Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Julie!

Your Excellency.

Fellow Canadians.

What a view!

Looking out at this happy crowd of fellow Canadians fills me with pride. It’s quite a perspective from up here.

You will hear in a moment from someone who has had a truly unique perspective from a far greater height, Colonel Jeremy Hansen.

Jeremy, I would like to thank you on behalf of all Canadians. For the character and integrity with which you have represented our country. For showing the world who we are.

For showing us, what we can be.

During his epic Artemis II mission around the moon, Colonel Hansen saw our planet from over 400,000 kilometres away.

He travelled farther from Earth than anyone ever has.

The equivalent of driving across this country, from Victoria to St. John’s 50 times.

From such great heights, Colonel Hansen brought home a perspective on the values that make us who we are and that can propel us to achieve extraordinary things.

Courage, connection, and conviction.

Courage in the face of the possibility of not returning; courage to take a calculated risk to achieve what had never been done before.

Connection. How the mission was only made possible by everyone working together, within a family, a team, a community.

Conviction. About what we’re capable of as a country. About the need to take risks to do big things.

Courage. Connection. Conviction.

They’re what it takes to reach the dark side of the Moon. And they’re what it takes to make the greatest country in the world even better.

Over this past year, Canadians have shown all three.

Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s the ability to act in spite of fear.

It is courage that drives our Armed Forces. From Halifax to Trenton, Yellowknife to Nanoose Bay. From Operation REASSURANCE in Latvia to Exercise Cold Response in Norway. We stand with our allies so that others can live free.

Whether here or elsewhere in the world, when people see the maple leaf on our sleeves, they see hope. They get help.

It is the courage of our police officers who protect us. Just this year, five officers lost their lives in the line of duty.

Mohamed Lamine Benredouane, Marc Pinizzotto, Tarun Bali, Anaïs Fortin-Cozzens, and Brandon Malcolm.

We mourn their loss. We honour them. We stand with their families, friends, and colleagues.

The courage of firefighters who run toward raging wildfires, as they are right now in Fort Simpson.

And the courage that Canadians have shown in the face of a more dangerous and divided world. Never flinching, always standing strong. Working together, resolutely, to build our future. Because in a crisis, fortune favours the bold.

If courage is how we must face the world, connection is how we accomplish what can seem impossible.

Jeremy Hansen has observed that while individuals can feel powerless in the face of global challenges, humanity’s true strength lies in our ability to collaborate. That’s how the Artemis II team accomplished what had never been done before.

That’s what a united Canada makes possible.

We are a country with extraordinary diversity, with a multitude of backgrounds, languages, and perspectives. 

Canada’s founding insight is simple: unity does not mean uniformity. Our nation was forged through accommodation, not assimilation; through partnership, not domination.  

This is neither a myth nor a miracle, but a series of choices, made imperfectly, across generations. 

And these choices are more important than ever in a world that too often divides us.

In a world where traditional alliances are fraying, Canada has chosen to reach out and build new partnerships.

Partnerships in security, in commerce, and in culture.

Canada is already the third-largest exporter of music on the planet. And we’re about to get bigger. I’m pleased to announce that Canada will be joining the next Eurovision Song Contest.

Yes, the most gloriously over-the-top celebration of music on Earth. Dozens of countries, hundreds of millions of viewers, one unforgettable show.

It’s about to get even wilder because the world needs more Canada.

And you will decide which Canadian artist first steps onto the Eurovision stage.

And we have decided to bring the world to Canada to celebrate the vitality, richness, and resilience of the French language in this country and around the world.

Yes, Canada will host the Sommet de la Francophonie in 2028, right here, in the National Capital Region.

Let the celebration begin.

If courage is how we face the world, and if connection is what allows us to reach new heights and conviction, the certainty that the best is always possible is what propels us.

Canada became a country 159 years ago. It was not perfect. But it was a foundation, a starting point, based on a great conviction: that we can always do better.

Every generation of Canadians inherits something built by the one before. A railway. A seaway. A Charter of Rights. A country that is more prosperous, more just, and more inclusive than the one their parents inherited.

None of us builds on empty ground. We build on platforms raised by those who came before. Our duty is to raise it higher still, for those who come after.

That’s what it means to truly build a country – never thinking the work is done, because a country is always evolving. It’s always seeking to become better.

This is the choice facing each generation. And it’s the choice facing us today.

It is why I am very proud to see so many Canadians choosing to continue the work of those who came before them, to act based on their own convictions, and to build Canada strong.

Building sustainably, from the Iqaluit Nukkiksautiit Hydro Project in Nunavut to the Wind West offshore energy project in Nova Scotia.

Building in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, such as the Nisga’a Nation’s Ksi Lisims LNG project, in British Columbia, and the Darlington New Nuclear Project, in Ontario, where just two weeks ago, we saw one of the largest Indigenous investments in Canadian history.

Building in solidarity, creating good, high-paying union jobs, and recruiting 100,000 new apprentices in the skilled trades to help fill them.

Building in a spirit of cooperative federalism to create one Canadian economy. To build Canada strong. From new homes and community infrastructure, to nation-building defence, transport, and energy projects in every province and territory.

And we are building Canadian, with Canadian workers, Canadian steel, Canadian know-how.

This work is born from the conviction that Canada is worth fighting for. That Canada belongs to all Canadians. That Canada’s best days are yet to come.

Convictions forged across generations and being renewed by this one.

Courage. Connection. Conviction. Canada.

Our Canada. Canada true. Canada strong. Canada free.

A Canada for all, all the time.

When I spoke with Colonel Hansen after his recent  trip, he reminded me of something his mission commander, Reid Wiseman, had said before they set out.

Commander Wiseman hoped that one day their mission would be forgotten. Because that would mean Artemis II was successful – successful because others had gone farther. Because the torch had been passed and carried forward.

It is the right perspective for how we build an even better country.

Because the true measure of what we build is not whether we are remembered.

It is whether those who follow can stand on the platform we leave to reach higher than we ever could.

Right now, Canadians are aiming for the Moon as well at the World Cup.

My fellow Canadians, courage, connection, and conviction are right here.

Standing amongst the people he carried with him, every single metre.

Please help me give a true Canadian hero the welcome he deserves: Colonel Jeremy Hansen.

Thank you.