Ça fait 11 ans que je suis à Halifax. J'en ai rapporté de beaux souvenirs, notamment ce billet de C$10.
How I wish I could have written that without the help of Google translate but this student of French has been less attentive to his studies than his excellent teacher would like. That, for the record, in this connected world, is my French teacher who lives in Thailand and manages to somehow make sense of my faltering francais.
Nevertheless, like the bank robber Willie Sutton who, when asked why he robbed banks, replied, "Because that's where the money is", I am heading to where some folks speak French.
Though in a uniquely thoughtful twist for this visitor, they also speak Gaelic (of the Scottish variety) where I am going: Nova Scotia.
BONDED BY TITANIC: Halifax 
The great city of Halifax, to be precise. Halifax enjoys many similarities to Belfast - two cities on the water with proud shipbuilding traditions.
Only Halifax still makes ships. Though in Belfast, shoutout to Artemis, we are now making battery-powered boats down in the shadow of the yellow cranes.
The Titanic tragedy ties the cities together forever - three cemeteries in Halifax remain must-visit destinations for Titanicologists - with 209 dead being brought ashore there (the survivors were all brought to New York). And of course, a former premier of Nova Scotia, John Savage, and his son Mike, a former Mayor of Halifax who now serves as N.S. Lieutenant Governor, were born in Belfast.
So much for the past, the cities are bonded today by the Halifax presence of Belfast's biggest and most successful indigenous tech company Kainos. Not known for resting on their laurels, Kainos doubled its size to 200 in Halifax the week before last by acquiring respected local firm Davis Pier a social impact agency and consultancy firm.
And where Kainos goes, the artificial intelligence conference AICON (which just wrapped its Belfast version on Friday) must follow. So today, I will have the great honour of joining local business, academic and government leaders at a luncheon in Halifax to discuss plans to stage AICON in the city next May. Our plan to bring AICON to Halifax can only succeed with the support and buy-in of those who have been doing the heavy-lifting to build a vibrant tech scene in the city so it's gratifying to hear that there will be a strong turnout on Tuesday.
Both Belfast and Halifax have been transformed over the past quarter century - Halifax by its surging population (up over 30 per cent in that period) and its burgeoning tech sector and Belfast by its miraculous peace and its stellar tech sector. Both cities, of course, also face many challenges.
We have much to learn from each other as we respond to shifting global tides. As indicated by the proliferation of Canadian tourists on the streets of Belfast of late, President Trump's '51st State jibe' has shifted Canada's focus from the US to Europe. Surely Belfast with one foot in and one foot out of the European Union is best-placed to be the bridgehead for Canada's refreshed relationship with the 'old world'.
My hope, therefore, is that AICON Halifax will also revive the wider bonds between these great cities, to the benefit of both. Back when I first had a spin on the Belfast City Hall merry-go-round, the two cities actually signed a Memorandum of Understanding - I am sure it could be easily updated.
My sainted mother always told me never to go on a visit with both arms the same length so I am happy to say that I will be bringing with me this Canadian $10 billl, which has been in my bedroom drawer since I returned from my last visit to Nova Scotia in 2014. The half-pint of beer in Halifax's Old Triangle Irish Alehouse is on me!
