Good morning.

I am honoured to be here at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Toronto Airport Detachment.

Thank you to the RCMP and Commissioner Duheme for having us today, and for protecting Canadians every day.

I am joined today by local Member of Parliament and Secretary of State for Labour, John Zerucelli, and caucus colleagues from Peel Region and Toronto, including the Secretary of State for Combatting Crime, Ruby Sahota.

In three weeks, Canada’s new government will table our first budget – our plan to build Canada’s economy, to empower Canadians with new opportunities, and to protect our communities and our way of life.

Our plan for Canada strong.

The world is becoming increasingly dangerous and divided.

The United States, our biggest international partner, is transforming all of its trade relationships.

This is causing significant economic uncertainty, slowing investment, and disrupting supply chains.

This is not a transition; it’s a rupture.

Through this period of upheaval, Canadians have taken three important lessons:

First, that we must focus on what we can control.

In a rapidly changing world, that means building our strength at home. Building an economy that is no longer reliant on a single trade partner, but resilient to global shocks.

To that end, we are fast-tracking major infrastructure projects, eliminating barriers to interprovincial trade, and building millions more homes across the country.

We cannot rely on another country to create our own prosperity.

We are building an economy for and by Canadians.

Second, this past year has taught us that we have to look out for ourselves.

To build a stronger country, we must protect our communities, our borders, our country, and our way of life.

There is no prosperity without safety.

Safe, resilient communities attract people and families – people who want to put down roots, get a home, build a rewarding career, and send their kids to a good school.

Safe communities attract new investment, new jobs, and new businesses – the conditions that help you feel safe, secure, in control of your life, and empowered to believe that if you work hard, you will get ahead.

You should be able to rely on that safety. You do all the right things.

You work hard. You buy a car to get to your job and get your kids to school. You buy your first home – perhaps in a neighbourhood a little further from work than you had wanted – but you’re starting out in what seems to be an affordable, safe community where you can raise a young family.

And then you hear about a car just like yours that was stolen in your neighbourhood, or a home in your city that was broken into, or a neighbour whose grandparent was scammed out of their hard-earned retirement savings because they opened the wrong email.

It is even worse when you hear that the person who stole that car, or broke into that home, or defrauded a loved one, has done it many times before and just got released on bail.

You deserve to feel safe in your community.

You deserve to know that your home is secure.

You deserve to know that the money you’ve earned is safe in your own bank account.

In this spring’s election, we earned a mandate from Canadians to deliver change – to secure our country and protect communities like yours. And we will do our part.

Now, before I go on, let’s be clear.

We are here in Toronto, where the Toronto Police Service secures the city – as do the Peel Regional Police.

They respond to 911 calls and show up at your door during times of crisis. They take criminals off the streets and bring them into custody.

The Ontario Provincial Police serves the province. They handle cross-province crimes and investigations.

The federal government’s job is to protect our borders, to deal with white-collar crime, financial fraud, and the Criminal Code.

Today, I am announcing how the federal government is strengthening the Criminal Code to better protect Canadians, and tomorrow I will make an important announcement on border security.

This is how the federal government can help municipalities and provinces get criminals off the streets, disrupt and dismantle criminal networks, reinforce the justice system with tough and comprehensive bail reform, and build a stronger, more secure Canada where everyone feels safe.

Keeping Canadians safe is one of our new government’s core missions – one we have been relentlessly focused on from day one.

Three weeks after the election, when Parliament opened, we immediately introduced the strongest legislation in Canadian history to secure our border and crack down on gun trafficking and illegal drugs, such as fentanyl.

In September, when Parliament returned, we introduced new legislation to combat the horrifying rise in hate and violent intimidation, including to protect against Islamophobia and antisemitism.

Our bill, the Combatting Hate Act, would make it illegal to obstruct religious spaces and would establish separate criminal offences for intimidation or interference at places of worship and other community centres.

And, tomorrow, we will announce new measures to protect our border.

We are in Canada.

In Canada, you should be able to wake up in the morning, get in your car, go to work, to church or to temple, return home, and sleep peacefully at night.

When our legislation repeatedly fails to protect those basic rights, we need new legislation. We need change.

And that is exactly why we are here today.

Today, I am announcing two major new measures Canada’s new government is taking to build safer communities for you and your loved ones.

First, we are strengthening the Criminal Code to get tough on bail and sentencing – keeping violent criminals and repeat offenders off our streets and out of our communities.

Second, we are investing in frontline law enforcement – hiring 1,000 new RCMP personnel to keep our communities safe.

To start, the Minister of Justice will be tabling legislation within the next week with strong reforms on bail and sentencing. We are getting violent criminals and repeat offenders off our streets. Full stop.

