Good morning.

Just over a year ago, in a rapidly changing, more volatile world, Canadians elected our new government with a clear mandate: to build a stronger, more independent, more resilient Canada.

Shortly after, I outlined our plan here at the National Press Theatre.

Today, I want to review some of the actions we’ve taken, the results so far, and what’s coming next.

I will begin with the Parliamentary session we just concluded.

Nineteen pieces of legislation received Royal Assent in just 14 weeks, with two more important pieces of legislation to be passed in the House of Commons and referred to the Senate.

The majority of legislation we introduced focused on what matters to Canadians: bringing down costs and ensuring your safety.

We worked collaboratively with all parties to get it done – including working with the Conservatives to pass the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit Act – and we will bring that same focus, spirit of cooperation, and ambition to the next session.

From day one, we have focused on our core missions:

• Protecting our borders, our communities, and our way of life
• Transforming our economy by building our strength at home
• Increasing our independence by diversifying our partnerships abroad
• Providing Canadians with a boost today and a bridge to a better tomorrow.

Recognising that the first job of the government is to keep Canadians safe, we passed six laws to combat crime and give law enforcement the tools they need.

As of today, if someone tries to intimidate you in your community or prevent you from going to your place of worship, police officers will have the authority and the resources to arrest them, because of the Combatting Hate Act.

As of today, if a criminal commits a violent offence, it will be up to them to prove to the court why they can be trusted to be released on bail, because of the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act.

As of today, if someone shares a fake, sexualised image of you or your kids online, they can get up to ten years in prison, because of the Protecting Victims Act.

We have instituted the largest pay raise in a generation for Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members, because their pay should reflect the weight of their responsibilities. Recruitment to the CAF is now the highest in three decades.

We have met NATO’s original 2% defence target for the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

We are on track for NATO’s new 3.5% of GDP in 2035 defence expenditure target, including through a new submarine fleet, the world’s second-largest fleet of icebreakers, and new aircraft, missiles, and cyber defences.

We are upgrading ports and airbases and asserting Canada’s full sovereignty in the Arctic.

Through our Defence Industrial Strategy and Defence Investment Agency, we are concentrating our defence spending in ways to make Canada safer, more independent, and more prosperous. That means building Canadian and partnering with a wider range of reliable allies.

We became the first non-European country to join SAFE.

This is a strong, confident Canada taking full responsibility for our defence.

Second, we are building our strength at home with major investments in affordable housing, community infrastructure, public transit, and nation-building energy and transportation corridors.

In less than a year, Build Canada Homes has already committed to building more than 11,000 new affordable homes through 14 partnerships, with 4,500 homes either already under construction or to break ground within the next three months.

We are reducing the cost of building and buying homes. We eliminated the GST on homes worth up to $1 million for first-time homebuyers and signed new agreements with Ontario and British Columbia to cut development charges by up to 50%.

We launched the Build Communities Strong Fund with more than $50 billion in funding  to invest in the infrastructure that growing communities need to thrive: modern water systems, new and expanded hospitals and clinics, and community centres.

A central part of our government’s economic strategy is to get major projects built faster.

Since launching the Major Projects Office last summer, we’ve referred 23 nation-building projects – ports, mines, and LNG facilities – representing more than $130 billion in investment and helping Canada build more, move more, and export more to the world.

These are still early days, but we are already delivering results.

Last year, construction began on the new Darlington nuclear power plant in Ontario.

In April, we kicked off the Contrecœur Terminal expansion project at the Port of Montréal.

Last month, we broke ground on the Nouveau Monde graphite mine in Québec.

And next month, we will launch the Mackenzie Valley Highway project in the Northwest Territories, a project I’ve been hearing about since I was a child.

And we are just getting started.

To build a more resilient and independent Canada, we have secured more than 20 economic and security partnerships across five continents over the past year.

Our existing free trade deals already provide access to 1.5 billion consumers. We are now on track to double that market this year with deals from India to ASEAN.

Despite challenges, Canada maintains the best deal of any major U.S. trading partner – with 85% of our trade remaining tariff-free.

