Hello everyone,

Thank you to the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montréal for hosting me here and bringing us all together today.

I am pleased to be in Montréal to talk about our plan to build Canada Strong.

I know that Québecers identify with this plan because it appeals to the entrepreneurial spirit that is so important to Québec.

That entrepreneurial spirit and willingness to think outside the box have made it possible for them to develop institutions like La Caisse, Hydro-Québec, Desjardins, and the Fonds de Solidarité.

That entrepreneurial spirit made it possible to create world champions from here like CGI, Couche-Tard, Bombardier and CAE.

Retail champions like Aldo, Dynamite, and Simons.

That entrepreneurial spirit is now driving the development of pillars of the new economy like Wealthsimple, Lightspeed, and Plusgrade.

Entrepreneurs from here have pushed our universities to think differently by founding Mila, the largest concentration of deep learning academic researchers globally.

The history of nations is punctuated by such times when the future hangs in the balance, when our actions can be decisive.

We’re in one now:

• Technological change is accelerating.
• The world is more dangerous and divided.
• That decades-long process of an ever-closer economic relationship between the Canadian and U.S. economies is now over.

As a consequence, many of our former strengths – based on those close ties to America – have become our vulnerabilities. 

This is a rupture, not a transition, and it means that our economic strategy needs to change dramatically and rapidly.

Last week, Canada’s new government tabled our first budget. 

It estimates that U.S. tariffs and the uncertainty they’re creating 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.

If we don’t act now, these losses will only grow.

Nostalgia is not a strategy. 

The U.S. has changed. That’s their right. 

We must respond. That’s our imperative. 

The Budget builds Canada Strong by focusing on what we can control.

• Building at home to protect and empower Canadians;
• Boosting our productivity to drive lasting prosperity;
• Transforming how government works for you; and
• Diversifying our trade partners abroad to create more opportunity and greater independence.

Canada Strong will unleash over one trillion dollars in investment over the next five years.

That alone will increase our GDP by over 3.5%, that’s $3,500 for every Canadian worker, twice what’s being taken from us. 

Budget 2025 is the new economic strategy that Canada needs to meet this challenge and emerge even stronger.

A Canada that is confident and taking its future into its own hands. 

To get there, we must tackle long-standing economic pressures. 

Let me highlight a few elements of our strategy before the conversation with Isabelle. 

We are starting by building at home with generational investments. 

We are creating the right conditions to get big things built in Canada.

Infrastructure that connects our country, like Alto, the high-speed rail that cuts your travel time in half between Québec City and Toronto.

In 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 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 our exports to new partners.

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

Combined with the first five projects, this represents a total of $115 billion in investments in nuclear, LNG, carbon capture, critical minerals, and new trade corridors.

These investments affect all regions of Canada and contribute to the growth of each of them.

Yesterday, we announced the second tranche of projects.

It includes Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie graphite mine project in Lanaudière. 

This mine will help lead our transition to clean technologies. It produces spherical graphite, which is essential for electric vehicle batteries and energy storage systems. 

The impact of these projects is amplified by our strategies – from critical minerals to high-speed rail, clean energy and sovereign data – that will drive a better connected, more sustainable and productive economy.

Our new Defence Industrial Strategy will leverage the over $80 billion increase in defence spending over the next five years to build Canadian industry, including in AI, cyber, space, quantum, and other dual-use technologies.

Our Climate Competitiveness Strategy will help drive hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in nuclear, hydro, wind, storage, and grid infrastructure to position Canada to lead in the low-carbon economy.

This strategy has three main pillars:

First, strengthen industrial carbon pricing in Canada to provide long-term certainty for businesses and investors.

Second, expand clean economy tax credits to make the transition to clean energy more affordable for Canadian industries.

Third, finalize strengthened methane regulations in the oil and gas sector.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to make a fundamental point.

In a time of uncertainty, building for the future means we have to invest in our strengths. In Canada – in Québec – electricity has always been a strength.

The good news: we are in a global era of electrification. Demand is exploding. To charge our vehicles, heat our homes, grow our industries, and power our AI data centres – Canada will more than double its electricity capacity by 2050.

It's a big challenge. But it's essential.

Why? Because clean electricity will protect our environment. Strengthen our sovereignty. But above all: it is the foundation on which we will build our economic future.

Access to clean, reliable, and affordable energy will also enable our businesses to carry out major investment projects in critical minerals, aluminum, iron, and steel. 

Projects that will create thousands of jobs.

Québecers understand better than anyone that electricity can forge an economy. Modern Québec was built by visionaries who put their money on electrification.

Today, Québec is once again turning to its great builders with projects like the agreement with Newfoundland and Labrador.

The federal government will also play its part. The Budget provides incentives for clean electricity, and the Major Projects Office is going to accelerate projects that will make Canada an energy superpower.

We’re already taking action. Yesterday, I announced an energy corridor in British Columbia that will open the door to critical mineral projects. This is the level of ambition we need to come out on top.

In addition to having global ambitions, we will also build local infrastructure – new hospitals, transit, recreational facilities, arts centres – through the $50 billion Build Communities Strong Fund.

This Fund will help provinces, territories, and municipalities build the infrastructure they need to build strong communities.

Building Canada Strong means building Montréal strong. Québec strong.

