Thank you, everyone. Good morning.
It is always great to be in Nepean.
Thank you to the team at the Minto Recreation Complex for welcoming us here today. And thank you for everything you do to train, teach, and empower our children.
This is where they learn and become brilliant, curious, and ambitious adults.
We are here on the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend.
This is a time to reflect on good fortune in our lives – the gratitude we feel for our family and loved ones, for our communities, and for our country.
It’s a time to reflect on what makes our country, Canada, great.
Those reflections are especially poignant right now, after a year in which Canadians have faced:
- An increasingly dangerous and divided world.
- The shock of the trade war that is causing massive economic uncertainty.
These aren’t just changes, but a rupture.
Canadians have taken three big lessons from this upheaval.
First, we have to look out for ourselves.
That’s why Canada’s new government is focused on protecting our communities, our borders, our country, and our way of life.
From more RCMP and border security officers to new legislation that combats hate, tightens the criminal code, and toughens conditions on bail.
Second, during the past year, Canadians have learned that we must focus on what we can control.
In a rapidly changing world, that means building our strength at home.
That’s why Canada’s new government is moving swiftly with measures to build:
- One Canadian economy.
- Millions more homes.
- Major projects that will connect and transform our nation.
Because we know we can give ourselves more than any foreign country can ever take away.
And the third lesson we’ve learned is that we have to take care of each other.
That’s why Canada’s new government is working to empower Canadians:
- By creating new opportunities, including hundreds of thousands of new, high-paying careers.
- By ensuring workers can get the skills they need to succeed.
- By making new technology serve you.
And, above all, we are giving Canadians the means to take action by helping them get ahead, by lowering their cost of living.
When you can keep a larger portion of the money you’ve earned, you can take care of your family the way you want to and the way you dream of.
You can become more involved in your community and build the future you want.
The future you want for all those who will be gathering around your Thanksgiving table this weekend.
On November 4th, the Minister of Finance will table our first federal budget.
Our economic plan to meet this hinge moment in Canada’s history.
Our plan for change.
Our plan to build Canada strong.
Our budget will set out what we build, and how we will build.
In the Budget, we will have to make responsible and pragmatic choices and, yes, difficult decisions.
We will spend less on government operations and reduce waste, so Canadians can invest more in the workers, businesses, and nation-building infrastructure that will build a brighter future for all.
We will take tough decisions so we can:
- Protect programs and initiatives that support the most vulnerable in our society.
- Reinforce programs that help bring down costs for hard-working Canadians.
- Build programs that help you get ahead.
Bringing costs down so you can get ahead – that’s what we have been relentlessly focused on since being elected a few months ago.
On day one, we cancelled the divisive consumer carbon tax, bringing down gas prices by 18 cents per litre.
We then cut taxes for 22 million middle-class Canadians – saving a two-income family up to $840 this year.
We have cut taxes to lower housing costs for first-time homebuyers to allow Canadians to save up to $50,000 when they purchase a house for themselves and their family.
We cut tolls for all vehicles on the Confederation Bridge from over $50 to $20, and fares by 50% on ferries in Atlantic Canada – leading to a 25% increase in usage in the first two months alone.
We have also taken measures to reduce Internet connection costs.
Our decision to uphold the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s policy to expand mandatory wholesale access in our telecommunications sector was made for one reason only: to lower high-speed Internet costs for Canadians – for you.
We also launched the Canada Homes program to help double the pace of housing construction over the next 10 years.
By building Canada strong, we will create enormous opportunities for Canadians.
By lowering your costs – from taxes to broadband and new homes – we are helping you keep more of your money so that you and your families can get ahead.
In that spirit, I am announcing three new measures in Budget 2025.
First, we are launching automatic federal benefits to help our most vulnerable get the money they are entitled to.
Second, we are making the National School Food Program permanent to help ensure all kids have the nutrition they need at school.
And third, we are renewing the Canada Strong Pass so more Canadians can experience the best that our great country has to offer.
