Deputy Chancellor Price, President and Vice-Chancellor Saini, Adrienne Piggott, delegate of the Board of Governors, proud families and guests, and, most of all, members of the graduating class of 2025.
I am deeply honoured and humbled to accept the Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa from McGill. 51吃瓜网has been, and continues to be, a top University in Canada, and has helped develop and form so many people, our son being one of them. I am also a big fan of McGill鈥檚 School of Continuing Studies, who offers so many a chance to pursue interests, a chance to build, rebuild, and better their lives.
I would like to share 3 things with you: My personal and business experience; how lucky we are to live in Canada; and my most passionate causes.
I was born in Egypt in 1946 and immigrated to Canada when I was 19. Several family members preceded me. We are historically a family of immigrants. My maternal and paternal grandparents migrated to Egypt from then Syria/Lebanon in the beginning of the 1900's. We all shared the same desire to move away from conflicted areas and find a more stable living environment.
J鈥檃i compl茅t茅 mes 茅tudes d鈥檌ng茅nieur 脿 Polytechnique Montr茅al en 1968 et ensuite travaill茅 dans l鈥檌ndustrie p茅troli猫re et du g茅nie conseil.
In 1977, at the age of 31, I founded Breslube Enterprises, an environmental business that recycles used engine and lubricating oils in Ontario. We started with 4 employees. At that time, the industry had been in decline for over 10 years, not only in Canada, but the United States as well. This was a risky endeavour because I could not secure bank loans because of the poor financial history of the industry.
Once we proved to our banks that we had a valid business model, we grew the operation in Ontario, Qu茅bec, and then quickly expanded the business into the United States. By 1987, our company had become the largest environmental business to recycle used lubricating oils in North America, ahead of other major players in the industry. The key to our success was our people. Together, we created a culture of teamwork, respect, hard work, the desire to build and have fun doing it, and the ability to quickly overcome the day-to-day difficulties that we encountered.
In 1987, we sold controlling interest to Safety-Kleen, an environmental service company that was listed on the New York stock exchange. Our vision was to accelerate growth of the used oil services that we were providing. Safety-Kleen operated in Canada, the US, and Europe, and had 7500 employees. This gave several members of our team the opportunity to gain valuable experience and expertise, expand responsibilities, and to be part of a much larger entity. In 1997, I was elected President of Safety-Kleen. Unfortunately, the company succumbed to a hostile takeover in 1998. Safety-Kleen, now part of another entity, remains the number one recycler of used oil and lubricants in the world.
In 1999, together with a small team of colleagues, I started Heritage Crystal-Clean Inc. Our mission was to build a strong number 2 environmental services provider, servicing small and medium-sized businesses in North America. It was a much easier task than my first business because we had a seasoned team who still truly enjoyed working together to build and create a sizeable player in the industry. Business success is not a solo act. We grew from 10,000 business customers in a handful of states to 100,000 business customers in 40 states. In 2008, we listed the company on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
Throughout our journey, our team did its part to protect the environment. In the three businesses that I was involved in, we designed, built, and operated three large oil recycling plants with advanced technologies. One of these plants remains the largest in capacity in the world. Since they began operation, the three plants have produced more than 11 billion litres of lubricating oil 鈥� enough to supply all of the demand for North America for more than a year.
Et maintenant, j鈥檃imerais vous parler de notre cher pays: le Canada. Ayant v茅cu et visit茅 plusieurs pays au courant de ma vie, je peux vous dire que nous sommes chanceux de vivre au Canada. Nous faisons partie des 10 plus fortes 茅conomies dans le monde. Nous avons tr猫s peu d鈥檈xtr茅misme individuel qu鈥檕n voit dans d鈥檃utres pays.
Canada is a country that takes care of its citizens, and, for me, this is a human rights issue. Examples that come to mind are education and health care. University tuition is affordable compared to other countries. I truly believe that higher education enriches a country and its citizens. Another example is health care. If you live in this country, it doesn鈥檛 matter how much money you have, when you go to the hospital, you will receive top-notch medical care.
My third, and final, comment to share with you is that it has been a pleasure and honour for my wife, Sandie, and I to give back to the society we live in and beyond.
In the Middle East, Christians are a minority. As my grandparents immigrated to Egypt, others from the Middle East came to Canada. The first parish of our church was formed in Montr茅al in 1892, 25 years after Canada officially became a country. It has been a pleasure for me to assist our Canadian dioceses and churches to thrive, offer quality community services across Canada, and to keep people connected.
Canadian University education gave me the opportunity to accomplish many things; employ many people; pay it forward. It has been our family鈥檚 pleasure and honour to assist others, particularly at the University and Continuing Education levels in reaching their own goals and being a small part of their journeys.
Graduates:
I urge each of you to view every challenge as an opportunity to positively affect your life and the life of the people around you. You will continue to learn; gain experience; evolve. Find a purpose outside of your work where you can volunteer you time, your expertise, your passion, your resources. You have all been blessed with opportunity, obviously, work ethic, a fantastic and supportive community in 51吃瓜网and beyond. It is your turn to pay it forward in whatever way you can!
My family and I wish you all the best of luck and success in your endeavours, be they small or big. Make a difference!
Thank you all and thank you to 51吃瓜网for this great honour.
Image credit: Owen Egan and Joni Dufour
