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Good evening.

It’s a pleasure to be back at university.

Even though it has been a while since I was in your shoes, there are similarities to our experiences.

In particular, we will have both studied — and entered the workforce — at times of immense change.

Since I graduated, I’ve increasingly understood that life does not proceed in a straight line.

And that the history and progress of nations are punctuated by hinge moments — times when the future hangs in the balance, when our actions can be decisive.

In moments like these, we must be bold. We must chart a new course. And we must do it together.

Canada is going through one of those moments today. Technological change is accelerating.

The world is more dangerous and divided. And the U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression.

The scale and speed of these developments are not a smooth transition, they’re a rupture.

They mean our economic strategy needs to change dramatically. And that your future will not be the same as my past.

My time as a student was marked by events of similar magnitude but in a very different direction. When I was your age, the Berlin Wall fell, leading to a long period of liberalisation of the movement of goods, capital and people.

It was a time of optimism, of hope, and of promise.

Those dynamics particularly benefited Canada.

Our enviable geography gave us access to the largest and most dynamic economy in the world, while keeping us far from most wars and terrorist attacks of the time.

Over decades, our economy grew steadily more integrated with the United States through the Free Trade Agreement of the 1980s, the NAFTA Accord of the 1990s and eventually the USMCA agreement signed in 2018.

Canada’s trade increased by 400% over that period, and our economy doubled in size.

This decades-long process of an ever-closer economic relationship between the Canadian and U.S. economies is now over. Many of our former strengths — based on close ties to America — have become our vulnerabilities.

As a result, the jobs of workers in our industries most affected by U.S. tariffs — autos, steel, lumber — are under threat. Our businesses are holding back investments, restrained by the pall of uncertainty that is hanging over all of us.

Our relationship with the United States will never be the same as it was, even though, in the new protectionist world, we have the best trade deal of any country, and we are working to make it even better still.

At the same time, technology is changing the way we work, live, and communicate.

When I was in graduate school, the World Wide Web, as we called it, was just beginning. We used pen and paper in class, we talked on the telephone to each other, about the same news stories, the same movies, and the same bands.

My generation was connected by wires. Yours is connected by code — and yet our society today is becoming ever more disconnected.

Our public square is fragmented by online echo chambers — where truth and fiction can be hard to tell apart, and where contrasting ideas tend to polarize, not persuade.

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As Canadians, we have re-learned some key lessons over the past year.

We have to take care of ourselves because we can’t rely on one foreign partner.

We have to take care of each other because we are stronger together.

Now is not the time to be cautious because fortune favours the bold.

We can give ourselves far more than others could ever take from us.

We are masters in our own house. It is Canadians who will decide what happens here.

It’s our country. It’s your future. We are going to give it back to you.

To confront a more dynamic, competitive and hostile world, we must chart a new course, drawing on our many strengths, relying on our values, and being inspired by our history.

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Canada has what the world wants.

We are bordered by three oceans, and we are the only country with trade agreements with every G7 economy — giving our businesses unparalleled access to global markets.

We are an energy superpower. We start with the third-largest reserves of oil and the fourth-largest reserves of natural gas in the world. We have an 85% clean electricity grid, with vast potential to power the clean economy of the future.

We possess one of the world’s largest resources of critical minerals and rare earths.

Canada is a leader in artificial intelligence, life sciences, and quantum computing. Our universities are among the best in the world, our scientists among the most cited, and they attract and train top talent.

Our government has the fiscal capacity to act decisively. We must draw on these strengths.

Our second advantage is that Canada has the values to which the world aspires.

Canada has always been, and will always be, committed to fundamental human rights, human dignity, and individual freedom.

We are a pluralistic society that works — our cities are the most diverse in the world, places where people bring the best of their cultures.

Our public square is loud, diverse and free.

Canadians value collaboration and partnership.

And we are committed to building a sustainable future.

These deep values are also economic strengths.

They give investors the confidence to build here.

They give innovators the stability to take risks here.

They give the world reasons to trust Canadians as reliable partners.

Canada’s history is filled with adventurers, risk takers, and builders.

Over the centuries, to succeed and prosper, we have had to go further, build faster, and dream bigger.

It’s important to remember pre-Confederation Canada — it was an age of boldness and risk-taking.

Long before Confederation, our country was forged by Indigenous peoples, coureurs des bois, and voyageurs who mapped the continent and built vast trading networks from coast to coast to coast before the Americans had even left St. Louis.[i]

When the Second World War ended, Canada was ambitious, determined, and united in a mission to build big things.

The St. Lawrence Seaway, the Trans-Canada Highway, Expo ’67, the CN Tower.

We built new neighbourhoods for hundreds of thousands of veterans and their families, and opened new universities to launch their careers.

