Thank you very much. Minister McGuinty, to David, thank you. Dave… Thank you, Dave. Thank you all. Heather and others. That’s it. That’s it for the Daves. Before I begin, I do want to acknowledge something that we’re all feeling and sensing. Thousands of Canadians’ lives have been upended, are being upended, by the wildfires across this country, flooding in Manitoba, again. And on behalf of all Canadians, everyone in this room, all Canadians across this country, I want to thank the courageous firefighters, the first responders, the Indigenous and local leaders who are working tirelessly to keep our people safe.

And in the presence of the Minister and the Canadian Armed Forces, I want to acknowledge their contribution. The RCAF is providing search and rescue aircraft. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre is providing helicopters. We’re in close communication with our provincial, municipal counterparts. We’ll stand ready and we’ll be providing additional assistance as needed, because Canadians always look after each other. 

Now, we’re here today, in London, General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada at the headquarters. Not just the headquarters, but the factory. Not just the factory, but the research and development centre. Soup to nuts, the entire operation. 

I just had an amazing tour that only began to scratch the surface of this amazing company, this amazing facility, amazing workforce. And I want to thank Heather for that tour, thank the whole team at GDLS-Canada for hosting us. There’s more than 1,700 Canadians who work in this factory, designing and building the armoured vehicles that roll into service around the world, the Canadian Armed Forces and our allies. And that’s where I want to begin. I want to begin with the people who depend on what’s built here. 

Over the past year, Canada has been strengthening our ability to defend ourselves at home, to protect North America, to support our allies. The Canadian Armed Forces are deployed now across a single, very large crescent that runs from our Arctic across the European High North, down through the Baltics to Latvia. In the Canadian Arctic, we now have 365-day, year-round presence on land, sea, air, and space. Our forces are working with Nordic partners, under the NATO umbrella, to provide collective defence in the High North, including on exercises such as Cold Response. And in Latvia, recently, just last week, actually, the Minister of National Defence and I announced that we are extending and expanding our leadership role, protecting NATO’s eastern flank, literally on the front line with Russia through Operation REASSURANCE.

Now, that presence, that service, that sacrifice of the women and men of our armed forces must be matched by best-in-class capabilities. Because the world has changed. 

Authoritarian regimes are becoming increasingly assertive. We are facing growing threats, from incursions in the Canadian Arctic to cyberattacks, and the nature of warfare is changing rapidly because of the proliferation of drones, autonomous systems, and hypersonic missiles. 

And in this more dangerous and divided world, Canadian leadership will be defined, not just by the strength of our values, but also the value of our strength. That strength must be modernized, reinforced, and built to last. That was the conviction behind our announcement just last week in Halifax to procure up to 12 submarines from Germany’s TKMS, the largest defence procurement in Canadian history. That was the conviction behind our decision to procure the P‑8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. Same conviction, deploying the first of 15 River-class destroyers, contracting the Arctic over-the-horizon radar system, acquiring new long-range precision strike capabilities, and establishing a secure, sovereign low-Earth orbit communications constellation. 

And it’s the same conviction behind today’s announcement. The Canadian Army needs new vehicles because of its increasing presence at home and abroad. Vehicles that are built to last, with next-generation capabilities to strengthen our aging fleet, built to protect, with state-of-the-art armour to protect our soldiers in combat, and built for the future, with technology that can meet the demands of modern warfare.

The Canadian Armed Forces need a new fleet of vehicles to support their operation, not just today, but for decades to come. And, to that end, Minister McGuinty and I are proud to announce the launch of a new strategic partnership with General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada. Through this partnership, our government – and this is one aspect of the partnership, let me be clear – but through this partnership, our government will invest nearly $2 billion over four years to build and deliver 190 armoured combat support vehicles, expanding our fleet to 550 vehicles. 

And, as the people in this room and those who represent know, these vehicles are designed to keep soldiers protected, mobile, and mission-ready in the most demanding environments. For decades, GDLS-Canada has made vehicles that supported the CAF on military bases across our country, in Afghanistan, in Latvia. And also, as we just announced last week, the provision of another 35 vehicles to Ukraine to help defend themselves against Russia. Thank you. Thank you. 

And the new fleet order that we’re announcing today will continue that legacy, serving our women and men in uniform at bases across the country. Every single one. Every single one will be built right here at GDLS-Canada’s factory, right here in London. Our new partnership with GDLS-Canada will create and sustain over 6,000 high-paying Canadian jobs every year over the next eight years. There’s more. There’s more, because behind every vehicle is an entire supply chain of Canadian ingenuity, skill, and craftsmanship. Technicians at Ryan Manufacturing in Richmond, Ontario, who build the military-grade cable and wire harness assemblies that power these vehicles and keep them connected. Steel workers at InterPro in Regina, Saskatchewan, who produce advanced armour that helps protect our troops. The engineers at Thales in Saint-Laurent, who designed the thermal imaging systems that allow our soldiers to operate in the toughest conditions. The electricians at IMP Aerospace & Defence in Enfield, Nova Scotia, who build the specialised components that keep these vehicles mission ready. And many, many more. 

