Thank you, Mayor Fournier. Good afternoon, everyone.

It’s great to be in Longueuil, and to be joined by Premier Fréchette, Minister Robertson, Minister Lightbound, and Minister Charette. I would also like to thank the mayors from across Québec who joined us this morning. This is the kind of teamwork we need to build stronger communities and a stronger Québec.

This city has grown significantly over time. What was once a smaller suburban community has become one of Québec’s major urban centres. As the city has grown, so too has the transit system – evolving from a small network of 100 buses into a major mobility hub connecting thousands of people every day to Montréal and to the economic heart of the region.

That’s what good infrastructure can do when it grows with the communities it serves.

When the Premier and I first met in April, we spoke about many priorities, but we kept returning to one shared mission: the need to build.

To build big, build bold, build now. And build for Québec.

That requires partnership. When our governments pull in the same direction, we can move faster, build more, and deliver better results for Québecérs.

And today, we are delivering on that mission together.

We are building major projects – new ports, mines, and energy infrastructure – that will better connect Canadians to each other, and Canada to new markets.

In April, we broke ground on the Contrecœur terminal expansion at the Port of Montréal – just six months after referring it to the Major Projects Office. Just a few weeks later, we broke ground on the Nouveau Monde Graphite mine in Saint‑Michel‑des‑Saints – a project that will become the largest graphite mine in the G7. These projects will create 5,000 jobs and attract $3 billion in investment into our economy.

Through Build Canada Homes, we’re building affordable homes for Québecérs at scale and speed. Since signing an agreement with the Government of Québec in January, we have already approved construction on 1,000 homes in communities across the province – in Montréal, Thetford Mines, Laval, and Joliette.

Our day-to-day lives depend on the infrastructure in our communities.

We count on hospitals to be close to home when our child is sick.

We count on the subways, trains, and buses to get us to work on time.

We count on the community centres and parks to provide safe places for our kids to play.

These things make the difference between a good day and a bad one. They can be the deal breaker about whether you live in a neighbourhood. They are the building blocks of the strong communities we are building here and across Canada.

In so many communities, the local infrastructure hasn’t been working as it should.

Our roads are aging.

Our hospitals are overcrowded and outdated.

Our buses, subways, and trains are in need of repair.

Local communities are the heartbeat of Canada. To build Canada strong, we need to build Longueuil strong. Trois‑Rivières strong. Chicoutimi strong.

That is why, today, the Premier and I are announcing a new partnership between the Government of Canada and the Government of Québec that will transform communities across the province.

Canada’s new government will invest nearly $10 billion over the next ten years – making it one of the largest investments in Québec’s history.

Investments that will build new hospitals and clinics, new transit routes, new buses – to provide your community with faster, more affordable, and more reliable infrastructure.

Earlier this year, our government launched the Build Communities Strong Fund to transform community infrastructure across Canada.

We’re partnering with provinces and municipalities to build local infrastructure – from better hospitals and public transit to new community centres. And we’ve already announced 13 new projects across the country, including new and improved roads just to the north of here in Laval – such as Labelle Street, d’Orly Street, and Saint‑Hubert Street.

And today, we are building on this momentum, reaching an agreement to fund additional projects across Québec.

We will invest nearly $3 billion in Québec-identified infrastructure projects that will build new and improved homes, university campuses, and community centres.

Notably, we will contribute to the funding of new teaching and research facilities on the MIL campus at the Université de Montréal.

We are also investing in the construction of the Candiac–La Prairie Regional Aquatic Complex.

And because strong communities depend on strong health care, the Build Communities Strong Fund will also support major upgrades and expansions at seventeen hospitals and clinics across the province – investments that will expand access so Québecérs have the health care they need, when they need it.

Investments like expanding the operating room and day surgery unit at Charles-Le Moyne Hospital here in Longueuil, expanding the operating room at Chicoutimi Hospital in Saguenay, modernising the emergency department at the Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, redeveloping the Centre hospitalier affilié universitaire de l'Outaouais in Gatineau, and renovating the oncology unit at the Québec Heart and Lung Institute.

Today’s agreements will also help transform public transit across Québec.

We are investing nearly $6 billion through the Strong Transit Fund to build new projects, bus routes, and maintain our existing networks. This fund will better support provinces and territories, as well as municipalities, in delivering major public transit projects.

With this new fund, more than $4 billion will be allocated to the Government of Québec to get priority projects off the ground – like the Québec City Tramway. Other projects could also benefit from these investments, including the extension of the Blue Line in Montréal and the Gatineau tramway.

And through the Zero Emission Transit Fund, we are partnering on eleven new projects that will electrify public transit across Québec.

This $400 million investment will support the installation of more charging points at the Saint-Laurent, Anjou, and Legendre transport centres – allowing for an easier and more affordable move to electric buses. It will electrify transit authority garages and operations centres across the province in Lévis, Québec City, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, and right here in Longueuil.

It's not just what we build. It’s 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.

We will build sustainably, because reducing emissions is not just a moral duty, it’s an economic imperative.

Above all, with our new Buy Canadian Policy, we will build Canadian by becoming our own best customer.

We’re building – from major projects to new community centres. Some of these projects will take time. We are laying the foundations for a stronger, more resilient, more sustainable economy. That transformation won’t happen overnight.

So our government is giving Canadians a boost today and bridge tomorrow.

With a relentless focus on bringing down the costs for Canadians.

We temporarily suspended the federal fuel excise tax to save you up to 10 cents a litre until Labour Day, we cut taxes for 22 million middle-class Canadians, and with the new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, nearly 3 million people in Québec will be getting their first cheques this Friday, which will be up to $533 for a family of four.

We are working together, in the spirit of cooperative federalism, to make this country stronger, fairer, and more prosperous.

And Québec is central to that mission.

Québec and Canada are built every day by the strength of their people.

By the skilled trades workers who pour concrete and weld steel.

In the bus drivers and train conductors who get you to work and your kid to school.

In the doctors, nurses, and scientists who save lives every day.

When we invest in those places, we invest in each other.

That’s how we build Québec and Canada strong for all.

Thank you.