Thank you Bob Hanna.

Mr. Chair, visiting Chairs from across Canada, visiting members of IEEE Canada, Leadership Team, Past IEEE Chairs, Life Members, ladies and gentlemen. I am honored to be present at this Centennial celebration of the IEEE Toronto Section and the IEEE Canada .

Bob originally asked Ted Millen to speak to you, since he is the longest standing chair of the Toronto Section, having served in that capacity in 1950. Unfortunately, he is in the hospital and cannot attend tonight and so Bob asked me to replace him, as I am the next oldest standing Past Chair in the Toronto Section. We wish Ted a speedy recovery.

I would like to share some thoughts with you on the occasion of this Centennial celebration. I can't tell you about my experiences in IRE 100 years ago, but I do know that I joined the IRE as a student member in my final year at the University of Toronto in 1948 - that was 55 years ago. At that time, Professor Ed Reid lectured to us on vacuum tube circuits. Ask a new EE graduate what is a 6J6? What is a Cooper Hewitt mercury arc rectifier? How many of you know? Walter Anderson, past chair IRE Toronto Section and a former professor at Ryerson, was checked out on shipboard spark gap transmitters. And, in 1948, there were only 4 women in engineering at U of T. Zero women were in my Electrical Engineering graduating class. Today, 55 years later, we are looking at cell phones, palm pilots, and inverters that plug in to the cigarette lighter of your car to run your pop coolers and CD players. At university today, there are many women in engineering, including Electrical. Much has changed, just like Ontario's government two days ago.

I was active in the Kitchener-Waterloo section of the IRE from 1960-62, when I worked at Dominion Electrohome. I returned to Toronto, to teach at Ryerson, where I joined the executive of the Toronto Section of the IRE. We met in the board room of the old Ryerson building (its facade is now inside Ryerson's quadrangle). At that time Walter Anderson was Chair IRE Toronto Section and I was Section Secretary. Harry Hyde from Ontario Hydro was the Chair of the Toronto region AIEE then. We were engaged in amalgamation negotiations with the AIEE. Following the merger, I served as Treasurer, Program Committee Chair, Vice Chair and then became Chair, IEEE Toronto Section, for the 1967-68 session. The success of our activities then depended on the hard work of many volunteers just as it does today. I want to thank them on behalf of all of us for their energy, their commitment and their desire to foster the goals of the IEEE.

On behalf of the past chairs, I want to thank IEEE Canada and the IEEE Toronto Section for the wonderful Centennial celebration and for these medals.

Please join me in a toast to the next 100 years.

Thank you very much.

(Ike Morgulis, October 4, 2003)