"John Ralston Saul is a Companion in the Order of Canada and a Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France. He is the Founder and Honourary Chair of French for the Future, Chair of the LaFontaine-Baldwin Symposium, Patron of PLAN (Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network) and Former President and now honorary patron of Canadian PEN. An essayist and novelist, Saul's writings are aimed at a new humanism through what he calls responsible individualism. His philosophical trilogy and its conclusion – Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West, The Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense, The Unconscious Civilization and On Equilibrium: Six Qualities of the New Humanism – has impacted political thought in many countries. In 2004, he received the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honor. His latest book is A Fair Country: Telling Truths About Canada." - Institute for Canadian Citizenship

Highlights from John's speech:

"there is absolutely no example in the history of the world of speed being described as a characteristic of intelligence"

"The idea…of Plan, of Tyze, this idea of the circle of friends, this is central to this idea….you could make the mistake of thinking "well isn't it wonderful that all these people have come around the person in need". Where as in fact, you could look at it exactly the other way, that it's thanks to the person in need, that the others have the privilege of being convened into a circle of friends".