Premier gets personal at convocation
Wynne delivers address at daughter’s graduation from Ryerson University
On this day, the most powerful woman in Canada was just another proud mom.
Premier Kathleen Wynne took a break from politicking Friday to deliver a deeply personal convocation address at a Ryerson University ceremony she would have attended even if she weren’t the keynote speaker.
“I am brimming with pride for my youngest daughter, Maggie, who took considerable risk and showed extraordinary determination, to come back to school a second time around, to study something completely different,” the premier said.
To the delight of her mother, Maggie Cowperthwaite, 33, is a member of this year’s graduating class in collaborative nursing at Ryerson.
“I’m not only standing here as premier. I am simultaneously sitting beside all of you, the mothers, fathers, spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, aunties, uncles, grandparents and friends who have loved and cared for these fine young people, and I know there are hundreds of stories like Maggie’s in this room today,” said Wynne, who also has a son, another daughter and three grandchildren.
“The friends that you make at college or university may well end up being the most important people in your life. I would know: I married one of mine — and then I married another,” she quipped, referring to her former husband Phil Cowperthwaite and her spouse Jane Rounthwaite.
“Life is really uncertain, and that’s OK. None of us has any idea what’s ahead, just as I didn’t. Who knew a linguist would be premier; and the first female premier; and the first gay one? You just never know.”
With what could be construed as an allusion to the June 7, 2018, campaign, Wynne, who avoided discussing electoral politics, implored the nursing graduates not to let naysayers bog them down.
“There will always be people seeking to exaggerate the dangers of a future we can only guess at. Those who tell us we will have less, share less, feel less secure, that the best days are behind us. They are wrong.
“There is no limit to what you can do and say and discover tomorrow, and it doesn’t matter that none of us can see that far forward. We can look back — to when we granted women the vote or created universal health care or legalized same-sex marriage,” the premier said.
“Each time, there were people saying: ‘Those are the rules. They can’t change.’ But the thing is, they already had, because there were people who were so determined to make that change happen,” Wynne said.
“So, as you leave today, look around and remember. Draw on the resources of the community that surrounds you. You are rich in love and support. Always pay attention to what you see and hear, so you can keep learning. And be patient . . . with each other, and particularly, with yourself.”