Schwarzenegger Touches Down In T.O.
Posted May 29, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Who knows if the last time Arnold Schwarzenegger was in Toronto he delivered his trademark Terminator 2 line, “I’ll be back,” but if he did, he wasn’t lying.
California Governor Schwarzenegger kicked off a three-day visit to Canada Tuesday to sign agreements on climate change and stem cell research and the bodybuilder-turned-movie-star-turned-politician is also leading a delegation of business executives on his first official visit to Canada as leader of North America’s biggest sub-economy. Schwarzenegger touched down in T.O. late in the afternoon, where he was greeted at Pearson International A irport by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
There’s a lot on the agenda for his high-profile trip, including plans for the two leaders to sign a deal to fight climate change, though Ontario won’t adopt California’s rigid rules requiring cars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, considering the Golden State has roughly as many people as there are in all of Canada. It’s also an about face, since it was the Governator who popularized the gas-guzzling Hummers just a few years back.
Schwarzenegger and McGuinty will also sign a $30 million memorandum of understanding to increase stem cell research.
On a completely unrelated topic, the two also have a bet over the outcome of the Stanley Cup final between the Ottawa Senators and Anaheim Ducks. After his brief stop in Ontario ‘s capital, the former action star will head to the nation’s capital to visit Prime Minister Harper in Ottawa Wednesday, before flying to Vancouver for meetings with B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.
And people at every stop are excited. Crews were out in full force Tuesday morning making sure the Queen’s Park grounds were in tip-top shape.
“Obviously there’s a notoriety around Schwarzenegger that is enormous but I rather suspect that any governor of California that was working with the premier of the province of Ontario is going to be a very noteworthy thing in all instances,” Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman admitted.
But Ontario’s Conservative leader John Tory disagrees, insisting the whole visit is merely a ploy for the Liberals to win votes.
“I don’t think a visit by the Terminator is going to change the fundamental reality which is we have not seen results from Dalton McGuinty,” Tory said.
Either way, one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that Schwarzenegger is a political force to be reckoned with.
“He absolutely knows how to sell, he’s an actor,” offered political strategist John Duffy. “Give him his lines, he delivers them with passion and conviction.”
Schwarzenegger’s Toronto Itinerary
Tuesday
4:15pm – Official Airport Greeting, Greater Toronto Airports Authority’s Three Bay Hangar, 6085 Midfield Road
5:20pm – Special Olympics Jersey Unveiling, Churchill Ballroom, Delta Chelsea Hotel, 33 Gerrard Street West
5:40 pm – Media Availability, Churchill Ballroom
6:20 pm – California Wine Announcement and Promotion, Liquor Control Board, 2 Cooper Street
6:50 pm – Supermarket Visit To Promote California Products, Dominion Supermarket, 1000 Lynn Williams Street
7:30pm – California Innovation Reception, Artifacts Room, The Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex, Exhibition Place, 25 British Columbia Road
Wednesday
10:30am – Memorandum of Understanding Signing with McGuinty, Queen’s Park. The document outlines how Californiaand Ontariowill be working together to fight climate change.
11:15am – Dr. John Dick’s Lab Facility Tour, TorontoMedicalDiscoveryTower, College Street. Tour a stem cell research facility.
11:30am – Press Conference, MaRS Discovery District, College Street. Schwarzenegger will discuss Californiaand Canada’s leadership and cooperation on Stem Cell Research.
1pm -TorontoEconomic Club Luncheon, Ballroom of The Sheraton Centre. Remarks to Toronto Economic Club Luncheon, Receive Newsmaker of the Year award.
4:30pm- Flies to Ottawafor private meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Famous Last Words
Love the governator or hate him, the man they used to call Ah-nold is never at a loss for words. And in case you think “I’ll be back” is his only well chosen turn of phrase, think again. The bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-politician may not have learned English until he was in his 20s, but he’s certainly learned how to use it to his advantage. Here are a few of his more memorable pronouncements.
“It’s the most difficult [decision] I’ve made in my entire life, except the one I made in 1978 when I decided to get a bikini wax.”
Announcing his candidacy for governor on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno”
“I can promise you that when I go to Sacramento, I will pump up Sacramento.”
That same appearance on “The Tonight Show”
“Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed.”
“For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.”
“I have a love interest in every one of my films – a gun.”
“I have inhaled, exhaled everything.”
“I just use my muscles as a conversation piece, like someone walking a cheetah down 42nd Street.”
“Modesty is not a word that applies to me in any way – I hope it never will.”
“I saw a woman wearing a sweatshirt with Guess on it. I said, Thyroid problem?”
“I think that gay marriage should be between a man and a woman.”
“If it bleeds, we can kill it.”
“If it’s hard to remember, it’ll be difficult to forget.”
“It’s simple, if it jiggles, it’s fat.”
“Milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer.”
“Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.”