Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister on supporting skills training and building the economy of the 21^st century 

March 8, 2023 - Mississauga, ON

First, I want to acknowledge that we’re gathered on the traditional lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Huron-Wendat and the Wyandot Nations.

I am so glad to be here with my friends, the great Mississauga MP’s, Peter Fonseca and Rechie Valdez.

And I’m really glad to have spent some time today with members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Today is International Women’s Day so I want to give a special shout-out to the sisterhood I have spent some time with here today: Susan Boorman, Karen Pullen, Julie D’altroy, and all of the amazing women that I’ve met here.

Canada’s 21st century economy is being built and will continue to be built by skilled workers. We absolutely need more women leaders in the trades— more women doing the very highly-skilled, fulfilling, important, and well-paid jobs that people are trained here to do. 

I really want to thank the women who I had the chance to speak to and do some wiring with today for the work you’re doing and for the really important example that you are setting for women and girls across Ontario and across Canada.

As I toured this great training centre and spoke with the members here, I was really struck by the pride that you so rightly take in your work. This is hard work that you do, this is really skilled challenging work that you do. It requires everything from understanding Ohm’s law to being able to strip those wires.

And it is really important work. Our economy depends on the people who I met here today and on people like them across the country. And our economy really depends on the training that they get here and at training facilities like this across the country.

So I want to say: thank you very much! Thank you for the work you do.  It’s important and I admire and respect you for doing that work. I’m also really glad that our government has been able to support your work with our Labour Mobility Tax Deduction and the Union Training and Innovation Program. And I want you to know we believe in what you’re doing and we are going to continue supporting your work for many years to come.

The global economy is changing. It represents a generational opportunity for Canada and for Canadian workers, and our government believes that union workers will be the driving force that will build Canada's 21st century economy.

Our economy is facing global headwinds from a position of fundamental strength. 

Canada had the strongest economic growth in the G7 in 2022.

At just five per cent, our unemployment rate is near its record low.

There are 800,000 more Canadians working today than before COVID first hit. That is a jobs recovery of 126 per cent—compared to just 112 per cent in the United States.

And one of the drivers of that remarkable economic recovery has been child care.

In January, in part as a result of our government’s investment in a national system of early learning and child care, Canada’s labour force participation rate for women in their prime working years was a record 85.6per cent. And that compares to just 76.9 per cent in the United States.

This is feminist economic policy in action. This is making life more affordable for Canadian families. It is creating opportunities for women and it is helping our economy to grow at the same time.

And today on International Women’s Day I think that’s something we all can and should celebrate.

I very much believe that the next few years are going to be crucial for the Canadian economy.

The global net-zero transition is the most significant economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution itself.

And at the same time, our democratic partners are seeking to shift their economic dependence away from dictatorships and towards democracies like our own, as we heard in the House of Commons yesterday from the President of European Commission.

Now, members of this union have been here  for 120 years. They have built the industrial economy that Canada has today. They have built Canada. And we are counting on them to build the Canada of the 21st century.

And I want them to know that the federal government is going to be a strong partner for them and we’re going to be a strong partner in laying the foundations for that industrial economy of the 21st century—because we know that then, you’re going to be able to build it for all of us and take really good care of your families at the same time.

Whether it’s building the next generation of vehicles, or making Canada a global leader in cleaner, more affordable electricity, or providing the world with the critical minerals that are essential for everything from cellphones to electric cars, we have an historic opportunity before us, before each one of us, and before our whole country.

Seizing that opportunity will be our government’s focus in the weeks and months ahead.

We can create more good jobs, invest in our communities and build the Canadian economy of the 21st century—an economy that will be led by workers like the ones I had the privilege of meeting here today.

We can build an economy that works for all Canadians, for the Canadians here in Mississauga and for Canadians across our great country. One where everyone is able to roll up their sleeves, put on a pair of gloves and earn a good living with a good middle-class job. 

Today, tomorrow, and for generations to come.

Thank you very much.