Thank you very much, Minister Joly, Minister Dabrusin, caucus colleagues. Let me just start. This is a great day. It is a great day. It's always a good day to be back at Martinrea. I want to just thank the team here, Rob, Bret, all the team here. This is an extraordinary Canadian success story. This is a great day because we're celebrating a couple of births. We are celebrating the birthday of (inaudible).

Because of Flavio Volpe, many contributions, we are celebrating the birthday or the unveiling of the Arrow 2.0 which shows what the future of automotive in Canada is. And we're celebrating the future of the world's greatest auto industry. We are here where Canada Strong is forged every day. This company, nearly 20,000 skilled workers come together to build the engine blocks, the transmission housings, the control arms, the future that helps drive our auto industry and our economy. And as you just heard, but you know this, you just heard from the minister, this is a pivotal moment both for the industry and our economy. We know that US tariffs have upended the bargain that's existed for as long as I've lived. It's put our workers, our businesses, our country under a cloud of uncertainty. We also know you see some of the innovation here. We know that the global auto sector has been radically transformed. Rapid shifts towards lower emissions, towards greater connectivity, towards even more advanced manufacturing. So, the decisions that Canada makes now will shape careers, communities and our economy for decades to come and we will not miss this opportunity.

A confident Canada like a confident Martinrea, a confident Canada is making the strategic decisions and the generational investment today to build the affordable, enjoyable and low emissions automobiles of the future. As Minister Joly just said, Canada's an auto nation. The auto industry is central to our story. In fact, the first automobile manufactured here was in the year of Confederation, 1867 in Stanstead, Quebec, Henry Seth Taylor built the first Canadian made automobile. The Taylor steam buggy was powered by a simple coal boiler and mounted on a wagon wheel carriage. It was a one-off hand-built machine, never intended for mass production, but it proved Canadian made automobiles are possible. 158 years on, the auto industry is the core pillar of the Canadian economy. More than half a million Canadians wake up every morning, go to work and bring home a paycheque because we make cars in this country. Entire communities have been built around power plants, cities, towns, Windsor, Alliston, two examples, the auto sector remains the largest employer.

Today, Canada’s automotive industry is among the most important the world. A large part of that success stems from our close trade relations with the United States, forged over decades of cooperation in automotive cities on both sides of the border.

There's no greater symbol of how closely the Canadian and American economies have been intertwined than automobiles. The average car is built from parts that travel across our border up to eight times before landing on the showroom floor. 90% of Canada's finished vehicles, 60% of our auto parts are exported to the United States. But that trade relationship that once was a great strength has now become a serious vulnerability. I want to be clear. Canada still has the best deal of any US trading partner, with 85% of our trade with the United States remaining tariff free and the lowest average tariff rate in the world. And as we prepare for the joint review of CUSMA that’ll begin later this year, Canada's new government remains focused on protecting this unique Canadian advantage. Our objective is to remove all tariffs in the auto sector to build the strongest North American auto sector. That's what we will build together.

But we recognize that that is not the current objective of the US administration. Their approach has changed, it’s their right. So, we have to prepare for all possibilities. We must take care of ourselves.

We cannot control what others do; we can control what we do – and what we build. And we are building a stronger, more resilient, independent Canadian economy. We have implemented new strategic measures for workers and businesses in the sectors most affected by American tariffs and trade disruptions. These initiatives help workers in the steel, aluminum, and forestry sectors, and other strategic sectors across Canada, acquire new skills. They will also help businesses adapt and diversify their products.

Our government has already implemented the most comprehensive set of trade resilience measures in Canada's history. We've moved fast. We're already seeing results. Our measures have created and protected 18,000 jobs across steel, aluminum, lumber and the auto sector. They've prevented more than 20,000 layoffs. We've unlocked almost $1 billion in private investment by small and medium sized businesses. We've provided income supports for more than 6,000 workers, with a total of 190,000 more expected to benefit, including in the auto sector.

Our workers are the engine of our economy. As we transform our industries in response to trade measures taken by the United States, we are ensuring that Canadian workers have the tools they need to carry out that transformation.

