is a Canadian author and journalist, and was a Conservative member of the Senate of Canada from 2009 until 2021. She announced her retirement from the Senate effective August 27, 2021 to devote more time to other pursuits such as her role as chair of the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto.
Canada and Ireland enjoy friendly relations, the importance of which centres on the history of Irish migration to Canada and the two countries' shared history as parts of the British Empire. Approximately 4.5 million Canadians claimed to have Irish ancestors. Both nations are mutual members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations and the World Trade Organization.
The 1990 Toronto Argonauts finished in second place in the East Division with a 10–8 record. They appeared in the Eastern Final. After being the CFL's passing leader in 1989 Matt Dunigan was in another blockbuster six-for-one player trade that sent him to the Argonauts. During Dunigan's first season with the Argonauts, he helped guide the second most prolific scoring offense in the history of the Canadian Football League to 689 points or 38.3 points per contest.
The F. B. Watts Memorial Lectures, commonly known as the Watts Lectures, is a series of public lectures held at the University of Toronto Scarborough several times annually. It was established in 1970 and named after Fred Watts, a former professor of geography at the University of Toronto and founding member of the University of Toronto Scarborough, initially known as Scarborough College, who died a year before the inception of the lecture series. The series was inaugurated by Lester B. Pearson, former Prime Minister of Canada.
The Munk Debates are a semi-annual series of debates on major policy issues held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are run by the Aurea Foundation, a charitable foundation set up by Peter Munk, founder of Barrick Gold, and his wife Melanie Munk. The debate series was founded in 2008 by Munk and Rudyard Griffiths, who moderates most of the debates.
Granite Real Estate Investment Trust is a Canadian-based REIT engaged in the acquisition, development, ownership and management of industrial, warehouse and logistics properties in North America and Europe. It was originally composed principally of former holdings of Magna International.
Howard Sokolowski, is a property developer, philanthropist and sport business owner from Toronto. He is the husband of Linda Frum and was the former co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts with David Cynamon from 2003 to 2010. His parents, Henry and Eva Sokolowski, were Holocaust survivors from Poland.
Marc Miller is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Sœurs in the House of Commons in the 2015 election. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, he currently serves as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship in the Federal Cabinet following the swearing in of a new cabinet on July 26, 2023. He previously served as the Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations, starting on October 26, 2021.
The Gordon Sinclair Award is a Canadian journalism award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for excellence in broadcast journalism. Originally presented as part of the ACTRA Awards, it was transferred to the new Gemini Awards in 1986. During the ACTRA era, the award was open to both radio and television journalists; when it was taken over by the Academy, it became a television-only award.
The House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform (ERRE) (French: Comité spécial sur la réforme électorale) was a special committee of the House of Commons of Canada established in 2016 during the 42nd Canadian Parliament to investigate reforms to the Canadian electoral system. The formation of "an all-party Parliamentary committee to review... [electoral] reforms" was an election promise by Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau in the 2015 federal election. After the Liberals won a majority in the election, and Trudeau became Prime Minister of Canada, he indicated the formation of a special committee was a priority in his mandate letter for Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef. Shortly after the committee submitted its report to Parliament on December 1, 2016, Monsef was transferred to the position of the Minister of Status of Women and Karina Gould took over the electoral reform file. Shortly after taking her position, Gould announced that the government would no longer be pursuing reform of the electoral system, stating "It has become evident that the broad support needed among Canadians for a change of this magnitude does not exist."
"Speaking Moistly" is a remix song of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau's voice edited by Brock Tyler, known on YouTube as anonymotif. It is based on Trudeau's words from a press conference regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. The quote "speaking moistly" refers to respiratory droplets that are spit out when one speaks, which can potentially spread COVID-19.