Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on building Canada’s clean economy

Surrey, BC - March 30, 2023

I would like to start by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional, unceded, and shared territories of Coast Salish Peoples.

I am especially glad to be here with Premier Eby. He has been a wonderful partner for our government, and I know our two governments will continue to make great progress for the people of British Columbia and the people of Canada.

And I am thrilled to have met the incredible people who work here at Powertech Labs.

And I want to say to you, to the people who are here with us right now and to all of your colleagues, the innovative work you do here is really remarkable. We need your work today and the work you are doing will be even more important for Canada and the world in the years to come.

Finding new ways to deliver clean and affordable electricity and hydrogen to the people of British Columbia—and to the people of Canada—is going to be critical to building Canada’s clean economy.

And it is going to be the people who are here with us today, and hundreds of thousands of Canadians—millions of Canadians like them—who are going to do that work, who are going to make those inventions.

So, I want to start by saying: thank you very much! Thank you for what you have been doing, thank you for the work you do every single day, thank you for the work ahead.

Before I speak more about the work we need to do to build Canada’s clean economy—and the role that clean electricity will play—I want to highlight a few important points about where the Canadian economy is today.

Canada’s economy has made a remarkable recovery from the COVID recession. Last year, Canada delivered the strongest economic growth in the G7.

Canada has the lowest deficit and the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7.

There are 830,000 more Canadians working today than when COVID first hit. We have recovered 126 per cent of the jobs that were lost in those first months—compared to just 114 per cent in the United States.

And supported by our Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and child care—which BC was the very first province to join us in building—the labour force participation rate for Canadian women in their prime working years hit a record 85.7 per cent.

Inflation has fallen for eight months in a row, and the Bank of Canada predicts it will drop to just 2.6 per cent by the end of this year.

With these strong economic fundamentals, the budget I tabled on Tuesday comes at an important time for our country.

In the near-term, we are faced with a slowing global economy, elevated interest rates around the world, and inflation that is still too high.

At the same time Canada must respond to two fundamental shifts in the global economy: the race to build the clean economies of the 21^st century, and our allies’ accelerating efforts to friendshore their economies by building their critical supply chains through democracies like our own.

Our budget is a direct response to these essential challenges, and here is what we will deliver.

First, new, targeted and temporary inflation relief for vulnerable Canadians who need it most, through a Grocery Rebate that will provide up to $467 for a family here in Surrey.

A stronger universal public health care system, including dental care for millions of Canadians. Today in Canada you can tell the size of someone’s paycheque or how much money their parents make by their smile. That’s wrong and we’re going to change that.

Last, we will deliver significant investments to build Canada’s clean economy and create great middle-class careers for people here in Surrey, across BC, and from coast-to-coast-to-coast.

Now, that last point is really important.

Our friends and allies are racing to build the clean economies and the net-zero industries of tomorrow.

The world today is in the throes of the most significant economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution.

Today, and in the years to come, Canada must either meet this historic moment—this remarkable opportunity—or we will be left behind as the world’s democracies build the clean economy of the 21^st century.

That is why our budget makes the most significant investment that Canada has ever made to build our clean economy—and that is also the most significant investment we have ever made in climate action.

This is about bringing investment to our communities, creating good, middle-class jobs, and protecting our environment at the same time.

We are going to make Canada a reliable supplier of clean energy to the world, and from critical minerals—which BC has in abundance—to electric vehicles like the trucks the Premier and I tried out today, we are going to ensure that Canadian workers mine, and process, and build, and sell, and invent the goods and the resources that our allies need.

We are going to build big things here in BC. Whether it is a critical mineral mine that will create thousands of good jobs or clean technology companies that will help solve the problems of the 21^st Century.

We are going to make Canada the very best place in the world for businesses to invest, because that means more vibrant, prosperous communities, and more good careers for Canadians.

And we are going to make Canada a clean electricity superpower.

BC Hydro, we’re counting on you, because clean electricity is the backbone of a clean economy. You could say it’s going to be the railway for the Canada of the 21^st Century.

Canada will need to more than double the amount of clean electricity we generate today if we are going to reach net-zero by 2050. Clean energy will be essential to creating jobs in clean industries like hydrogen and clean steel and aluminum—and to ensuring we can power our cars and homes for a generation to come.

Ultimately, Canada's continued economic prosperity depends on significant investments today in building a sustainable, secure, and affordable electricity grid.

So, in the years to come, we will build a clean electrical grid that connects Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast, protects our environment, and delivers cleaner, more affordable electricity to Canadians and Canadian businesses.

All while creating great jobs for people right across BC—including great careers at places like Powertech here in Surrey.

Before I close, I want to point out another element of our budget that I know really matters to people here in BC.

In the Budget, we took a number of major steps to crack down on money laundering and terrorist financing, and to ensure that Canada is never a haven for the dirty money of criminal organizations, oligarchs, or corrupt officials—such as those of Russia, China, or Iran.

The measures we introduced include criminalizing unregistered money services businesses, and ultimately ensuring the federal government will respond to all of the remaining recommendations of the Cullen Commission—which Premier Eby established as Attorney General, and which made BC a national leader in tackling money laundering.

So I want to take this opportunity to personally thank Premier Eby for his leadership and his advice on this essential issue.  The federal government is following the BC playbook here and I’m grateful to you, Premier, for blazing the trail.

Whether it’s on tackling money laundering, on building our clean economy and creating great jobs here in BC, or providing early learning and child care for $10 a day, I’m looking forward to continuing to work together to build an economy that is more secure, more sustainable, and more affordable for the great people here in Surrey, all across BC, and all across Canada.

Thank you very much.