Alex Trebek Honored with Key to the City of Ottawa

Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek was in Ottawa on May 5, 2016 where he was presented with the key to the Canadian capital.

Jim Watson, the mayor of Ottawa, announced the event on Twitter last Friday and a news release said: “The Key to the City will be presented to Mr. Trebek for his philanthropy and activism, his unrelenting commitment to higher education, and his steadfast loyalty to his alma mater, the University of Ottawa.” Trebek’s total contributions to the university exceed $7 million.

Trebek talked about the recent flap over Canadians being precluded from taking the online Jeopardy! test. He also brought up the matter when he met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, looking a little peeved (we thought) about the show getting the blame for the matter. But you can’t really blame him — Alex Trebek gets blamed for a lot of things on Jeopardy! that aren’t his fault at all. Just a few months of that would probably be enough for most folks, nevermind 30+ years!

Trebek said that the matter was expected to be resolved in time for the start of Jeopardy!’s Season 33, which begins taping in July.

There were a bunch of congratulatory tweets for Trebek today, in both English and French

Alex Trebek arrive à l'hôtel de ville pour recevoir sa clé. Ses 1er mots : "Voulez-vous acheter une voyelle?" #iciottgat #jeopardy

— jf chevrier (@jfchevrier) May 5, 2016

“Alex Trebek arrived at City Hall to receive his key. His first words: “Would you like to buy a vowel”