Thank you Heidi.  Thank you everyone for being part of this today.  This is really, really exciting for me because as we talk about all the different challenges we’re facing, right now, right here, we’re talking about one of the solutions we have.

As citizens become more and more powerful users of technology, as you understand that you don’t just have to be subject to computers surrounding you, as was said, in your phones, in your cars, at home in your houses and more and more all around us every single moment, but you can help harness that power, you can help create, you can contribute to it.  And that’s really, really important because for all the amazing advantages Canada has in terms of natural resources, in terms of geography, in terms of opportunity, our best resource is sitting here right in this room.  You.  Young people.  Canadians themselves ready to step up, ready to shape the world they’re part of, ready to create the things that those old guys like us couldn’t even imagine.

And that’s where learning how to code really comes in.  Understanding how to shape computers, how to drive them, how to innovate, how to create new opportunities, new solutions for yourselves, for your neighbours, for the world, that’s what we’re teaching you how to do.  And you might think to yourself, oh, you know what, I don’t think I’m going to become a computer programmer, I don’t think that’s my future.  That doesn’t matter because doctors, lawyers, teachers, firefighters, you name it, every job we’re going to do in the future will rely on technology, and be benefitted, if you are powerful users of technology that surrounds us. 

So understanding the building blocks of coding, understanding how to break an idea down into discrete parts and put it all together in a way so computers can understand and deliver it, that is what we’re celebrating here.

The Hour of Code is kicking off Computer Science Education Week and I’m really, really pleased to be about to sit down with you guys and start coding.  I… I’ve been assured that I won’t have to draw on any of my old memories of coding in C++ from a number of years ago.  It’s a little more drag and drop than that, but trust me when I say the principles, the algorithms, the approach that you’re learning today is the building block that will allow you to succeed for the rest of your lives.

So thank you for being here, young people.  Thank you for all the attention people are putting… and thank you of course to our great partners for driving this, and if I wasn’t enough of a geek, I’m here with two of my favourite geeks from Cabinet, Jean-Yves Duclos, our Minister of Families, and Kirsty Duncan, our Minister of Science, who are both totally focused on the work we need to do to give you guys the best possible chances in the future.

So thank you very much for being here. Thank you all very much for being here. This is an important day for learning how to become powerful users of the technology that is going to surround us in the future. I am very happy to be here with you, so let’s get to it.  

Thank you.

(Applause)