You're much too generous about my limited contributions, but thank you. I'm a Canadian and I want to stay in Canada. I want to build Canada. I want to contribute to Canada having the highest quality of life in the world. I think we have all of those things in front of us, and there are opportunities to which we can contribute.
I made that choice many years ago. One of the advantages we have as visiting professors, going elsewhere and being able to experience those environments, is that we also learn that one can get things done in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary way in very unique ways in Canada. The collaborations we enjoy here are truly remarkable. That said, I've lived through times when we were more investment-rich than we have been of late. As we look to the future, it will be more difficult, and we're seeing new generations of young Canadians who are being encouraged to look at the quality of life, quality of work life and access to the tools that will make them successful. However, I believe that if we can offer those, we'll continue to keep Canadians in Canada.
In addition, just keeping Canadians in Canada isn't good enough: We have to recruit the brightest and the best. We're fortunate to do so at UHN. I can tell you that this week I was fortunate enough to interview colleagues from places like Memorial Sloan Kettering and MD Anderson in the United States, from the Karolinska in Sweden and from leading academic institutions in London. I'm sure we won't get every one of those landed, but we'll land a number, because it remains an attractive place to be.
However, for us to continue to be successful and keep the brightest and the best, we need to be competitive in funding, be it for students, faculty members, infrastructure or direct grant support.
Madame, you're stuck with me for the rest of my career. I'm happy to be here, and fortunate.