All of those parts, each crafted intricately, built by Canadians from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, arrive here on the London factory floor, where workers, skilled workers, turn them into advanced armoured combat vehicles. And that’s part of the core strength of GDLS-Canada, because they work across this entire supply chain. In fact, this company already supports well more than 10,000 jobs nationwide, above and beyond that 6,000 expected to be created by this partnership. Congratulations. So, to the workers here, you have the women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces and our allies relying on you. And you also have workers and families across the country relying on you. You should feel very, very proud of what you’re accomplishing.

And in a more dangerous and divided world, Canada must strengthen its efforts to ensure its defence, preserve its sovereignty, and support its allies. And it must do so by investing in Canadian workers, Canadian steel, and the Canadian manufacturing industry. That is how we build a stronger, more independent, and more resilient Canadian economy.

Now, today’s announcement is an exemplar of our Defence Industrial Strategy in action. This is a bold plan to get our armed forces what they need, when they need it, to scale Canadian defence companies, and to put hundreds of billions of dollars – that we need to protect ourselves and our allies – but to put those hundreds of billions of dollars to work in strategic sectors of our economy. We have a simple framework: build, partner, buy. First and foremost, we’re focused on building in Canada, directing procurement to Canadian firms that have what we call sovereign capabilities. This is what we’re talking about. This is what we’re doing here today with GDLS-Canada. 

Now, there will be many cases where we don’t have all those capabilities here in Canada. So, we look to partner, partner with trusted allies. And that’s what we’re doing, with an announcement we made in May, when we entered into negotiations to procure Saab’s GlobalEye surveillance aircraft. It’s an early warning and control system that helps detect and deter threats across our Arctic and beyond. That contract includes a commitment to support 3,000 Canadian jobs and to ensure that one third of the projected fleet – the global fleet of the GlobalEye, not just the Canadian order – is manufactured here in Canada. That fleet has already expanded with the announcement by NATO that the alliance will use the GlobalEye as its preferred aircraft. 

Now, when it’s not feasible – and these cases will happen as well – when it’s not feasible to build or partner, Canada is buying equipment from allies, but with clear conditions that spurs reinvestment into our defence industrial base. That’s the strategy behind the submarine procurement. And there’s one example as a condition of that contract: 100% of the value of the investment must be matched here in Canada. By design, that process will have, by far, the greatest economic impact right here in Canada.

And I want to say a few words about another aspect to today’s announcement, the Strategic Partnership Framework, because this is another way in which we’re building a stronger Canadian defence industry. That Strategic Partnership Framework will help strengthen Canada’s defence industrial base through long-term, predictable partnerships with the best in Canadian industry. Through this framework, we’re creating a pathway for Canadian companies, like GDLS-Canada, to work more closely with our government to build those sovereign capabilities. The armoured vehicles, the drones, the icebreakers, the equipment that our armed forces need. Companies selected as strategic partners commit to invest in Canadian research and development – the kind of R&D that happens right here – to grow domestic supply chains – the kind of supply chains that GDLS-Canada has – and hire Canadian workforce and, wherever possible, union workforce. And I want to give a shout out to Unifor for their contribution.

And what happens in return is that the federal government will act as an anchor customer, will accelerate approvals, and will open doors to new export markets. The commitment is simple: when Canadian companies build for Canada, Canada will build right alongside them. We launched this framework less than two months ago with CANSEC. And today, we’re announcing, as you know, GDLS-Canada will be our first strategic partner. That’s the kind of decisive and quick action that Canadians expect and this moment demands. 

Now, it’s been nearly 50 years, right here in London, that GDLS-Canada began building vehicles that has carried Canada’s strength around the world. Vehicles that turned Canadian steel and ingenuity into Canadian security. Today, we’re renewing that strength. We’re ensuring it’s built in Canada, by Canadians.

We are reinvesting to rebuild and rearm the Canadian forces. We are giving the members of our armed forces the largest raise in a generation, because their pay should reflect the weight of their responsibilities. We have already reached NATO’s 2% target for defence spending for the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall. And this target is not a ceiling for Canada’s defence investments, but a starting point. Our fiscal framework includes measures to allocate 4% of our GDP to defence by the end of this decade. We have also launched Canada’s first Defence Industrial Strategy and created the Defence Investment Agency to minimize delays, strengthen partnerships, and meet the needs of our armed forces and our economy. 

Canada is stepping up to protect ourselves and our allies. And, if we’re going to deter Russian aggression in the Baltic states across Europe, if we’re going to ensure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, if we are to assert our full sovereignty in the Arctic, and if we’re to defend and promote our values of freedom, democracy, peace, we must do so from a position of strength. If we want a stronger world, if we want a safer world, we need a stronger Canada. 

Let me finish with this. Every day, the women and men serving in the Canadian Armed Forces make Canada stronger. They deserve the very best equipment that this country can build, and the very best this country can build is made right here at GDLS-Canada. Thank you for what you do. And I look forward to your questions.