Build Canada Homes will 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%.

We will expand our horizons abroad while building at home. We are establishing new business relationships with reliable partners to double our exports outside the United States over the next decade.

That’s $300 billion in new orders for Canadian resources, technologies, and expertise. New jobs for Canadian workers.

In the last few months, we signed a historic free trade agreement with Indonesia. 

We struck agreements with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in AI, with the European Union in defence, and with Germany in critical minerals. 

Last month, we launched free trade negotiations with the Philippines and Thailand, targeting conclusion over the next year, alongside a new free trade agreement with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, which represent 20% of global GDP.

And we are re-engaging with the global giants India and China.

Next week, I will be in Abu Dhabi to further expand the Canada-UAE economic partnership, and at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg to deepen Canada’s partnerships with global giants in energy, trade, AI, and defence.

The momentum is building, but we have to do even more to improve our productivity which has lagged the G7 over the past decade. 

To help turn that around we are boosting Canada’s investment tax advantage.

Budget 2025 introduces a Productivity Super-Deduction to reinforce Canada’s position as the most tax competitive country in the G7 for new business investment.

The Super-Deduction allows immediate expensing – a 100% write-off – for a range of assets including: 

• Manufacturing machinery, equipment, and buildings;
• Clean energy generation;
• Patents, data infrastructure, and computers; and
• Capital expenditures for research and development.

And we are expanding Investment Tax Credits for clean energy investment, including for clean electricity by public utilities and a range of critical minerals. These are on top of the super deduction.

These measures reduce Canada’s Marginal Effective Tax Rate (METR) by more than two percentage points to 13%.

That is substantially lower than the United States at 17.6%, even after the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), and about half the G7 25%.

In addition to tax competitiveness, we must add talent attractiveness.

Canada has always welcomed new people from around the world who are at the top of their field.

Budget 2025 launches our International Talent Attraction Strategy, supported by $1.7 billion, to recruit over 1,000 world-class researchers.

To increase the number of economic immigrants and attract talented U.S. H-1B visa holders.

When businesses face greater competition, they work harder, they innovate faster, and they serve their customers better.

Canadians benefit from lower prices, higher quality products, and greater choice. 

That’s why Budget 2025 will boost competition and innovation in the telecoms industry by making it easier for Canadians to switch between internet, home phone, and cell phone plans.

And why we will advance open banking to give consumers more control of their banking data, and more options for their money.

These measures will increase productivity and reduce costs for Canadians.

Finally, we are transforming government to make it more efficient and effective.

We will spend less to invest more.

The Budget introduces a new capital budgeting framework that distinguishes day-to-day operational spending from long-term investments that strengthen our economy.

After a decade during which federal spending grew more than 8% year-over-year, twice the rate of our economy – we will slash direct program spending growth to 0.5% over the next five years and balance the operating deficit in three years.

We are reducing the size of the public service by 10%. And cutting management consultants by 20%.

A series of tough, responsible choices will save Canadian taxpayers a total of $60 billion by restructuring operations, consolidating internal services and rightsizing programs.

In parallel, capital investments as a share of total spending will more than double from its historic average of 4% to almost 9%.

That means over $450 billion in capital investment to help crowd in the private investment Canada needs.

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. 

We will build in solidarity with workers, creating good union jobs. The coming decades are going to be a great time to be in the trades.

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

Above all, we will build by buying Canadian.

We will be our own best customer. With our new Buy Canadian Policy, when the government spends, we will prioritize Canadian suppliers.

Buying Canadian gives our industries and workers the resources to help transform our economy into a resilient economy, to build Canada Strong.

It's not enough to just buy Canadian, we also need to create Canadian. It's essential to provide financial support to our cultural sector.

We are strengthening Canadian arts and culture with more than $750 million in funding.

For the CBC. And Telefilm Canada, the NFB, the Montréal Biosphere. 

We’re talking about support for our film and television industries, our artists, our musicians, our festivals, and our joie de vivre.

This budget makes responsible choices to right size government while protecting the essential social programs that give every Canadian a fair chance to get ahead.

Including childcare, dental care, pharmacare, and the national school food program, as well as the health, education, and social transfers on which the provinces and territories rely.

In conclusion, there are two potential responses to U.S. tariffs.

We can stick to plans designed for a world that no longer exists. 

Or we can make new plans for a confident Canada that will prosper in the new world.

We can hide, slash the deficit, turn inward.

That would mean getting rid of our key social programs, or eliminating all health, education, and social transfers to provinces and territories, and refusing to invest in what we need now.

We’re choosing the other path.

We’re taking risks and investing ambitiously in our future, just as Canadians have done in the past.

Our history is filled with adventurers, risk takers, and builders.

Our country was forged by Indigenous Peoples 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.

When the Second World War ended, Canadians united in a mission to build big things.

New neighbourhoods for hundreds of thousands of returning Veterans. 

New universities to launch new careers.

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

We used to explore in this country. We will chart new courses again.

We used to build in this country. We will build big, build fast, build ambitiously again.

We used to take risks in this country. We will step up to the plate again.

Together, we choose Canada.

This is our country. This is your future. With Budget 2025, we are taking back control – to build Canada Strong.

Thank you, and long live Canada.