Good morning.

It is a pleasure to be in beautiful Terrace this morning, and to be joined by Minister Robertson and the CEO of the Major Projects Office (MPO), Dawn Farrell.

I would also like to acknowledge the representatives of Kitselas First Nation and Kitsumkalum First Nation here in Terrace, and on the traditional territory of the Tsimshian people, and representatives of other First Nations communities who have gathered with us today.

We are here to announce the second tranche of major projects that will be referred to the MPO.

Projects that will reinforce our nation-building strategies to transform Canada’s economy.

Strategies that will make Canada more independent, inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous.

The world is changing rapidly.

Technological advances are accelerating. The transition to green energy is gaining momentum and reshaping global demand for resources.

Meanwhile, the United States has fundamentally shifted its approach to trade – threatening jobs and casting businesses into a climate of uncertainty.

Many of Canada’s strengths – based on close trade ties with the U.S. – have become our vulnerabilities.

Budget 2025 estimates that U.S. tariffs and the associated uncertainty will cost Canadians around 1.8% of our GDP.

That’s about $50 billion lost from our economy, the equivalent of $1,300 for every Canadian.

With the world changing rapidly, Canada must change our economic strategy dramatically.

We are doing that by drawing on our legacy as builders – a legacy long forged by the people of British Columbia.

Throughout our history, Canadians have built major projects that define our landscape and underwrite our prosperity. Projects like the first major railway that united the Maritimes, then the Canadian Pacific Railway that helped bring British Columbia into Confederation, the Trans-Canada Highway that linked our nation, and the St. Lawrence Seaway that has opened up new markets for over a trillion dollars worth of cargo.

We used to build in this country. We’re building our nation again.

One of the first things Canada’s new government did was to pass the Building Canada Act.

This law changes the government’s approach to building major projects from “why” to “how’’. Projects that:

• Strengthen Canada’s autonomy, resilience, and security.
• Provide major economic benefits to Canadians.
• Have a high likelihood of success.
• Advance the interests of Indigenous Peoples.
• Contribute to sustainable growth.

The MPO is helping build Canada smarter and quicker, fast-tracking the infrastructure we need to unlock our country’s immense resources.

This will build new communities, grow new businesses, and create tens of thousands of new careers in sustainable industries.

In September, we referred projects that represent more than $60 billion in investments to the MPO. Today, we will double that impact.

Budget 2025 reinforces our mission to build Canada strong. It’s our plan to take control of our future. Our plan to move from overreliance on one trading partner to resilience to global shocks. Our plan to replace uncertainty with prosperity.

We are taking our future into our own hands by building one Canadian economy, powered by new infrastructure – connecting our regions, diversifying our markets, bringing housing back to affordable levels, and protecting our communities.

Over the next five years, we will enable $1 trillion in investments.

On its own, the total of this investment will be enough to increase our GDP by more than 3.5% – that’s $3,500 for every Canadian worker.

Each of these projects that we are referring to the MPO today is transformational, and their impacts will be amplified by being part of bigger national strategies to boost Canada’s competitiveness, including:

• Realising Canada’s full potential as an energy superpower.
• Creating new trade and economic corridors to diversify our economy.
• Building Canada’s leadership in critical minerals to increase our independence.
• Establishing our data sovereignty to serve Canadians safely and securely.

Canada is starting to realise our full potential as an energy superpower in both conventional and clean energies.

LNG is an essential fuel for the energy transition. LNG can help Canada build new trading relationships, especially the fast-growing markets of Asia.

By 2040, global LNG demand is expected to rise by 60%. Canada will be ready. We are the fourth largest natural gas producer in the world, and we have the potential to supply 100 million tonnes annually of new LNG exports to Asia.

That will require major capital investments across a wide range of infrastructure.

Budget 2025 provides new tax incentives to encourage investment in the world’s lowest-carbon LNG facilities, and it expands the Canadian Infrastructure Bank’s ability to support projects like Ksi Lisims LNG.

Ksi Lisims comprises a new gas pipeline, a new electricity transmission line, and a new floating LNG export facility.

Led by the Nisga’a Nation, Ksi Lisims will become Canada’s second-largest LNG facility with the capacity to export 12 million tonnes of LNG per year to new markets in Asia.

It will also be one of the world’s cleanest LNG operations – with emissions 94% below the global average, and the potential to reach net-zero by 2030 – while creating thousands of skilled careers and drawing $4 billion annually in GDP.

The federal government has been working closely with the Province of British Columbia in the development of this project, most notably through a “one project, one review” environmental assessment and Indigenous consultation led by the province. In addition to consulting on financing, the MPO will help coordinate timely approvals of all three elements of Ksi Lisims and related transmission infrastructure that I will discuss in a moment.

Core to becoming an energy superpower will be fully capitalising on Canada’s advantage in clean energy by substantially expanding our 80% clean electricity grid.

Because clean electrification is the path – the only path – to building a sustainable, prosperous economy.

By 2050, our electricity needs could triple – driven by economic growth and rising demand for clean transportation, green industrial processes, and data centres.

To meet this demand, we will need greater hydroelectric, solar, wind, and nuclear capacity. And we will need new interconnections between provincial systems to build an energy network that is efficient, resilient, and sustainable across Canada.

By creating a robust and sustainable energy grid, we can unlock enormous economic opportunities, including right here in Northern B.C.

Canada’s new government is launching a transformational strategy to develop clean energy, including:

• New Investment Tax Credits (ITCs) for Clean Electricity.
• The Productivity Super-Deduction, with immediate expensing for clean electricity generation and energy conservation equipment.
• The Canada Infrastructure Bank plans to invest $10 billion in clean power projects.
• Federal support for interprovincial transmission links.

