View photos from the
122nd Annual Dinner.
View the video of Frank
McKenna's speech.
Download the full text of Mr.
McKenna's remarks.
City “Needs its Swagger Back”
Frank McKenna delivers rousing keynote at Toronto Board of
Trade’s 122nd Annual Dinner
|
Sometimes, you need “the perspective of an outsider”, as
Frank McKenna described himself, to appreciate what we have in
Toronto.
In his keynote at the Toronto Board of Trade’s 122nd Annual
Dinner on Monday, January 25th, McKenna heaped praise on his adopted
city, saying Toronto “needs to get its swagger back”.
Following addresses earlier in the night from other guests –
including federal Transport Minister John Baird, Ontario Premier Dalton
McGuinty and Toronto Mayor David Miller – McKenna took the
stage.
|
Frank McKenna, Deputy Chair, TD Bank Financial Group
|
Only relatively recently has he made his home in Toronto.
McKenna was named Deputy Chairman of TD Bank Financial Group in 2006;
among his former posts are Premier of New Brunswick, and Canadian
Ambassador to the U.S.
He shared a long list of everything that Toronto has going for it,
from world-class cultural attractions, to the city’s appeal to
immigrants, to its status as North America’s fastest-growing
financial centre. To someone from New Brunswick who had to market
the Tidal Bore – “aptly named,” he joked –
marketing Toronto would be a “dream assignment”.
Toronto’s biggest shortcoming, said McKenna, is the “flip
side of its success” – when things are good, it’s hard
to create a sense of urgency.” Yet, he emphasized,
it’s vital to explore the clear opportunities to achieve even
greater prosperity.
Among his recommendations: become known as a knowledge centre;
improve productivity (“We’re coasting,” he suggested);
and break the logjam in transportation (Toronto’s commute is worse
than L.A.’s, he noted).
McKenna concluded by urging all citizens to “sell” the
city with full force: “It’s not enough to have the steak
– which we do in Toronto – you also have to have the
sizzle.”
That job isn’t up to just politicians or a business body, he
said, but to everyone collectively. “We should all,”
said the former ambassador, “be ambassadors for this
city.”
See more of the Toronto Board of Trade's 122nd Annual
Dinner:
Download the full text of Frank McKenna's speech
View the video of Frank McKenna's speech
View the video of greetings from the Hon.
John Baird, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure
View the video of greetings from Premier Dalton McGuinty
View the video of greetings from Mayor
David Miller
Watch for more photos and coverage of Frank McKenna’s keynote
in the next issue of On Board magazine.