The future of the auto industry is increasingly electric and connected. And so, to remain competitive and to realize our potential, we must develop the entire value chain for next generation vehicles. Harnessing Canada's exceptional capabilities in auto production, including the world's greatest workforce, including globally recognized parts suppliers and leading-edge research and development. We’ll combine these strengths with new battery supply chains that will power the future of mobility, reinforced by Canada's expertise, world leading AI and robotics technologies to position Canada as a global leader in vehicle electrification and autonomous technologies.

In the coming weeks, our government will unveil a new electricity strategy to double, I'll repeat, to double our grid capacity to modernize our infrastructure and to deliver electricity that's more reliable, more efficient, crucially, more affordable for Canadians. This will enable Canadians to adopt low carbon technologies such as electric vehicles, while supporting the electrification and growth of our industries.

With our deep talent, our research strengths, our innovation ecosystem, we can lead the development of the connected and autonomous technologies that will shape the future of transportation. We will prioritize diversification, including new opportunities that will be created by Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy to strengthen the industry and its supply chains while leveraging our existing trade agreements around the world.

Canada’s workers and industries are well placed to seize this opportunity. We are making generational investments in critical minerals, including those essential to battery manufacturing, to guarantee our place in the world’s most important supply chains. Canada will be one of the only countries in the world to have everything required for a complete EV battery supply chain. We have an electricity grid that is 80% clean, the lowest residential electricity costs, and the second-lowest industrial electricity costs in the G7.

So, we have everything we need to take the lead in the vehicles of tomorrow. We're positioning Canadian workers and businesses to seize that opportunity. That's why today we're announcing a series of strategic investments that will shape the future of mobility and advanced manufacturing in Canada as part of a coordinated plan to build a stronger, more competitive, more independent country. Our strategy rests on five pillars: First, accelerating investment in Canadian auto manufacturing. Second, rationalizing emission reduction policies to focus on the outcomes that matter to Canadians. Third, strengthening domestic demand by making electric vehicles more affordable and reliable for Canadians. Fourth, establishing a comprehensive trade regime that strengthens the competitiveness of our auto sector. And fifth, protecting Canadian auto workers from the immediate pressures while helping them bridge to the future.

So, let me get into a few of those details and I'll take questions. First, we're accelerating investment across the auto value chain. To support strategic investments by our companies, we're dedicating $3 billion from the Strategic Response Fund and $100 million from the Regional Tariff Response Initiative. This is capital that will help our businesses respond to those trade disruptions, help them pivot their operations, retool plants to increase productivity, invest in advanced manufacturing and expand into new markets. In line with our Canadian policy, the government will leverage these investments to maximize opportunities for Canadian suppliers, Canadian made goods and services, including in steel and aluminum. We're also implementing the most comprehensive investment incentives for the auto value chain anywhere in the world.

(Applause)

The new Productivity Super Deduction will reduce Canada's marginal effective tax rate on investment to 13%. That's more than four percentage points lower than in the United States. That means…

And let me be clear, this is very broad. It means businesses can immediately expense 100% of their investments in manufacturing machinery in equipment, in buildings, in zero emission vehicles, in clean energy equipment, in scientific research and development, in productivity enhancing assets, including patents, data network infrastructure, computers and beyond. Further, this is in addition, to accelerate investment across the low carbon mobility value chain, we’re implementing the Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit. We're expanding the clean technology manufacturing investment tax credit, and we're including a wide range of critical minerals. And we are reducing the tax rate for zero emission technology manufacturers so they benefit from one half of the normal corporate tax rate and that is before these deductions. Put simply, we're making Canada the best place to invest, the best place to build, the best place to build clean.

Our second pillar is to adapt our emission reduction policies to focus on outcomes. Canada will set a new, more ambitious sovereign path to reduce automobile emissions. We'll drive down emissions by more than doubling the stringency of Canada's vehicle GHG standards by 2035, achieving the equivalent emissions reductions of a 75% EV adoption rate. We won't stop there. By leveraging new investments in EV production, consumer incentives and charging infrastructure, we'll work towards achieving the equivalent of a 90% EV adoption rate by 2040. The more stringent emission standards will enable the Government of Canada to repeal the electric vehicle accessibility standards, so called EVAS. Replacing EVAS with those stronger vehicle emission standards focuses on the results that matter to Canadians while avoiding placing undue burdens on the Canadian auto industry. This approach allows manufacturers to use a wide range of technologies to meet the standards and to respond to consumer preferences in the near term, all will driving EV adoption over time. The third way we will transform our auto sector is by becoming our own best customer.

