Christmas Luncheon

MR. KARN:

Your Honour, Reverend Sir, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen: On behalf of the Directors and members of The Empire Club of Canada and their guests–900 in all–it is a great privilege to extend to Your Honour and Mr. McGibbon a very cordial and warm welcome to our annual Christmas party.

We welcome you, Dr. Pauline McGibbon, not only as the distinguished and charming representative of our Queen in the Province of Ontario, but also as the Honorary Vice-President of our club. You have been more than generous in gracing several of our meetings this year, and it is indeed an honour to present you as a member of the Empire Club family and to ask you to bring greetings on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

HER HONOUR, THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR:

Thank you for asking the representative in Ontario of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth to again be with you at this Christmas luncheon.

In this capacity, at this joyous time of the year, I wish to bring you greetings and best wishes for the coming year. There is much that each one of us can do to make 1977 a better year than the one before.

My husband and I are grateful to the executive of The Empire Club of Canada that each year we are given this opportunity to meet friends and exchange greetings.

From both of us to all of you, Merry Christmas.

MR. KARN:

In appreciation of her gracious support and as an expression of our affection for her, I would ask Mr. Allan Leal to make a presentation of flowers to Her Honour, the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. (Presentation of bouquet of roses.)

MR. KARN:

At this time, ladies and gentlemen, I want to remind our Immediate Past President, Mr. H. Allan Leal, Q.C., LL.M., LL.D., who is learned in the law and wise in the ways of administration, how much we appreciated his capable leadership during this past year.

His appearance at this lectern represented merely the tip of the iceberg in proportion to the total time and effort that he devoted to our affairs during his term of office.

Under his presidency, The Empire Club of Canada experienced one of its most successful years. Since the greatest of accolades are frequently couched in the fewest of words, may I present to H. Allan Leal, Q.C., LL.M., LL.D., on behalf of the Directors and members, an illuminated scroll bearing the signature of His Excellency, the Right Honourable Jules Uger, C.C., C.M.M., C.D., Governor General of Canada and Honorary President of our club, which states simply “The Empire Club of Canada acknowledges with grateful thanks the services of H. Allan Leal, Q.C., LL.M., LL.D., as President during the year 1975/76.”

I now ask Mr. Peter Hermant, our First Vice-President, to present to Mrs. Leal a slight token of our appreciation for her constant support of Allan while he worked long hours on our behalf. (Presentation of bouquet of roses to Mrs. Leal.)

MR. LEAL:

Mr. Chairman, Your Honour, My Lord Chief Justice, distinguished head table guests, ladies and gentlemen: I know that my wife would wish me to express her thanks for the presentation. One of my more irreverent colleagues in this club last year remarked to me that she wrote an acceptable speech. I would simply add that any she did not write, she inspired, and so is entirely worthy on all counts.

As for myself, I thank you most sincerely for this handsome scroll. I accept it not so much as a memento of things done, but rather as a sobering admonition of things yet to be done.

When I was at The Hague in October last, attending an international conference, one of the senior delegates of a major European nation said to me that Canada must be a fine country because Canadians appear to be such a happy lot. There is surely much to be recouped if we are to be worthy of that reputation.

Mr. Chairman, with your indulgence, I would say that I think of ourselves as we could be a year from this day, with our prolixities docked; our ideologies adjusted; our bitterness purged; prejudices shorn away; doubts cast aside; hopes rekindled; humour enlivened; faith restored; and our honour unblemished, so that we may become, once again, a happy united people.

Because the statesmen who made us a nation are no longer with us, we must ourselves be the statesmen of these times and the future generations that lie ahead.

There is much that we can and must do, individually and collectively, both within this honourable club and outside it, in our thoughts and in our actions to maintain this beloved country. Surely I need not apologize nor feel embarrassed in The Empire Club of Canada at this juncture to say that, personally, I would welcome a national referendum because I have no doubts as to the outcome of it, and it would quite simply ask “Who among you is for Canada?”

Mr. Chairman, my wife joins with me in wishing all of you those things to which I have alluded, and more; and we extend to you all our fondest and best wishes for this Christmas season and throughout the coming year. Thank you very much.

MR. KARN:

We now come to another most pleasant moment in our program -the Christmas music to be provided by the Havergal College Choir under the direction of Elizabeth Muir, and accompanied by Anita Brown.

Each year many Havergal students audition for the school choir but only a few are chosen. In 1974, the choir toured Britain for a second time and this past spring had a most successful exchange with Dana College in Boston, singing also at Groton College. Although they have four engagements during these five days, they willingly agreed to honour The Empire Club of Canada.

At their request, would the audience please withhold your expression of appreciation until they have completed their program.

A program of Christmas music was presented by the Havergal College Choir.

MR. KARN:

Our deepest gratitude to you, Mrs. Muir, to Miss Brown and to every member of the choir. Truly a delightful presentation.

I would now like to thank all those whose contributions have made our meetings run so smoothly throughout the year. I ask your recognition in particular for Mr. Stanley St. John, our pianist, Pipe Major Ross Stewart, the staff of the Royal York Hotel, the staff of The Empire Club of Canada, Mr. George Stafford and his committee, and the other 36 Directors and their secretaries. Thank you all very much.

In closing, may I wish you one and all a very Merry Christmas.

Please come back in the new year as we begin our next season on Thursday, January 6 in the Concert Hall with Mr. Rowland Frazee, Executive Vice-President and Chief General Manager of the Royal Bank of Canada, who will be speaking to us as President of the Canadian Bankers’ Association.

Now as we think about the many blessings of Canada and our responsibilities and tasks on behalf of our country in the sensitive years ahead, would you kindly rise and join with the Havergal College Choir in singing one verse of our National Anthem, and then remain in your places until the Vice-Regal party has retired from the room.

The fifty girls of the Havergal College Choir, carrying their lighted candles, formed a Guard of Honour as the Vice-Regal party departed from the Canadian Room.