Hello, everyone. One of the new Government of Canada’s key objectives is to strengthen our ties with our partners and allies all around the world. And we would not be able to do this without the dedicated public servants who work in our diplomatic missions. Those who work here, at Canada House, are accomplishing these missions, and I would like to thank everyone here for representing Canada, here in the United Kingdom, and thank you for welcoming us today.

You know, relationships are built and strengthened by people, and I’ve had the privilege of working with our High Commissioner here in the United Kingdom, Ralph Goodale, over the years, over decades, most intensively – it was intense, Ralph – when he was Finance Minister and I was an associate in the Department of Finance. And at that time, I saw first-hand Ralph’s dedication to Canada, his intelligence, his unrelenting work ethic, and I want to thank him on behalf of all Canadians for his extraordinary service to our country in that role and many others, including his current.

It’s a pleasure to be at Canada House during its centennial year as Canada’s High Commission in London. When our diplomatic mission moved here in 1925, it gave our country a much more prominent presence in London and it signalled our desire to work more closely with the United Kingdom. Because Canada and the United Kingdom share a history. We share values. We share a sovereign. And we’re drawing on that at this hinge moment of profound global change. The United Kingdom is one of our most reliable allies in our shared mission to strengthen prosperity and security on both sides of the Atlantic.

For decades, Canada’s foreign policy has relied on a certain number of premises. A rules-based multilateral trading system. Secondly, collective security anchored by NATO. Third, our enviable geography, which shielded us from distant conflicts and connects us to the world’s largest and most dynamic economy directly to the south. And, for a long time, we had the expectation, shared by many others, that the world would converge over time towards free markets, open societies, and democratic values.

Now, the world is undergoing a number of fundamental shifts that are challenging all of those premises. New technologies have brought distant threats to our doorstep. Power has become multipolar. Authoritarianism is resurgent and consensus within many democracies has fractured. This is not a slow transition: it’s a rupture. And the mission of our new government is to ensure that Canada will not just be able to endure the impact of these shifts, but to prosper through them.

I just want to make a few comments before taking questions on our strategies and how Canada is approaching these missions.

First, we’re building on our strengths. We recognize that we have to take care of ourselves; we have to take care of each other. We can’t control what other nations do, but we can control our own economic destiny. So we’re charting that course to build Canada strong. We’re building a stronger economy to create greater certainty and security for Canadians, to create conditions that empower people to find a good career, to put food on the table, to be able to buy their first home.

And since forming government, we’ve moved quickly to begin to deliver on that promise. In the first four months, we cut taxes on incomes, incomes for more than 22 million Canadians, we cut taxes on capital gains. We removed all federal barriers to interprovincial trade in a move towards one Canadian economy. We passed landmark legislation to fast-track major projects in energy, artificial intelligence, critical minerals, and trade infrastructure to new markets. We’ve launched Build Canada Homes to help double the pace of home building, building at a pace not seen in Canada since the end of the Second World War.

Now, while in the UK, I’ve met with business and investment leaders to discuss new economic opportunities and partnerships, as we look to attract capital to Canada and to empower Canadian workers with new, high-quality careers. My message to business leaders here, in New York, throughout the world is: we have what the world wants. Canada is an energy superpower in clean and conventional energy. We’re amongst the top five producers of the world’s most important critical minerals. We’re a leading developer of artificial intelligence and we have the world’s best talent in quantum and computer science. We have the resources that businesses need to thrive and compete in today’s more volatile global economy. 

And the second point I emphasize is that we are a nation that is building with our values. 

We are building with our workers and our businesses to create tens of thousands of specialized, well-paying jobs for Canadians all across the country. We are building sustainably, by primarily accelerating projects that focus on clean energy. For every dollar invested in conventional energy, we are investing $1.60 in clean energy. We are fostering inclusion through a partnership with Indigenous peoples. These are the values that guide our policies and help us to build our country and guide our international relations. 

Yesterday, I participated in the Global Progress Action Summit, and at that meeting with fellow leaders, we discussed how to confront the most pressing challenges of our time together, and how to face these challenges in ways that create prosperity for working people, to build sustainable economies, and shape thriving and inclusive societies. By sharing strategies and solutions, we are better able to align and mobilize joint efforts to address these challenges. 

The third thing: we are engaging pragmatically to make progress internationally. To provide greater certainty and prosperity for Canadians, we are focused on building a new web of trade relationships around the globe. In June, Canada signed the E.U. Strategic Partnership for the Future to deepen trade and mutual economic security. This is the first step towards Canada’s participation in Europe’s SAFE initiative and a launch of Rearm Europe Plan. This week, we launched the second phase of those negotiations.

Last week, in Mexico, I worked with President Sheinbaum to launch a new Canada-Mexico Action Plan to build fresh economic opportunities for our workers and businesses. Earlier this week, the President of Indonesia and I announced Canada’s first-ever bilateral trade deal with an ASEAN country, reducing or eliminating tariffs on 95% of current Canadian exports to Indonesia.

And this fall, we will be launching Canada’s new Trade Diversification Strategy to strengthen our current relationships and to open up new markets for Canadian businesses, especially in Asia.

Yesterday, I met with the prime ministers of the United Kingdom, of Australia, of Spain, and Iceland. We discussed deepening defence cooperation to enhance our collective security. We’ve already undertaken important steps with Australia, with our new technology partnership for Over-the-Horizon Radar that will help protect Canada’s Arctic. This system will provide early advanced warning capabilities to our armed forces, ensuring faster detection and decision making for airborne threats in our Arctic.

We also discussed deepening our trade and economic ties to create mutual resiliency and prosperity. 

Prime Minister Starmer and I are moving forward with the plan we laid out in June for partnership with deeper ties in innovation, more trade, and expanded economic opportunities for both of us. I’m more certain than ever that there are endless possibilities for Canada. These possibilities will be realized through new partnerships between countries, with the private sector, with investors, with our allies. Canada, as this building demonstrates and its success over the years, Canada is a determined and ambitious nation that is rising to the challenges of our age. And our partners know that they will rely, not just on the strength of our values, but the value of our strength.