Good afternoon, everyone.

I want to thank Cheesan Chew, Colleen Kennedy, and the Canadian Club for hosting me today.

Prime ministers have addressed the Canadian Club at times of profound change.

William Lyon Mackenzie King visited this forum to promote the war effort to Canadians in 1943.

And when Brian Mulroney came to the Club in 1988 to argue for a free trade agreement with the United States, the world was on the cusp of a decades-long process of greater openness and deeper integration.

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, and,
• 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.

On Tuesday, 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.
• Diversifying our trade partners abroad to create more opportunity and greater independence.

A strong Canada 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 that go beyond tariffs.

Let me highlight a few elements of our strategy.

First, we are building at home by making generational investments.

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

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, 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.

Last month, we announced the first tranche of these major projects – $60 billion in investments in nuclear power, LNG, carbon capture, critical minerals, and new trade corridors.

These projects include ports, energy corridors, critical mineral development projects, and clean energy initiatives that will better connect our economy, to diversify our industries, to access new markets, and create well-paying jobs.

The first five projects under the Major Projects Office represent investments of more than $60 billion.

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

We are just getting started – our next tranche of nation-building projects will be announced next week.

We are creating new strategies – from critical minerals to high-speed rail and a sovereign cloud – to drive tens of billions of dollars in further investments, while creating the conditions for a better connected, more productive economy.

Our new Defence Industrial Strategy – led by one of Bay Street’s finest, Doug Guzman – will help 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.

We will build local infrastructure – new hospitals, transit, recreational facilities, arts centres – through the $50 billion Build Communities Strong Fund.

Because Canada strong means Edmonton strong, Brampton strong, Drummondville strong.

And Build Canada Homes will help double the pace of affordable housing construction within a decade using new factory technologies – cutting building times by 50%, reducing costs by 20%, and lowering emissions by 20%.

Second, we are building new trade relationships with reliable trade partners to double our non-U.S. exports 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 in AI, with the European Union in defence, and with Germany in critical minerals.

Last week, 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, that represent 20% of global GDP.

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

Third, we are boosting productivity for a better standard of living.

Over the past 10 years, productivity in Canada grew by only 0.3% annually, lagging most of the G7.

Canada’s new government will make generational investments to boost productivity and revive economic growth.

And it is doing so from a position of strength.

The core problem is that business investment in Canada has been flat over the last decade. We have stopped taking risks.

To help reverse that, 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 network infrastructure, and computers.
• Capital expenditures for research and development.

We are expanding Investment Tax Credits for clean energy investment, including for clean electricity investment by public utilities and a range of critical minerals.

These measures reduce Canada’s marginal effective tax rate – or 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 Act – and about half the G7’s 25%.

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

Today, with the rapid evolution of technology, we need more. Budget 2025 launches our International Talent Attraction Strategy, supported by $1.7 billion, to recruit over 1,000 world-class researchers.

We will also increase the number of economic migrants by nearly two thirds and implement a targeted program to attract talented U.S. H-1B visa holders.

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

Canadians benefit with lower prices, higher quality products, and more choices.

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

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

These measures will create a more competitive climate that will push businesses and banks to innovate and invest in their own development.

To increase productivity and reduce costs for Canadians.

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

We will spend less so that Canadians can 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 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.

This will save Canadian taxpayers a total of $60 billion over five years by restructuring operations, consolidating internal services, and rightsizing programs.

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

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 Canadian.

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

No more will over 70 cents of every dollar of Canadian military capital spending go to the United States.

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

Including child care, dental care, pharmacare, and the National School Food Program, as well as the health, education, and social transfers on which provinces and territories rely.

There are two potential responses to U.S. tariffs.

We can stick to plans designed for the Old World or create a new one for a confident Canada that will prosper in the new world.

We can hunker down, slash the deficit, turn inward, and – in the words of the Tragically Hip – waiting for the “trickle down”.

That would mean getting rid of our key social programs, or eliminating all health, education, and social transfers to provinces and territories, while not investing in what we need now.

Or we can take risks and invest boldly in our future 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.

Canadians built the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Trans-Canada Highway, Expo ’67, and the CN Tower.

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 bold again.

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

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.