18 October 2017, Ottawa, Canada
We lost one of the very best of us this morning.
Gord was my friend. But he was everyone’s friend … our buddy Gord, who loved this country with everything he had. And not just with a nebulous ‘Oh, I love Canada’ way, he loved every hidden corner, every story, every story every aspect of this country that he celebrated his whole life.
He wanted to make it better, he knew as great as wer were, we needed to be better than what we are, and that is why his last years were dedicated to Chanie Wenjack and to reconciliation. This is something I've certainly drawn inspiration and strength from, and we are ... we are less as a country without Gord Downie in it.
And we all knew it was coming ... but we hoped it wasn't. And ...
I thought I was going to make it through this, but I'm not, it hurts.