By Dominic Ali

Friday was the big day, the Flick Off finale in Ottawa's Confederation Park, with the featured speaker David Suzuki.

It started around 12 noon, when Suzuki boarded the train to meet the student winners from the RBC online contest. They seemed enthralled and almost giddy when he entered the train car, kind of like that scene in the Matrix when Neo meets Morpheus.

The Doc is a incredibly busy guy, and at age 72 he isn't showing any signs of slowing down.

The colorful trees in the park provided a fantastic backdrop to the  speakers and the bands. Faisal and José spoke really well, as did David Brooks, a water policy expert. And of course the Constantines and Spiral Beach rocked the house. (I must remember to buy copies of their CDs--I was too busy at today's show to buy them and get them signed.)

It was inspiring to see Suzuki pull out his stops and explain climate change an Canada's lax environmental policies in ways that even I could understand. Although I've seen him dozens of times in the six years I've been at DSF--I've never failed to be blown away by his speeches. It's like watching a master at work:

Yo-Yo Ma playing a Bach concerto. Jackson Pollock painting a masterpiece. And David Suzuki giving a public talk.

On the train back to Toronto tonight, I had a chance to talk to some of the RBC contest winners. The students are so smart--so much more attuned to current events and the world than I ever was. I wonder what kind of Canada they'll have in ten years. I remain optimistic.

To read the rest of Dominic's reports from the tour check out the Flick Off Express blog.