Good morning. 

Thank you, Dawn, for bringing your leadership to this task, and thank you Eleanor for helping to build a stronger Alberta and a stronger Canada.  

I am grateful to be hosted today by the Alberta Carpenters Training Centre. 

The women and men with us today will help build Canada strong.

Finn Johnson, Kim Letwin, and all of the team at the Union of Building Canada Local 1325, thank you for the fantastic work you’re doing here, and at job sites across the country.

It is always great to be back in the city that raised me, and taught me my values: hard work, solidarity, and ambition.

I launched my leadership campaign in early January, because Alberta has always been home to builders, entrepreneurs, and innovators – the people we need now more than ever to build the strongest economy in the G7.

Canada’s new government’s core mission is to empower Canadians by building Canada’s economic strength.

That is how we will create greater certainty, security, and prosperity for Canadians. How we will create the economic opportunities that help Canadians not just manage through this crisis, but prosper from it. 

I want to continue to be clear with Canadians that the path ahead will not always be easy. 

What is happening in the global economy is not a transition. It is a rupture.

The United States is fundamentally and rapidly transforming all of its trading relationships. The effects are both immediate and profound – closing markets, disrupting supply chains, halting investment, and pushing up unemployment. 

We are over the shock, but we must always remember the lessons: we have to look out for ourselves, and we have to take care of each other.

We cannot control what other nations do. 

We are focused on what we can control: building our strength at home. 

The initiatives we will announce today will help transform Canada’s economy from one that became too reliant on a single trade partner, to one that is resilient and dynamic, an economy built for Canadian workers and their families, on the strong foundations of Canadian industries and diverse global partners.

That is how we will build Canada strong.

Canada has always been a proud nation of builders. In our earliest years, we were unified by a national railway. In the decade after the Second World War, we built hundreds of thousands of homes for returning heroes and their families. 

In the decade before I was born, tens of thousands of blasters, steelworkers, roadworkers and carpenters started construction on the Trans-Canada Highway.

During just five years in the 1950s, the St. Lawrence Seaway was brought to life, with seven locks stretching over 300 kilometres, linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. It has transported more than three billion tons of cargo since it opened. 

A few years later, Canada built Expo 67, the World’s Fair, which went from concept to completion in just over four years. 

We used to build big things in this country, and we used to build them quickly. It’s time to get back at it, and get on with it. 

That starts with getting out of our own way. 

For too long, the construction of major infrastructure has been stalled by arduous, inefficient approval processes.

Uncertainty, red tape, duplicated and complicated review processes have curbed investment. 

One study showed that regulatory requirements in Canada increased by 40% over the past two decades, suppressing business investment growth by 9%. 

Right now, to receive approval, major projects must undergo numerous reviews and assessments that often happen one after the other, instead of all running in parallel.

For too long, when federal agencies have examined a new project, their immediate question has been “Why?” 

This changes now.

From now on, Canada’s new government now starts by asking ourselves: “How?” 

How can we build? How can we do it bigger? How can we do it faster? 

We campaigned on a promise to accelerate the delivery of major projects. We are working with determination and conviction to fulfill that mandate.

Last June, we passed the Building Canada Act, which allows the federal government to accelerate the delivery of projects of national interest.

Over the summer, we opened the new Major Projects Office and headquartered it right here in Alberta – a new single point of contact to get nation-building projects built faster. 

We appointed the hardworking Dawn Farrell to lead this new office. Dawn brings her four decades of leadership experience in energy and infrastructure and a proven ability – and enthusiasm – to get things done. 

The Major Projects Office will help to structure and co-ordinate financing for major projects.

And it will accelerate projects by creating a single set of conditions and reducing the approval timeline for projects of national interest to a maximum of two years. 

Part of changing how we build is to build in true partnership with Indigenous peoples. 

To begin, this summer I hosted three summits to engage First Nations, Inuit, and Métis rightsholders on their priorities, and their opportunities for equity ownership and broader economic benefits from this generational transformation in the Canadian economy.

Yesterday, we announced the membership of the Indigenous Advisory Council. Comprised of representatives from First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and Modern Treaty and Self-Governing partners. The members bring deep expertise in economic participation, impact assessments, and UNDRIP. This council will help ensure projects move forward in true partnership with Indigenous peoples. 

Building a strong Canada means building together. Let us be clear: we will focus on building what people want, rather than arguing about what they reject.

To be in Canada’s national interest, a major project must:

• strengthen Canada’s autonomy, resilience, and security;
• have clear benefits for Canadians;
• have a high likelihood of being completed;
• contribute to clean growth and Canada’s climate goals;
• advance the interests of Indigenous Peoples. 

We will advance projects that turbo-charge and connect our regional economies and our economy to the world, projects that diversify our products and markets, and projects that create hundreds of thousands of high-paying careers – good union careers – for our workers. From trades to technology. 

These major projects will be at the heart of our new, comprehensive Buy Canadian policy. 

To strengthen Canada’s independence, resilience, and security, we will build with Canadian steel, lumber, aluminum, and by Canadian engineers and trades people.