Nuclear power will play an important role in scaling clean generation. The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources will lead our new nuclear strategy, working with provinces, particularly the Government of Ontario, to deploy SMRs and tens of gigawatts of new utility-scale nuclear capacity.

Canada also has a long tradition of using hydro power to unlock economic opportunity from Hydro Québec to Alberta’s Brazeau Dam.

In that spirit, we are referring the Iqaluit Nukkiksautiit Hydro Project to the MPO.

This is a breakthrough for Arctic sovereignty and sustainability – becoming Nunavut’s first 100% Inuit-owned hydro energy project. It will save $1.9 billion in diesel costs over 50 years while providing affordable, reliable, and emissions-free power to the Arctic.

The second transformative strategy is to develop new trade and economic corridors to diversify our markets and build our independence.

This is the potential of the Northwest Critical Conservation Corridor, which we arereferring today to the MPO.

This Northwest Corridor has extraordinary potential for critical minerals development, clean power transmission, and Indigenous leadership. It can unlock billions in investments, while creating a new conservation area the size of Greece.

The corridor involves building new transmission lines, upgrading highways, installing fibre and cell towers, and investing in communities, ports, and railways. By doing so, we will strengthen Canada’s position as a global leader in clean energy and critical minerals.

The North Coast Transmission Line (NCTL) is required to begin to unlock this potential.

To help get it going, the Canada Infrastructure Bank is today announcing a loan of $140 million to B.C. Hydro.

The NCTL will enable transformative industrial projects – including the Ksi Lisims LNG facility and multiple critical minerals developments in the Golden Triangle.

The transmission line alone has the potential to create $10 billion in new economic activity, while reducing emissions by up to three million tonnes annually.

More broadly, the NCTL will anchor a clean-energy industrial corridor for generations, including a proposed Yukon-B.C. Grid Connect that will increase Yukon’s energy security and affordability, as well as a potential interconnect with Alberta to optimise power reliability and sustainability in that province.

By 2050, global demand for critical minerals is expected to increase fivefold, but at present, the supply of those resources is highly concentrated and risky.

The world wants Canada as a reliable supplier of critical minerals to build a more sustainable global economy.

Canada is already among the top five global producers for 10 different critical minerals, and we hold a rich geological endowment of all 34 critical minerals.

Unlocking these resources through projects in the Ring of Fire, La Fosse du Labrador, and in the Golden Triangle in Northern B.C. will attract hundreds of billions of dollars in new investment and create thousands of high-paying careers for miners, carpenters, and engineers across the country.

The federal government is committed that these opportunities are realised in full partnership, including equity ownership, with First Nation communities.

The Ring of Fire alone has the potential to add over $22 billion to Canada’s GDP over 30 years, while advancing economic growth in partnership with local Indigenous communities.

Canada’s critical mineral strategy will encourage exploration, accelerate project development, support essential infrastructure from the first mile to mines and processing facilities to new trade corridors, and ports that open up global markets.

Our strategy will support clean power development, while providing greater price certainty and competitive financing to encourage long-term investments.

Last month, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources announced 26 new investments, partnerships, and measures to advance critical mineral projects worth more than $6 billion.

This initiative will help unlock the vast development and export potential of the Ring of Fire. The Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario are currently stepping up their discussions to accelerate these efforts.

Budget 2025 makes major investments to advance critical minerals projects – including a $2 billion Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund for projects, a $1.5 billion First and Last Mile Fund for related infrastructure, as well as expanded tax credits for investment.

In this context, we are referring to the MPO Canada Nickel’s Crawford Project in Ontario, Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie Mine in Québec, and the Northcliff Resources’ Sisson Mine in New Brunswick.

Canada Nickel’s Crawford Project will anchor Canada’s global leadership in clean industrial materials. Situated in the world’s second-largest nickel reserve, it will produce high-quality, low-carbon nickel essential for batteries and green steel. With projected emissions 90% below the global average and the potential for a net-negative carbon footprint, Crawford will set the global standard for the future of responsible mining.

The Sisson Mine will produce tungsten – the strongest metal in the world – and will position Canada as a reliable supplier for steel manufacturing, defence, and protective equipment.

Lastly, Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie Mine will transform global battery supply chains.

This project will be integrated with the battery materials plant in Bécancour to produce spherical graphite used in electric vehicle batteries and energy storage systems – and all of it will be powered entirely by Québec’s clean hydroelectricity.

The project will reduce reliance on carbon‑intensive sources, strengthen Canada’s supply resilience, and help accelerate the energy transition. In addition, it will attract $1.8 billion in investments.

Today is not just about what we build, it is also about how we build.

We are building sustainably, reducing emissions, and investing in the clean energy future. Our energy and critical minerals projects are among the lowest carbon in the world. Moreover, they unlock major investments in sustainable growth for generations to come.

We are building in solidarity with Canadian workers – creating hundreds of thousands of high-paying union jobs.

And we are building in partnership with Indigenous Peoples to ensure meaningful Indigenous ownership and major economic benefits, while promoting the conservation of our natural heritage for future generations.

This approach reinforces that the impacts of our nation-building strategies will be generational.

Consider my earlier reference to the railway that linked the Maritimes at the outset of Confederation to move goods and troops, to assert our independence, and help unite a young country.

That line eventually became part of the Canadian National Railway, which now spans more than 31,000 kilometres across this vast land – reaching to Terrace, and from Terrace, the world.

It moves $250 billion of cargo each year and employs nearly 25,000 Canadians.

Infrastructure as old as our nation itself – driving tens of billions in revenue every year, employing thousands of Canadians, and uniting our nation.

That is the power of a nation-building project.

Projects that Canadians have built before. Projects that we are starting to build again.

Building Terrace strong.

Building B.C. strong.

Building Canada strong.

Thank you.