To start, we will launch automatic federal benefits for more than 5.5 million low-income Canadians.
Millions of lower-income Canadians don’t file their taxes, either because they don’t have the resources to do so or because they think their income is too low to matter.
This means that the people who most need benefits often don’t get them.
That could mean missing out on:
- The GST/HST Tax Credit
- The Canada Child Benefit
- The Canada Workers Benefit
- The Canada Disability Benefit
- The Disability Tax Credit
People who are eligible to receive the Disability Tax Credit and the Canada Disability Benefit will receive $3,000 thanks to new automatic federal benefits.
A single parent with two young children earning $15,000 from a part-time job is eligible for substantial federal and provincial benefits.
By using the CRA’s new automated and free process, they will just need to provide a few details and confirm their information on a pre-filled out tax return from the CRA to receive all benefits to which they are entitled. In this case, more than $25,000 for their family.
Canada’s new government will start pre-filing tax returns in the 2026 tax year, scaling up to 5.5 million low-income Canadians by the 2028 tax year.
When this program is fully operational, it will pay out hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits in the next few years that would otherwise be left unclaimed – helping our most vulnerable get the supports they need.
The second initiative to bring down costs is to make the National School Food Program permanent.
In Canada, no child should go to school hungry or sit in a classroom all day wondering when their next meal will be.
All our children should be focused on learning.
Since it launched this past year, the National School Food Program has provided healthy meals to 400,000 children across the country.
It is saving parents with two children about $800 a year on groceries.
Until today, this program was temporary – with only three years of funding remaining.
But the challenge it addresses is essential. So, today we are announcing we will move forward with the funding and legislation to make it permanent, and Canada’s new government will keep working with provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners to expand school food programs across Canada, so that more kids can benefit.
Third, we are renewing the Canada Strong Pass for 2026.
Canada has stunning national parks, fascinating historic sites, world-class museums, and renowned galleries.
We created the Canada Strong Pass so you can see more of our great country, for less money.
The pass provided Canadians with free entry to our national parks and historic sites, and discounted or free tickets to national galleries and museums, so more Canadians could be inspired by the best of Canadian nature, creativity, and history.
It also gave families free or discounted VIA Rail tickets, letting more families travel together to experience Canada’s stunning landscapes and destinations.
It was a big hit: Canadians spent the summer using the pass to see more of our country’s best, for less.
The pass boosted VIA Rail ridership by 13%.
Visitors at our parks, museums, and historic sites were up around 15%, on average.
Since Canadian families loved the Canada Strong Pass and since no one can possibly experience all that Canada has to offer in a few months – we are renewing the Canada Strong Pass for summer 2026.
We are also launching the Canada Strong Pass for this holiday season, starting mid-December – giving Canadians the opportunity to take advantage of the discounts that the pass offers at an expensive time of year.
We live in a beautiful country, and Canadians want to see more of it. I also want you to see more of it.
We are therefore renewing the Canada Strong Pass for next summer so you can go hiking in Banff National Park and admire works by the Group of Seven at the National Gallery of Canada.
And we are putting it back in place this holiday season.
So, when your children are on school holidays for two weeks, you can get out and visit our museums and art galleries.
Or maybe save some money by taking the train to visit friends and family.
The trade war has revealed limits to our economic independence that we must tackle head on, and we will.
And yes, we have our challenges and our differences, some of which may even come up at the dinner table on Thanksgiving.
But the events of the past year have also reminded us that Canada is the greatest country on earth, and they have revealed a nation that is more united, generous, innovative, ambitious, and ready to build what’s right than any other nation on this earth.
Together, we will make Canada even better.
To do this, we need to make big decisions and make responsible choices.
To protect our communities.
To accomplish great things together, and to empower each other to act.
Because we cannot control what other countries do.
We control what we choose to build.
We choose to build Canada strong for all Canadians.
Long live Canada and happy Thanksgiving.