We will be our own best customer. 

Today Canada’s new government is announcing the first set of projects that we believe are both in Canada’s national interest and feasible to be built.

The proponents behind this first tranche of projects have already done much of the hard work. They have undertaken extensive consultation with Indigenous peoples that meet the standards of existing legislation, they worked extensively with provincial and territorial governments, and local authorities, and already meet many of the necessary regulatory standards. 

We are referring them to the MPO to be shepherded across the finish line. The Office will help these proponents achieve any remaining regulatory and permitting approvals, secure the necessary financing. 

Critically, the Office will recommend to the federal government the best course to complete each project approval quickly, so proponents can make smart investment decisions. We expect a second tranche of projects will be announced before the Grey Cup. 

These projects are: 

First, LNG Canada Phase II expansion in Northern British Columbia. This will directly help transform Canada into an energy superpower. This project will double LNG Canada’s production capacity and make it the second-largest liquified natural gas facility of its kind in the world. 

It will diversify Canada’s trade partners, help meet the growing global demand for secure, low-carbon energy, and support tens of thousands of new high-paying careers. 

Leveraging Canada’s sustainable advantage, its emissions are projected to be 35% lower than the world’s best performing LNG facilities and 60% lower than the global average.

Second, the Darlington New Nuclear Project Phase 1. This project will make Canada the first G7 country to have an operational small modular nuclear reactor, driving $500 million annually into Ontario’s nuclear supply chain. Once complete, Darlington’s first of four planned SMR units will provide reliable, affordable, clean power to 300,000 homes, while sustaining 3,700 jobs annually over the next 65 years, in addition to 18,000 jobs during construction. At its full potential, Darlington’s SMRs will provide enough electricity to reliably and safely power about 1.2 million homes – more than the total number of households in Edmonton and Calgary combined. By moving early, and at scale, we can take advantage of Canadian expertise to build value chains at home, maximizing the number of jobs for our skilled trades people and engineers. 

Third, the Contrecœur terminal. Export terminals and ports are projects of national interest that provide the infrastructure needed to diversify trade, open new markets, and reduce costs for Canadian businesses. That is why I am asking the Major Projects Office to work with the Port of Montreal to determine how to move forward with port development at the Contrecœur terminal.

This project will create 5,000 jobs during construction and 1,000 permanent jobs during operation, generating up to $140 million per year in added commercial value across Canada.

Most importantly, this project will enable our businesses and industries to export more to new markets.

Critical Minerals and mining are industries of national interest that can reinforce our prosperity, security, diversification of markets, and reconciliation. To these ends, we are referring the McIlvenna Bay Foran Copper Mine in East-Central Saskatchewan and the Red Chris Copper and Gold Mine in Northwestern B.C. to the Major Projects Office.

The McIlvenna Bay Foran Copper Mine will strengthen Canada’s position as a global supplier of critical minerals for clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and modern infrastructure. It will create 400 jobs, boost local economies in Saskatchewan and Québec where the copper will be smelted, and it is expected to be the first net-zero copper project in Canada. 

In B.C., the Red Chris Copper and Gold Mine will be another carbon-neutral copper mine, increasing Canada’s copper production by more than 15%. It will employ approximately 1,500 during operations, with a peak of approximately 1,800 workers during construction in Northwestern B.C. 

It will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 70%. Working in close collaboration with the Tahltan Nation, it is an important step in reconciliation and further developing the potential of Northern B.C.

Relatedly, we are also tasking the Office to begin close consideration of the proposed new Northwest Critical Conservation Corridor. This initiative presents multiple opportunities for critical minerals development, and clean power transmission – including potential interties to the Yukon and Alberta. It has the prospect of significant Indigenous project leadership, while creating a new potential conservation area the size of Greece.

Combined, these five projects will generate more than $60 billion for the Canadian economy and create tens of thousands of high-paying careers for Canadian workers.

As I said at the outset, these five projects are just the beginning. 

Canada’s new government also believes that there are several strategies that could be truly transformative, because they help connect our regions and help unlock our potential across a range of products, markets, and technologies. 

However, these strategies are also at an earlier stage and require further development. 

Today, I am announcing that I’m asking Dawn’s team at the Major Projects Office to create business development units to work with proponents on these transformative strategies to assess how to quickly transform their potential into reality.

First, the Major Projects Office will dedicate itself to the development of regulations, financing, structure, and value chains to accelerate Canada’s production and processing of highly strategic critical minerals. That includes those in Ontario’s Ring of Fire, the mineral-rich Slave Geological Area in the Northwest Territories, and the Labrador Trough – la Fosse du Labrador, shared by Québec and Labrador. 

From first-mile infrastructure that surfaces new opportunities from our land, to last-mile connections that link these projects to reliable long-term purchases around the world, we can build the bridge from mine to magnet – turning raw potential into engines of a resilient industry, of clean power, and enhanced security. 