Right now, in most bail hearings, the starting point is to release. The Crown must prove why someone should not be released on bail – making it too easy for repeat violent offenders to quickly get back on the street, sometimes back in the same communities that they just committed crimes in.

Our new law will flip that script by creating new reverse-onus bail provisions for violent and organised crime-related offences.

We are making bail stricter to keep you safer.

With reverse-onus bail, it will no longer be up to the Crown to prove why someone should stay behind bars. It will be up to the accused to prove to the court why they can be trusted to be released.

Their risk of reoffending and their history over the past 10 years will be considered.

These strong, new reverse-onus bail provisions will apply to violent auto theft, break and enter, human trafficking and smuggling, assault and sexual assault, and extortion involving violence or violent threats.

Simply put, these changes will keep violent, repeat offenders of these crimes off our streets and out of our communities.

Canada’s new government will also toughen sentences for repeat offenders of auto theft, organised crime, and home invasion so that criminals who have repeatedly victimised your community do not have the chance to do so again.

We are delivering the change to keep violent, repeat offenders off our streets.

We will also allow for consecutive sentencing for violent and repeat offenders – so that a seven-year sentence and a five-year sentence can mean 12 years behind bars, not just seven.

This change will keep dangerous criminals off our streets for longer.

To protect workers and businesses, we will implement harsher sentencing for organised retail theft.

No worker in your neighbourhood convenience store should have to worry about being robbed by gangs – feeling like no one can intervene, and no one will face justice.

In addition, we will reverse laws from previous governments that are simply not working. The first being conditional sentences for sexual assault.

Right now, someone convicted of sexual assault can be eligible for a conditional sentence – meaning they may be able to serve their sentence at home, in the very community where their victim lives.

That is not justice.

Our legislation will put an end to this. If you commit sexual assault, you will serve your sentence in a correctional facility.

Sexual violence is a serious crime that has major, lasting impacts on victims’ lives.

Victims of sexual assault should never have to run into their attacker in their daily lives, whether at the grocery store, on their way to work, or elsewhere in their community.

That is why our government is ensuring that sexual offenders serve their sentence in a facility where their victims are safe from harm.

The second major change is that we are delivering on our election promise to hire 1,000 new RCMP personnel across Canada.

Tougher laws are only one part of safer communities – we also need the people and the resources to enforce them.

With this significant investment, the RCMP will have the investigative and technical capabilities required to actively work with municipal and provincial police services on critical national security issues such as:

• foreign interference
• violent extremism
• cybercrime
• organised crime
• online child sexual exploitation

This funding will also include hiring 150 RCMP personnel specifically dedicated to investigating financial crimes – targeting money laundering networks, organised crime, online fraud, and the recovery of illicit assets.

Financial crimes take many forms, and they are rising, with devastating impacts on millions of Canadians.

Retired Canadians who spent a lifetime saving carefully are losing thousands of dollars in seconds – sometimes just for answering a call from the wrong person.

More resources for the RCMP.

More protection for Canadians.

These major new measures will keep violent criminals and repeat offenders off our streets.

They will protect the people we love, and they will deliver the justice Canadians deserve.

Earlier, I spoke about two lessons Canadians have learned from this past year.

First, we must focus on what we can control.

Second, we have to look out for ourselves.

There is a third – we have to take care of each other.

That means empowering everyone in our country to have the opportunities to get ahead.

Taking care of each other also means making our communities truly safe by tackling the root causes of crime.

Through investments in mental health, addiction treatment, affordable housing, and programs for at-risk youth.

These kinds of investments allow us to break the cycle of violence and help people find their way.

We are building communities across Canada – communities with homes people can actually afford – providing services people need to help break the cycles of poverty and violence, and support for those who need it most.

Earlier this week, we announced the first project within the GTA of our federal housing entity, Build Canada Homes: Arbo Downsview.

This development will deliver 540 factory-built housing units – with at least 40% being affordable – and catalyse the construction of up to 63,000 new homes in the Downsview area.

Right now, in Kananaskis, Alberta, the Attorney General of Canada and the ministers of Justice and Public Safety are meeting to build on this momentum and map the way forward.

This work will be done in partnership with provinces and territories, municipalities, and local law enforcement – because to be effective, our solutions must reflect the realities of the communities we serve.

The world is more dangerous and divided. It is changing rapidly.

We cannot control these forces.

But in Canada, we decide what happens here.

We are choosing to build stronger communities – where you feel secure in your home, safe in your neighbourhood, and in control of your future.

We will fix ineffective policies from the past and build a stronger, safer future – with tough new laws, big new resources, and practical solutions.

We will bring in tougher sentences for violent and repeat offenders and invest in thousands of frontline officers to combat crime in all its forms.

We will secure our border and our sovereignty.

We will protect our communities and our way of life.

We will protect your safety and the people you love.

We will build Canada strong.

Thank you.