Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much. Thank you. First of all, this is the first chance I've had to say thank you, Ambassador Giffin. Let…”

“Thank you very much. Thank you. First of all, this is the first chance I've had to say thank you, Ambassador Giffin. Let me thank all of you for coming, all of you who work for the American consulate here, for our Embassy, both the Americans and the Canadians who are here. And those of you who brought your children, thank you for bringing your children. I know that whenever a President comes to another country and to another community, the very happiest time is when he gets on the plane and leaves--[laughter]--because it's a lot of trouble. And I appreciate the trouble that you have taken to make my second visit to Vancouver a really wonderful one. I was told that when I came here before as President in 1993, to meet with President Yeltsin, I was the first sitting President ever to come to Vancouver. Now I hope that no one will ever catch my record. But it is a wonderful place. And I want to thank Gordon Giffin, who is almost as Canadian as he is American, for his willingness to become our Ambassador and leave his happy home in Georgia. And I thank Mary Ann Peters, who worked for me at the National Security Council before she came here as a DCM. Ken Fairfax was also at the National Security Council. He had to track nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union; I imagine he's happier in Canada now. But he did a fine job. And Jim Tomsheck used to be on my Presidential protection detail; he's now an assistant treasury attache.…”