My message is one of hope. Despite the scary head- lines and bleak p r o g n o s t i c a -
tions of self-styled experts, the
future of MBA students looks
great. Your prospects remind
me of those of a gambler who is
dealt the very best hand in
poker. You are holding a hand
in poker that shows four aces!
Your first ace is for being here
in Canada, in Toronto, which
thinks of itself as the center of
the universe when we all know
that center is really in Calgary.
After all, Canada is blessed
with unique natural and
human assets. We have what
the Germans call lebensraum,
which is more room to grow
than anyone else on this
crowded planet. And, as
the faces in this room tes-
tify, we are the world’s
most diverse society and
are at peace with each
other as human beings. I know
it is a cliché, but our diversity is our
biggest asset as a nation of nations, a rich
community of communities.
So, when the global economy starts to
grow again, we in Canada, with your
MBA students in the vanguard of our
future, will lead the parade. We have the
people. We have the goods. We have the
space.
Your second ace is getting your MBA.
The timing for receiving it could not be
better. The only direction for you to go
now is up.
Your third ace is the simple fact you are
South Asian. We South Asians need yield
to no others in Canada when it comes to
success in what I call the three Es:
Education, entrepreneurship and enter-
prise. We are now the largest so-called
ethnic group in Canada, having overtak-
en the Chinese Canadians in the last cen-
sus. We South Asians are also adept net-
workers at a time when it has never been
more important to rely on contacts,
friends and communities to move ahead.
That is why I am here today: To network
with you as new friends, to share with
you some of the reasons for my success.
South Asians in Canada are going to help
to make Canada the new, economic tiger
of the western hemisphere. We have the
with reason, is regarded as a
center for scholarship. In my
case, it was the Western
Business School, where my
dean, Larry Tapp, infected me
with a relentless passion to suc-
ceed and to take risks. Today, Mr
Tapp is chairman of the Board
of Mainstreet.
essential commodities, and India has
other key resources to complement us.
And you are the ones with the unique talents who are going to bridge these two
countries and help build that economic
tiger.
The fourth ace is timing, you are in the
right cycle of life to be key players in the
global economic village that will advance
after the recession ends, a process that
will start here in Canada if our prime
minister and the head of the Bank of
Canada are right. By the way, in the new
era that lies ahead, we will be in the post-American world, according to Fareed
Zakaria, the brilliant Indian-American
pundit — that’s an Indian word! — who
has a program on CNN and a column in
Newsweek. Like me, Mr Zakaria sees
Canada as a winner in the future, along
with India, China, and Brazil.
All of you are products of another of
Canada’s greatest strategic assets — our
colleges and universities, where world-class minds impart not only theory, but
practical knowledge about the real world
to students like you. With that Canadian
MBA, you are not only building bridges
from Canada to South Asia, you are
bridging the world. Your MBA will be
recognized everywhere, because Canada,
