Toronto, Oct 17 (IANS) For once, former US President Bill Clinton, who charges hefty fees for his speaking assignments, spoke free Friday.

The venue was Canada’s top McGill University in Montreal which honoured him for his ‘lifetime of outstanding leadership’.

Clinton became the second American president to receive such an honour – an honorary degree – from Canada’s top university whose alumni won two Nobel Prizes this year.

Way back in 1944, the university had honoured then US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt along with British prime minister Winston Churchill for their role in the war effort.

Clinton, who was conferred the degree to the strains of the star-spangled banner at a grand ceremony, spoke for an hour on various international issues and his philanthropic work.

Referring to his frequent visits to Canada, he said amid laughter, ‘There were many occasions when leaders of the Republican Party suggested that I might want to move to Canada. And many when I thought it wasn’t a bad idea.”

He said the current health-care reform debate in the US will lead to an overhaul of the country’s health care system which is financially unsustainable.

McGill principal Heather Munroe-Blum, who introduced Clinton, lauded his political accomplishments while in office and his post-retirement work on AIDS and climate change.

‘Few individuals define the expression global leader as perfectly as Bill Clinton,” she said.

‘During his presidency and in the years since, President Clinton has demonstrated an unyielding devotion to social justice in the world. His continued leadership inspires us all to do more, and we are honoured to have the opportunity to formally recognize his contributions.”