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Your Majesty and Your Royal Highness; Members of the Royal Household; Your Honours; Your Excellencies; Right Honourable Prime Minister and Mrs. Martin; Justice of the Court of Appeal; Former Premier Lougheed and Mrs. Lougheed; Honourable Speaker and Ms. White; Honourable ministers and Members of the Legislative Assembly; Distinguished guests:

It is with great pleasure that I welcome Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh to Calgary, although my pleasure is tempered with sadness that this is the last day of the royal visit.

Celebrating the province's centennial with The Royal Couple has been a privilege and an honour for Albertans. It is one of the great highlights of a very special centennial year.

Just as special is that a senior and a young person from every constituency in the southern half of the province are here to share in the celebration. Their presence is a tribute to all those who helped build this province, and to those who will continue that important work.

The people of this province are grateful for Her Majesty's participation in celebrating this Alberta milestone.

To mark Her Majesty's centennial visit, I'm pleased to announce that a recently expanded scholarship program will be named in her honour.

The Queen Elizabeth II graduate scholarship will reward excellence among Canadian graduate students who are studying in Alberta.

Beginning this year, approximately $3 million will be awarded to 300 outstanding graduate students. The program will grow with the number of graduate students in the province.

The new scholarship program complements the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Citizenship Medal for high school students, which was established in 2002.

The Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship Program will be a lasting legacy of Her Majesty's visit — one that honours the pursuit of knowledge, understanding and truth.

I thank you so much for being here today, and wish you all a pleasant afternoon and an exciting centennial year.