Second, the MPO will examine how to advance large scale clean power, with Wind West Atlantic Energy. This Nova Scotia project will transform Atlantic Canada’s electricity supply and create enormous opportunities for new industries and export markets. It has the potential to produce 60 gigawatts of electricity – equivalent to one quarter of Canada’s entire demand. As part of a broader Energy East Partnership, Wind West, this partnership could also include important interties between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, transmission cables between PEI and New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador’s next phase of development of Churchill Falls and Gull Island.

Third, we are referring Pathways Plus to the Major Projects Office. Pathways is an Alberta-based carbon capture utilisation and storage project, which could achieve enormous emissions reductions – the equivalent of taking 90% of all the cars and trucks off the road in Alberta – while facilitating new growth in the oil sands. By pairing investments in Pathways with a new pipeline to a variety of potential markets. 

Pathways represents the opportunity to create a major new industry, an essential technology for global decarbonization.

Our plan for major nation-building projects is anchored in new corridors that connect our economy, enhance our security, and build transportation networks across this vast country, and to the wider world.

That’s why we are referring the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor – a new Arctic port and all-weather road infrastructure that can link Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and the Prairie provinces. The Arctic Corridor would open up, promising advanced-stage mineral projects through critical links from port to port to port. With increasingly open Arctic waters, rapid advances in cyber, artificial intelligence, and quantum, and the advanced missile capacities, we can no longer rely on our geography to protect us. We must fortify Canada’s sovereignty and security in the Arctic. By creating a new port at Grays Bay and unlocking our resources, we can assert our economic sovereignty while building our defences. 

Fifth, we are referring to the Port of Churchill Plus project, as part of a larger vision to unlock an Indigenous-owned energy corridor in Manitoba. With proposals for port upgrades, upgrades to the rail line, an energy corridor, and marine ice-breaking capability, the port would offer an alternative to west and east coast routes, reduce Canada’s reliance on a single energy corridor, and generate more than $1 billion annually in economic activity. This project would be developed in close cooperation with Manitoba’s new Crown-Indigenous Corporation.

Sixth, I have also asked the Major Projects Office to work with the Minister of Transportation so that we can begin construction of Alto, the high-speed rail network, within four years instead of eight. This first high-speed train in Canada will be able to reach a speed of three hundred (300) kilometers per hour. Passengers will be able to travel from Montreal to Toronto in approximately three hours. This project will also create fifty-one thousand (51,000) jobs during construction and inject up to thirty-five (35) billion dollars into our GDP – with a goal of reducing emissions by 25 million tons.

Finally, we will task the Major Projects Office with assisting in the development of a Canadian Sovereign Cloud. This would build the compute capacity and data centres needed to underpin our competitiveness, protect our security, and boost our sovereignty. This will give Canada independent control over advanced computing power, while reinforcing our leadership in AI and quantum. 

These projects can deliver transformational benefits to Canadians – driving growth in jobs and income, diversifying our energy sources and markets, connecting our country, and our country with the world.       

We have moved at pace to pass this legislation, establish the Major Projects Office, and identify the first tranche of products and strategies. We have started as we mean to go on, and we are just beginning.

Because we know that we can give ourselves more than foreign government can ever take away, that we can build a brighter future for a confident Canada.

We are going to build great things for Canadians, on a scale and at a speed never seen before – and this is just the beginning.

Throughout our history, Canadians have turned challenges into opportunities. 

Canada itself is a project, built and improved by the strength of its people. 

We have connected a land mass that spans almost 5,000 kilometres.

We have built ports that unlocked trade with new markets and reliable partners across the world’s oceans. 

We have built new seaways to realise the potential of the Great Lakes economy. 

We have transformed Canada into one strong, united nation – a nation whose best chapters are yet to be written. 

We Canadians have built big things before, and we will again. Now, at this moment of big disruption and profound change, we bear the same responsibilities and should hold the same ambitions. 

To become the strongest economy in the G7, Canada must act now. Invest now. Precisely when it’s hard. 

By moving forward, we won’t just catalyse new ports, energy corridors, and other engines of progress – we will also open the bounds of Canada’s imagination about the future we can build for each other.

Dawn told me that she has already received hundreds of emails – filled with ideas for future projects that could rise to these standards. Her inbox is proof that Canada is ready to build. 

We are establishing an economic strategy to move Canada from dependence to resilience and from uncertainty to prosperity.

By building great things, we will give ourselves the means to achieve our ambitions. We will surpass ourselves, dream again, and thus be led to develop and build even greater projects.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of returning to St. Rose – the school in Edmonton I attended as a child. When I started there in Grade One, the tar sands – as they were then known – were a curiosity to most but a few dreamers and builders. By the time I finished Grade Nine, they had been transformed into one of Canada’s largest industries, through the brilliance of our scientists, the drive of our entrepreneurs, the support of our governments, and above all, by the dedication of our skilled workers. 

Today’s students at St. Rose – like their peers across the country – are full of hope, ideas, and energy for Canada’s future. Now we are beginning to realise that promise, taking control of our future.

Thinking big. Acting Fast. And building Canada strong.