That feeling that we had control over our future.

We used to build in this country. We can build again.

We used to explore this country. We can chart new courses again.

We used to take big, bold risks in this country. It is time to swing for the fences again.

That’s what the upcoming budget will be about:

• Building
• Taking control, and
• Winning

We will make generational investments, with a plan to:

• Protect our communities, our borders, our way of life.
• Build a stronger economy where everyone has a chance to get ahead.
• Empower Canadians with new opportunities, better careers, and a lower cost of living.

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To build more of what we need, we must protect what we have. Safe communities attract people and families to put down roots, get a home, build a rewarding career, and ensure their kids get a good education.

As soon as Parliament opened this past spring, we introduced the strongest legislation in Canadian history to secure our borders and crack down on gun trafficking and illegal drugs such as fentanyl.

We introduced new legislation to combat the horrifying rise in hate and violent intimidation, including to protect against antisemitism and Islamophobia.

As I shared last week, we will table legislation for stricter bail and sentencing laws.

To help secure our communities, we’re hiring 1,000 new RCMP personnel. And to secure our borders, we are hiring 1,000 new border services officers.

As we build safer streets and stronger borders, we must also reinforce our sovereignty in a more dangerous and divided world.

That is why Canada’s new government is undertaking the largest increase in defence spending in a generation and forging new partnerships with Allies, such as the EU, to strengthen our shared security.

Because you deserve a safe home.

Because you deserve to feel secure in your community.

Because we will defend Canada’s sovereignty.

Because there is no prosperity without security.

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Our plan, first and foremost, is to build here at home so we can take control of our future.

In the last six months, we have worked to create the right conditions to get big things built, faster.

At the end of June, we passed the One Canadian Economy Act, to remove federal barriers to internal trade and to fast-track the approvals of nation-building projects.

In August, we opened the Major Projects Office, which serves as a single point of contact to get nation-building projects built faster.

Projects that will connect, diversify, and propel our economy.

Projects that will expand exports to new partners around the world.

Projects that will create hundreds of thousands of good-paying, unionized jobs for Canadian workers.

Last month, we announced the first tranche of major projects — with $60 billion in investments in nuclear power, LNG, carbon capture, critical minerals, and new trade corridors.

We also outlined strategies — from offshore wind to high-speed rail and a sovereign cloud — to drive tens of billions in further investments, while creating the conditions for a better connected, more productive and ambitious country.

We are just getting started – our next tranche of nation-building projects will be announced by the Grey Cup.

(Pause)

And the core of our Budget strategy will be to catalyse unprecedented investments in Canada over the next five years.

We are also focusing on building millions of new homes to strengthen our communities.
Building faster with Canadian technologies, Canadian workers, Canadian wood, and Canadian steel.

Building homes that Canadians can truly afford.

We launched Build Canada Homes to help double the pace of housing construction within a decade using new factory technologies – cutting building times by 50%, reducing costs by 20%, and lowering emissions by 20%.

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It’s not just what we build — it’s also how we build. We will build inclusively, in full partnership with First Nations, Inuit and Métis every step of the way. We will build in solidarity with workers, creating good union jobs.

Budget 2025 will introduce our Climate Competitiveness Strategy, with a focus on results over objectives. On investment over prohibition.

We will build sustainably, focusing on low-emission energy, transport, housing and manufacturing to strengthen our competitiveness — because reducing emissions is not only a moral duty, it is also an economic imperative.

Our strategy recognises that to compete in today’s global economy, we must build sustainably.

Above all, we will build Canadian.

The new security threats mean we are making the biggest investments in our military in generations.
Until now, more than 70 cents of every dollar of military capital spending went to the United States.

Our new Defence Investment Agency will make sure we build more of our security and defence capabilities here at home, creating new careers in aerospace, shipbuilding, cyber, and AI for Canadian engineers, technicians, and scientists.

We have similar opportunities in steel.

Consider that, while 80% of the steel Europe buys is manufactured in Europe and 75% of the steel in the U.S. is manufactured there, only 40% of the steel bought in Canada is made here.

That doesn’t make sense — not when we have the people, the resources, and the companies to build here.

Our upcoming budget will move forward our new Buy Canadian policy — prioritising Canadian steel, aluminum, lumber, manufactured goods, and technology for Canadian projects.

With new orders for homes, infrastructure, and defence equipment becoming new orders for Canadian suppliers.

We will be our own best customer so the welder who’s working on contract in St. John’s can get a full-time job.

And so that an engineer from the University of Ottawa has a high-quality career waiting for them here in Canada.

(Pause)

Our partners are already taking note of this new Canadian ambition.

Last month, we signed an historic free trade agreement with Indonesia — the world’s fourth largest country by population.