Over the next five years, EVs are expected to account for more than 40% of all car sales worldwide. Today, nearly 80% of EVs produced worldwide come from China and the United States. Canada cannot afford to stand idly by. EVs are the future, and our government is determined to ensure that future is built by Canadian workers, manufactured in Canadian plants, and powered by Canadian vehicles.

In a strong domestic market – and we have a strong domestic market – we can buy what we build.

That's why our government is launching a new $2.3 billion electric vehicle affordability program. Canadians who purchase or lease a battery, electric or fuel cell electric vehicle will receive up to $5,000 and up to $2,500 for plug in hybrids priced up to $50,000. To support the Canadian auto industry, this $50,000 cap will not apply to Canadian made EVs or Canadian made plug in hybrids, and those incentives will only apply to vehicles produced in countries with whom Canada has a free trade agreement.

We're also going to make it easier and more convenient for Canadians to charge their EV because too many Canadians worry about being able to reliably get charging on journeys, especially in rural and northern communities. To help fix that, we're developing a new national charging infrastructure, a new strategy, $1.5 billion of investment through the Canadian Infrastructure Bank. So, wherever you live in Canada, charging your vehicle should become as simple as filling your gas tank.

The fourth pillar of our strategy is to establish a comprehensive trade regime that strengthens the global competitiveness of our auto sector. Again, to be clear, Canada continues to favour a zero-tariff regime with the United States and auto, because we know that will deliver the strongest North American auto industry. But if the US, through the CUSMA review, insists on some form of auto tariffs, we’ll ensure that companies that sell vehicles in Canada are strongly incentivized to produce in Canada.

And to support this objective, we will explore strengthening our automotive remissions framework through a tradeable credit system that would reward companies that produce and invest in Canada. In short, companies that manufacture and invest here would earn credits while companies seeking to sell vehicles in Canada without paying tariffs would be required to purchase those credits.

To fully realise the potential of these measures, Canada must leverage its international partnerships to access new global markets. Canada has concluded free trade agreements with 51 countries, encompassing a market of 1.5 billion consumers. Our government is continuing along this path, having concluded 12 new trade and security partnerships across four continents in just six months.

Our recent agreement with China will allow a limited number of EVs from China to enter the Canadian market, fewer than 50,000 a year in a market of 1.8 million cars to help provide Canadians with more affordable, energy efficient options. At the same time, we expect this agreement to catalyse considerable joint venture investment in Canada with trusted Canadian partners to create new auto manufacturing jobs and strengthen the build out of our EV supply chain.

Finally, as we transform our auto sector into a global leader in electric vehicles, we're working to protect workers and businesses today so they can bridge to the economy of tomorrow. We're providing additional income support to workers and to employers through a new work sharing grant, giving them the flexibility that employers need to retain workers and prevent layoffs. This has already helped prevent more than 3,700 layoffs in the auto sector alone.

We're also establishing a new workforce alliance, bringing together industry, labour, trading partners to address skills gaps, remove bottlenecks and catalyse private investment. We're launching the Automotive Task Force to drive coordinated action between our government and the province of Ontario to build the cars in the future. We're breaking down barriers and working together across government, industry and labour, with shared focus on delivery.

Together, these new measures form a new strategy that will enable our automotive industry to make Canada a global leader in electric‑vehicle production. We are focused on what we can control, and on helping Canada’s automotive sector – and the workers and communities that (inaudible) – adapt, compete, and succeed.

When Henry Seth Taylor built Canada's first car, he could not have imagined what this industry would become. The Canadian automakers would assemble the world's first affordable car, the Ford Model T. The Canadian automakers would scale up production rapidly to become the second largest producer of cars in the world by the end of the First World War. Then in World War II, the industry would quickly shift almost entirely to military production, producing more than 800,000 military transport vehicles and 50,000 tanks to help win that war. These feats were the result of Canadian determination and ingenuity. It was a product of an industry that adapted, pivoted and when necessary, transformed. That's what we must now do to build the vehicles of the future. Lower emission, autonomous, more reliable, more affordable vehicles for a stronger, more resilient, more independent Canadian economy that creates great jobs here at home. That is what we are building together. That is a confident Canada. That is Canada Strong. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.