In addition to hosting the Distinguished Canadian Leadership Awards recently in Toronto, I had the honour of congratulating the winners of the video contest Faites-vous partie de la meilleure classe d'immersion à Toronto? held on November 27. That evening, the University of Ottawa awarded $200,000 worth of scholarships to contest winners and finalists. I invite you to view photos (external site) of the event and the winning videos for 2009. You can also read the blog (external site) comments of an immersion teacher. Congratulations to all who made the evening a grand success and to all the participants for whom the French language is so important.

Every year, we hold a fabulous dinner to celebrate excellence in Canadian leadership and to honour an alumnus who has achieved extraordinary things. The dinner has been held in Ottawa every year until this year, when we took it to Toronto for the first time. It was held at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Four hundred guests enjoyed the evening as we honoured alumna Lisa LaFlamme (of CTV News) as well as the CBC's Rick Mercer, astronaut Julie Payette and singer Michael Burgess. Each of the honourees spoke and Michael sang, Rick joked, Lisa reminisced and Julie inspired. What a great evening!

Photos: MF Photography

We lost an amazing man last week. Jean-Robert Gauthier died at 80, after devoting his life to the service of his city, his community and his country. Jean-Robert was already a legend when I met him as a fellow member of the Government caucus on Parliament Hill in 1993. He served for many years as the Member of Parliament for Vanier before taking a seat in the Senate. Through all of his work, his writing and his speaking, his central theme was bilingualism and minority language rights for the Franco-Ontarian population.

A staunch advocate for his community, he reminded us always of the need to respect French language rights, to promote bilingualism, and to ensure a place in every aspect of our society for Franco-Ontarian culture, traditions and perspectives. Jean-Robert bravely battled health issues in recent years, but nothing—not illness, not disability and not political resistance - could dim or dampen his fiery zeal for the rights of the Franco-Ontarian community. They may have been the object of his ceaseless efforts, but we are all the beneficiaries of his broad and inclusive vision. Rest in peace, J-R.