March 14th, 2008 - Sutton Hotel, Edmonton, Alberta

Good evening, nice to see you all here tonight !

Before I get into this I would like to say that Alexander Rutherford and Henry Marshall Tory would be very pleased to see you!

Shortly after Alberta became a province in 1905 Premier Alexander Rutherford in deference to the confidence the electorate placed in him -- and his often expressed hope that they not have cause to regret it -- proceeded to introduce legislation founding a university in the first sitting of 1906.

Clearly the Rutherford government considered post secondary education a **mission critical** factor!

Since the OPENING OF THE U of A's DOORS in 1908 with a handful of students and four professors we now, in 2008 our centenary, have over 30000 students and 3000 professors with a global ranking in the middle of the top 100 of over 3000 universities globally!

The U of A plays an impressive role on the world stage with distinguished graduates such as Nobel Laureate Richard E. Taylor, Oxford's Regius Chair of Medicine John Bell and Dean of Harvard Medical School Joseph B. Martin.

Further the university has proven to be a strong magnet, keeping our youth here, in Alberta, while developing their talents, helping to build the provincial economy, and giving back to society.

As we enter this new century post secondary education is becoming more critical than ever to regional competitiveness, with globalization proffering the possibility of rapid investment, as you know, on the basis of regional advantage.

With inexpensive labour on offer throughout the developing world we will compete on the basis of rapid development of intellectual property, for which not only an exemplary educational experience and appropriate innovation but also **deep business insight** are necessary.

By 2020 the global pharmaceuticals market, for example, is predicted to exceed 1.3 trillion dollars, aerospace over 4 trillion and energy over 8 trillion.

With the **right approach** we will more than double Alberta's Gross Domestic Product by 2020, while diversifying and creating thousands of new interesting careers for upcoming graduates.

In other words you will not have to go to Silicon Valley to find something exciting to do!