We are working with the United States and Mexico to modernise CUSMA to provide greater certainty for workers and businesses and create lasting prosperity across the continent.

We are becoming the world’s alternative to China as a reliable supplier of critical minerals. We are a trusted partner in a world that is anything but.

This September, we will convene the world’s largest investors in Toronto for the first-ever Canada Investment Summit.

Our goal is to transform the Canadian economy into the strongest in the G7.

It’s a big task, but the early signs are encouraging.

We have taken back control of immigration. Asylum claims are down by a third, temporary foreign worker arrivals down by half, and international student arrivals down by 60%.

We can now carefully re-build a sustainable immigration system consistent with Canadian values.

We have reinforced the strongest fiscal position in the G7 by cutting operating spending growth from over 8% to less than 2%, while boosting our vital social programs.

Housing costs and rental affordability are improving, with the rent-to-income ratio falling to its lowest level in over six years.

Canada is now creating jobs at twice the rate of the United States.

Our businesses are growing investment in machinery and equipment at double-digit rates.

Non-U.S. exports are up sharply, and we’re on track to double them over the next decade.

Foreign direct investment in Canada is at its highest level in two decades, running at twice the rate of our nearest G7 peer.

Canada now ranks as the most attractive country in the world for infrastructure investment.

We have the right plan and we’re on track, but there’s much more to do, and we have always recognised that some of the biggest payoffs will take time.

That’s why our government has been giving Canadians a boost today and a bridge to tomorrow.

Our first act as a new government was to cut income taxes for 22 million middle-class Canadians.

Our first initiative this year was to introduce the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit for 12 million Canadians – up to $1,890 for a family of four.

The first action we took as a majority government was to suspend the federal fuel excise tax, saving Canadians up to 10 cents a litre at the pump until Labour Day.

We have cut taxes on homes, incomes, and investment, while protecting the vital programs that Canadians rely on every day – including child care, pharmacare, and dental care. 

We’ve just launched a new National Food Security Strategy to spur more competition for your hard-earned dollar, to produce more food at home, and to lower your grocery bills.

We are giving the Competition Bureau more resources to ensure Canadians get a fair deal at the checkout counter. We are cracking down on surveillance pricing by protecting your privacy.

It’s not just about what we build. It’s about how we build.

We are building sustainably, whether through conventional low‑carbon energy sources, affordable and energy‑efficient housing, new incentives for electric vehicles, or energy‑efficient home retrofits.

We are building inclusively, in true partnership with Indigenous Peoples.

We are building in solidarity with workers, notably through the Team Canada Strong initiative, which will create up to 100,000 skilled trades apprenticeships.

We are building Canadian by prioritising Canadian materials.

We are building in the true spirit of cooperative federalism.

I have met with the premiers twelve times over the last year. We are working together to make Canadian communities safer, to create one Canadian economy, and to build Canada strong.

In recent months, our government has forged new housing and infrastructure agreements with Québec, Ontario, and British Columbia. We are working to expand uranium production in Saskatchewan, and critical minerals everywhere. We have announced a series of major infrastructure and defence projects across all provinces and territories. And all provinces or territories either have or are negotiating cooperation agreements to streamline regulatory processes.

We have started as we mean to go on.

We will deepen cooperative federalism with initiatives ranging from Alberta’s proposed carbon capture and pipeline to the West Coast to new hydroelectricity and renewable energy in the Atlantic provinces, and new ports and transportation corridors from Churchill to Gray’s Bay.

We will accelerate investments in energy and transportation infrastructure to create jobs, strengthen our sovereignty, and share prosperity across current and future generations of Canadians.

We will help Canadians harness the potential of artificial intelligence while protecting your data, your privacy, and your kids.

We will strengthen our partnerships abroad to open new markets and bolster our independence.

We will remain laser focused on improving affordability and on ensuring that all Canadians share in the benefits of a Canada that is not just strong, but good.

Because we are building Canada strong for all, and for all time.

Thank you.