Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance at the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) Annual Canadian Conference 

May 31, 2023 - Montréal, Québec

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I would first like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional territories of many First Nations, including the Mohawk Nation territory.

I am so glad to be here today at the LiUNA Canadian Conference with union leaders.

My dad, a lifelong farmer, told me that you could tell the work someone does by their hands.

And I know, having met and shaken hands with so many union workers over the past many years, that LiUNA members and union workers right across Canada are doing the hard work of building our great country every single day.

So, I first want to say to all of you: thank you very much!

Our government really believes in working people.

We have repealed anti-union legislation—in our first week in office, I might add! We have doubled our investment in the Union Training and Innovation Program, from which LiUNA locals have received over $6 million.

We have doubled the Tradespeople’s Tool Deduction from $500 to $1000, and introduced a Labour Mobility Deduction that makes it more affordable to move to where the jobs are.

And for the women across Canada who, for too long, had to choose between their family and a career, our national system of affordable early learning and child care means more women are going to be able to choose a great job in the skilled trades—something that we need now, more than ever.

Because we are making sure there is no shortage of work for you. Construction is booming across Canada, and the construction industry will only continue to grow as we work to double the number of new homes we build by 2032.

It will be the people in this room—and your members across the country—who will build those homes and those new communities from coast-to-coast-to-coast.

Now, for working people, it is always a great time to be a member of LiUNA.

But today, I believe that there has never been a better time in Canadian history to be a member of LiUNA.

Because we are not just counting on you to build a new generation of homes. We are counting on you to build the Canadian clean economy of the 21^st century.

Today, we are navigating two fundamental shifts in the global economy.

First, in what is the most significant economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution itself, our friends and partners around the world—chief among them, the United States—are investing heavily to build clean economies and the net-zero industries of tomorrow.

At the same time, Putin and the pandemic have cruelly revealed to the world’s democracies the risks of economic reliance on dictatorships. As a result, our allies are moving quickly to friendshore their economies and build their supply chains through economies like our own.

Together, these two shifts represent the most significant economic opportunity for Canada in our lifetimes—and a once-in-a-generation opportunity for union workers across our great country.

Union workers built Canada’s industrial economy. And union workers are going to build the clean economy of the 21st century.

In our spring budget, we announced more than $80 billion worth of investments in our clean economy—investments that will make Canada a clean electricity superpower, and ensure that Canadian workers mine, process, produce, and sell the goods and the natural resources that our allies need.

Our budget includes major investment tax credits for clean electricity and clean technology manufacturing—adding to major investment tax credits for carbon capture, utilization and storage, clean hydrogen, and clean technology adoption that we announced last year.

And for the very first time in Canadian history, we have attached labour requirements to almost all of these investment tax credits.

These tax credits are generous, and they are going to play an important role in encouraging businesses to invest in Canada.

So, what we’re saying to investors is: if you want to take advantage of these very generous tax credits—if you want help from the people of Canada to build a clean technology project, or a clean electricity project, or a clean hydrogen project: you need to pay your workers the prevailing union wage—including benefits and pension contributions. You need to create apprenticeship opportunities.

These tax credits—in addition to driving real investment in the Canadian clean economy—are going to create thousands and thousands of job opportunities for LiUNA members and union workers right across Canada.

And right across our clean economy—which our government is investing heavily in building —LiUNA members and union workers from coast-to-coast-to-coast are going to be leading the way.

A clean, worker-driven economy—one that creates good careers for everyone, everywhere, and where the unions that built the middle class can continue to thrive: that is what we are going to build together.

So I want everyone here to know—as the Deputy Prime Minister and as the Minister of Finance: I really value the work you do and what unions mean for working people in this country.

You have a committed partner in our government, and I’m looking forward to continuing to work together to create great jobs and a brighter future for the working people who are the beating heart of the Canadian economy.

And I cannot wait to see the remarkable things you build in the months and years to come.

Thank you very much.