CBC's Bob McDonald among Order of Canada recipients

Governor General David Johnston will officially bestow the Order of Canada on 39 new recipients Friday, including CBC's Bob McDonald, hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser and comic actor Eugene Levy.

"It's humbling, it's very humbling to get something this large," McDonald said in an interview Thursday ahead of the ceremony, which is to take place at the Governor General's residence in Ottawa, Rideau Hall, at 10:30 a.m. ET Friday.

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The Order of Canada recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.

McDonald, host of CBC's Quirks & Quarks and a regular science commentator on CBC News, is one of 10 Canadians who will become an Officer of the Order of Canada on Friday. He is being recognized for his contributions as a journalist and educator and for promoting the public's understanding of science.

Other new Officers include:

• Hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser, who has won three Olympic gold medals and one silver.
• B.C. poet Lorna Crozier.
• William Buyers, a condensed matter physicist who led the development of the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre at Chalk River Laboratories near Deep River, Ont.

Twenty-eight other Canadians will become Members of the Order of Canada, including:

• Comedic actor Eugene Levy.
• Former NHL hockey star Trevor Linden.
• Novelist Nino Ricci.

In addition, Québec actor, playwright and director of film and stage, Robert Lepage, who has previously received the Order of Canada, is being promoted to a Companion of the Order.

The appointments to be made Friday were announced in June.

More than 5,000 Canadians have been named to the Order of Canada since it was created in 1967.