We’ve signed foundational agreements with the UAE in AI, with the EU in defence and trade, and with Germany on critical minerals.

And we are re-engaging with the global giants India and China while we deepen our partnerships with traditional allies.

To build on this momentum, I am announcing an ambitious goal for Canada to double our non-U.S. exports in the next decade.

This will generate $300 billion more in trade – and new orders for Canadian resources, technologies, and expertise.

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Each of you in this room is here to get the education you need to go out and build the future you want. To be empowered with a better shot at the life you want for yourself and your family.

We will keep building a country where more people have more opportunity.

We will continue to support the most vulnerable, to offer relief to those struggling to get ahead, by building a country where life is affordable.

That’s the third objective of our plan: to give all Canadians the means to succeed.

We will start by lowering costs, and with programs and services that provide the strong foundations for a good life.

The first thing we did after the election was to cut taxes for the middle class, delivering tax savings for more than 22 million Canadians.

We cut taxes to reduce the cost of housing for first-time homebuyers — immediately making the goal of home ownership a reality for more Canadians, especially young families.

All the big projects we’re driving forward — from new housing and to new ports and clean energy — will create high-paying, union careers in Canada.

It’s going to be a great time to be in the trades.

In Budget 2025, we will unlock new apprenticeships and skills training programs and a new talent strategy for the next generation of scientists and innovators to build their careers in Canada.

As we build new industries and create new markets, you will be equipped with the skills you need to seize those opportunities.

When Canadians empower each other, everyone benefits, and Canada prospers.

(Pause)

To seize this hinge moment, we will have to make tough choices.

We will have to transform how government operates — spending less so that Canadians can invest more, build our country, and create better careers.

Budget 2025 will balance the operating deficit in three years by reducing wasteful government spending and doing more with less.

Federal spending over the past decade was growing more than 7% year-over-year.

We spent faster than our economy was growing.

So, our new government is changing that.

As one example, we just completed a 60-day red-tape review that identified nearly 500 new ways to streamline government services, cut duplication, and reduce costs.

When we saw Canada Post losing $10 million a day, we made responsible choices.

Even with such efficiencies and better management, we will have to do less of some of the things we want to do, so we can do more of what we must do to build a bigger, better Canada.

This budget will protect the essential programs that give every Canadian a fair chance to get ahead.

We will protect the Canadian Dental Care Plan, which finally allows more than five million Canadians to access affordable dental care.

And we will make permanent the National School Food Program, which helps 400,000 children receive healthy meals every day.

We will protect the national childcare program for the 900,000 children who are getting the strong start they deserve, and for the parents who no longer have to choose between a family and a career.

Our budget will also bring in automatic federal benefits so that millions of low-income Canadians can get the support they need.

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We need to stay clear-eyed about where we stand today so we can build together for tomorrow.

This year, inflation has come down, but the cost of living is still too high.

Housing starts are up, and affordability is improving, but we still need to build many more homes, faster.

We are getting immigration under control, with asylum claims down by a third and new temporary foreign workers down by more than 70%.

To match immigration levels with our needs and our capacity, the Budget will include Canada’s new immigration plan to do better — for newcomers, for everyone.

We are creating jobs on the whole across the economy — and we’re forecast to be the second-fastest growing economy in the G7 over the next two years — even though some critical sectors, including autos, steel, lumber, forest products — and some regions are facing big pressures.

The fact is at present, despite everything, our economy is holding up.

But if we don’t act now, the pressures will only grow. More fundamentally, our goal is not to just do reasonably well but to grow stronger than the rest of the G7.

As we work to do so — I will make this promise to Canadians:

I will always be straight about the challenges we have to face and the choices we must make.
To be clear, we won’t transform our economy easily or in a few months — it will take some sacrifices and some time.

Our government will work relentlessly to cut waste and drive efficiencies, and when we have to make difficult choices, we will be thoughtful, transparent, and fair.

We will work collaboratively with our colleagues across the aisle to build, protect and empower Canadians.

We won’t play games. We won’t waste time. And we won’t hold back. We will do what it takes.

We will play to win. We will bet on Canada and all Canadians.

This is our country. This is your future. We are going to give you back control.

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And, because we are in this together, I ask you to get involved, to look out for each other, and to look after each other.

I know this from the history I read at university, and the history I’ve lived since graduating, that fortune truly favours the bold – and that the “hinge of fate” will turn on what Canada does right now.

We must change how we do some things — but we will never change who we are.

This moment has revealed the limits to our economic independence that we must tackle head-on.

But more importantly, it has also revealed a nation that is more determined, generous, hard-working, compassionate, and ambitious than any other on this earth.

We are Canada Strong.

Long live Canada.