Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to inform the House that Dr. Mike Lazaridis, founder, president and co-chief executive officer of Research in Motion has been appointed chancellor of the University of Waterloo.
He is a passionate, eloquent and compelling champion for education and fundamental research. He is recognized as one of Canada's leading visionaries and entrepreneurs and is also known as a powerful and passionate advocate for education at all levels.
Dr. Lazaridis is a community leader and a philanthropist whose private support of research is unparalleled in Canada. He founded the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in 2000. In donating $100 million toward its creation, he embarked upon the fulfillment of a vision for research that is unlike anything ever seen in Canada.
In addition, his gifts to the University of Waterloo have helped establish the Institute for Quantum Computing, projected to be one of the leading centres of its kind anywhere.
I wish to extend congratulations to Dr. Lazaridis.