Hello.

I want to thank all the workers here at Chantier Davie – it’s because of you that we are here today.

Thank you, Minister Lightbound, Minister McGuinty, Mr. Davies – and to Premier Fréchette, it’s good to be with you once again, and so soon.

We’re here today as Canada is setting a new course following recent events.

For more than a year, Canada worked hard and in good faith with the United States to negotiate a new comprehensive trade agreement. We have been pragmatic, patient, and perseverant in reaching an agreement that protects Québécois and Canadian workers and their families, that strengthens our economy, and that respects Canada’s sovereignty as well as the French language and culture.

The goal of our trade negotiations with the United States has always been to get the best deal for Canadians, never a deal at any price or on any time frame.

While we made some progress in recent weeks, in the end that momentum reversed, and we could not accept what the U.S. had offered, nor could we give what they had asked.

By standing up for our values and focusing on what we can control, we will build Québec strong and Canada strong for all.

There will be challenges on the road ahead. But we are ready to meet them – because we have all we need, including the right plan for a stronger Québec and a stronger Canada.

Building at home and diversifying trade abroad is not our Plan B.

It has been our Plan A from the start.

Last week, in St. John’s, we announced the largest clean energy investment in North American history.

Premier Fréchette, I want to thank you again for your leadership in seeing this through.

These projects will produce enough clean electricity to power every vehicle in Canada. Enough to run our own economy, on our own terms, for generations to come.

This is what it means to control our own destiny.

This is what it means to be masters in our own home.

Diversifying trade is fundamental to building a stronger, more independent, and more resilient country.

Over the last year, we have signed more than 20 trade and security deals across five continents. We completed our most recent deal, with the United Arab Emirates, in a record 47 days.

Canada is now the best-connected economy in the world.

Canadian businesses now enjoy tariff-free access to 1.5 billion consumers.

Over the next six months, we will double that number through new trade deals with ASEAN and India.

This fall, we will begin discussions with the European Union – the world’s second-largest economy – to build a much stronger and deeper security and economic partnership.

Canada is building such unparalleled market access because we are trusted, because we are reliable, and because we have what the world wants.

Our connections depend on accessible, secure sea routes that carry our world-class products.

The river behind us – the St. Lawrence – is one of the world’s great trade arteries.

In 1959, determined to build our own future by connecting the St. Lawrence to the Great Lakes, Canada opened the St. Lawrence Seaway. Seven locks stretching over 300 kilometres. Built in just five years.

Nearly 37 million tonnes of cargo move through the St. Lawrence Seaway annually.

Iron ore mined at the Bloom Lake complex and shipped from Sept-Îles. Canola grown on a Saskatchewan farm, carried by rail to the Port of Montréal. And last year alone, 12 million metric tonnes of Canadian grain – the most in over 30 years.

And we are building for more. Earlier this year, on this same river, we broke ground on the largest port expansion in Eastern Canadian history – the new container terminal at Contrecœur, growing the Port of Montréal’s capacity by 60%.

Barely four months ago, we expanded customs services at the Port of Québec, granting it the designation to become a first port of arrival. The port is becoming a strategic hub that will contribute even more to the economic vitality of Québec City and of Lévis.

More capacity. More trade. More Canadian goods reaching the world.

Every container through that terminal – every tonne down this river – depends on keeping the water open.

There is only one type of vessel powerful enough to cut through the frozen waters and keep these routes open all winter long: icebreakers.

And Canada will build them.

Today, we are announcing the largest shipbuilding initiative in Québec’s history. The Government of Canada will invest more than $11 billion to build six new program icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard in our partnership with Chantier Davie.

We will move fast. The first steel will be cut next fall, the first ship will be delivered five years later, and the full fleet will be in service five years after that.

The new icebreakers will replace the Coast Guard’s aging heavy and medium icebreakers.

They will work Atlantic Canada and the St. Lawrence through the depth of winter, and the Arctic throughout the summer.

The icebreakers Chantier Davie will build are state-of-the-art vessels.

Each is built specifically for Canadian waters: powerful enough to carve a channel a tanker can follow, yet slim enough to thread the locks of the Great Lakes and the Seaway.

From the Great Lakes, through the St. Lawrence, and across Atlantic Canada, they will help keep nearly $40 billion in maritime trade moving every year. They will break the ice, escort ships through frozen waters, and clear the harbours and wharves our commercial fishers depend on.

And in the Arctic, through the navigable season, they will open the way for the vessels carrying the supplies, goods, and skilled workers that Northern communities rely on.

The icebreakers are how Canada stays open for business 12 months a year.

Today’s announcement continues the shipbuilding tradition in Lévis that stretches back two centuries.

Since 1825, Davie has built hundreds of vessels, including 35 warships for Canada and our Allies during the Second World War.

Today, we are building on that proud legacy, investing in Canadian shipbuilding on a scale not seen in generations.

Every one of these six ships will be built right here, in Lévis, by Canadian workers, from Canadian materials. This contract will create and sustain nearly 5,000 jobs during the construction phase alone and contribute nearly $650 million to Canada’s economy every year.

It will support the welders, the electricians, the pipefitters, the fitters, and the painters who see this project through. And the engineers and designers behind it all. These are long-term, high-paying careers. And when this shipyard is busy, the entire community feels it.

The work does not stop at the shipyard gate. More than 1,500 suppliers from across Canada support the work here at Davie:

• Steelworkers at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, working with the fabricators at Brannon Steel in Brampton and the steel specialists at Stigterstaal in Hamilton, who together produce, prepare, and supply the high-grade marine steel that forms the backbone of these ships.
• Designers and manufacturers at Hawboldt Industries in Chester, Nova Scotia, supplying the advanced marine equipment these vessels carry.
• Workers at Échafauds Plus in Laval, who build the specialised scaffolding.
• Aviation specialists at Deck 8 Aviation in Val-des-Monts, who are helping integrate the helicopter capabilities that extend the reach and effectiveness of these ships at sea.
• The team at Groupe ALMACO across the river in Québec City, fitting out the spaces where these crews will live and work.

Parts crafted by Canadians across the country arrive here, on the floor of this shipyard, where skilled hands turn them into some of the most capable vessels this country has ever built.

And this work is part of something larger.

Earlier this year, we launched Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy. We committed to rearming, rebuilding, and reinvesting in the Canadian Armed Forces and Canadian Coast Guard, by building here at home.

This is an example of our Defence Industrial Strategy in action. When Canada builds its own ships, the benefits are felt across the country by design.

The sovereignty of our country with the world’s longest coastline depends on our strength at sea. The Coast Guard is central to that strength.

When Canadians see that red hull coming over the horizon, they know their waters are being watched over. They know help is at hand. That the way ahead will be clear.

Our government is making historic investments in the Canadian Coast Guard – from extending the life of the current fleet, to delivering new science vessels, helicopters that will strengthen year-round operations in the Arctic, and next-generation polar icebreakers – including the PolarMax, being built right here at Chantier Davie.

Today, we are making sure that the Coast Guard has what it needs to keep answering the call, to keep our trade moving, our coastlines protected, and our economy strong, for decades to come.

Last week, we launched the largest clean energy investment in North American history.

Today, we are launching the largest shipbuilding contract in Québec’s history.

No matter the headwinds, the work of building Canada strong goes uninterrupted.

No matter the circumstances, Canadians will take charge of building our future.

Today, we build, with our own hands, in our own yard, the ships that keep open the waters our trade depends on.

Today, we build Lévis strong, Québec strong, and Canada strong.

Thank you.