Wednesday 23rd June - Convention Day 4

Breakfast in our room and a packed lunch prepared was the early order of the day before we set off for the Bell Centre again for the Fourth Plenary Session. This morning we had the elections which seems a pointless but nevertheless necessary affair. Voting delegates had to sit separately from spouses, which caused some irritation and the poor SAs had some difficult situations to deal with. Next we had an address by President Elect Kalyan Banerjee, from India, followed by a promotion for the New Orleans Convention (we will not be attending this) and an address by the Chief Scout  Executive of the Boy Scouts of America.

The highlight of the morning was an address and performance by Dolly Parton, who has a worldwide project to improve literacy amongst children.

Back to the House of Friendship for lunch and a chance to buy some bits and pieces that we had spotted earlier. Here we met some folks from Kingston who were part of the organising group for our trip to Kingston after the Convention.

A quick dash back to the hotel - and we bumped into the Morriston Group again in their colourful teeshirts - to get ready for the closing session and pack our bags in readiness for the trip to Kingston.

While we were doing this we experienced an earthquake. It measured 5.5 on the Richter scale and had its epicentre to the north of Toronto. It certainly made the eleventh floor of the Montreal Hyatt wobble a bit!

The closing session was a spectacular event with recognition of 100 years of service to the first Rotary club outside the US, Winnipeg, then various awards, a speech by the incoming President, handing over the banner and a closing address by John Kenny. The entertainment included Russell Watson, who is a talented singer, and the Cirque du Soleil.

At the end we got out as quickly as we could and headed on foot for a restaurant in the old town where John had made a reservation. We found it and our party of eight grew to more than a dozen. A good meal and good company brought the Convention to a close for us. Some people had already left for the airport to get home in time for other commitments.