The authorship of this piece is unknown to me- I came across it in my Facebook feed.
“There has been a lot of discussion over the past few days about our Prime Minister’s speech at the World Economic Forum. I believe he delivered remarks that will be remembered and referenced for years to come, and that they may serve as a catalyst to shift some of the rhetoric that has been steadily rising from south of the border.
That said, I also expect there will be backlash. It’s likely that anonymous accounts and foreign influence machines will go into overdrive—pushing one-sided memes, isolating tiny fragments of the speech, and using them to shape opinions among people who didn’t read the full remarks or, unfortunately, couldn’t grasp the language and ideas being expressed.
So, being the instigator that I am, I decided to try something different. I asked my AI friends to rewrite the Prime Minister’s speech as if it were being delivered to an audience of three-year-olds.
And as it turns out, the message is actually pretty simple.
Hello everyone 
Sometimes, big kids fight.
The biggest kids try to take toys.
The smaller kids feel scared.
For a long time, we had playground rules.
The rules said:
“Be fair.”
“Don’t push.”
“Share.”
But now, some big kids don’t follow the rules anymore.
Some kids pretend the rules still work.
They smile.
They nod.
They say, “Okay,” even when it’s not okay.
They do this so they don’t get in trouble.
A long time ago, a man told a story.
It was about a shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper put a sign in his window.
He didn’t believe the sign.
But he kept it there anyway.
He was pretending.
The pretending made the bad system strong.
The truth made it weak.
When one person takes the sign down,
the lie starts to break.
It’s time to take the signs down.
For many years, Canada played nicely.
We followed the rules.
We trusted the playground.
And it worked for a while.
But now the playground has changed.
Some kids use food, toys, and games to control others.
They say, “Do what I want, or else.”
That means the old way doesn’t work anymore.
So what do we do?
We could all build tall walls.
We could hide.
We could say, “Mine!”
But a playground full of walls is lonely.
And sad.
And weaker.
Instead, we can work together.
Canada wants to do two things:
• Be kind and fair
• Be strong and smart
We believe in rules.
We believe in helping people.
But we also know not everyone plays the same way.
So we open our eyes.
We don’t pretend.
We deal with the world as it is.
Canada is getting stronger at home.
We are building things.
Learning things.
Protecting ourselves.
And we are making many friends.
Different friends for different problems.
Helping each other when we can.
Because if we sit alone at lunch,
we might be next.
When smaller kids work together,
they don’t get pushed around as much.
The most important thing is this:
Stop pretending everything is fine.
Say what is real.
Be fair to everyone the same way.
Build what you believe in.
Canada has a lot to share.
Energy.
Smart people.
Ideas.
Kindness.
Canada is a place where many people live together.
We talk loud.
We argue.
But we care.
And we keep going.
The old playground isn’t coming back.
That’s okay.
We don’t cry about it.
We build a better one.
We take the sign down.
We tell the truth.
We stand together.
That is Canada’s choice.
And anyone can walk with us.
Thank you 