Well, thank you for your question. It is an unusual one. It's caught me a little off guard, I'll admit.
Let me say that I worked very hard—and I suppose that culture of hard work I do owe to my parents, who worked very hard and always thought that if I worked hard and did well in school, I could have a better life and create a better life for my children.
Somewhere along the way, I came to realize that public service was an important driver for me, that the wish to do something for the common good is something that really fills my bucket. I discovered it most when I was in the private sector because I thought it was lacking. So I was delighted to have the opportunity to come back to the public sector back in 1999.
Anyway, long, perhaps too long, that combination somehow of hard work—and I have to admit, I got lucky a few times.... In 1978, one of my professors at Queen's thought, “Oh, that's interesting stuff you're doing on money; I bet the bank would be interested”. He called the deputy governor at the time, George Freeman, and told him about this. Overnight, I had a summer job in the monetary department at the Bank of Canada, and that's where a passion was born. So that was in 1978.