Address by Minister Dion to Conference of Montreal

Speech

Government of Canada in action for a more prosperous Canada and world

June 13, 2016 - Montréal, Quebec

Check against delivery. This speech has been translated in accordance with the official languages policy and edited for posting and distribution in accordance with the Government of Canada’s communications policy.

Montréal is a city with big ambitions, like its mayor, which is undoubtedly why the organizers of this great Conference of Montreal have chosen this ambitious theme, Shaping a New Era of Prosperity. It is an honour for me to deliver the opening address.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is also determined to lead Montréal, Quebec, and all of Canada along the road to greater prosperity. And to achieve that goal, the strategy which drives the Government of Canada is clear:

• Expand the middle class, that is, work to reduce inequality; expand fiscal justice by calling on those who are capable to contribute more; and help families with children. We know that a society with an expanding, rather than a shrinking, middle class has the best chance of achieving prosperity for all. And that a society cannot prepare for the future without investing in its children.
• Restore trust in government, invest in green infrastructures, public transit, social housing and strategic infrastructures for our economy. This is investment for the long term, but it is now more relevant than ever for tackling the significant infrastructure deficit, both in qualitative and quantitative terms, and bringing our economy up to speed on new technologies and environmental challenges.
• Invest in research and development, science, technology and high-tech industries. In today’s knowledge economy, if you’re not going forward you’re going backwards.
• Focus on Aboriginals to help them realize their full potential. This is a young population that has too much to offer to allow the tragic waste of talent to continue.
• Strengthen our trade relations with the United States by facilitating the transborder movement of people and goods, ensuring that the border is both more secure and more fluid. Strengthen our ties with Mexico and reach agreement with our two NAFTA partners to better align our energy and climate change policies. And while we actively seek out other markets throughout the world, we never take the U.S. market for granted: it is a market with unlimited potential.
• Reinvest in culture, an inexhaustible source of intellectual and spiritual enrichment and inspiration and an underused lever that can revitalize entire cities.
• Re-engage Canada on the international scene to defend our interests, increase and diversify our trade, and foster international peace and security.

I’ll let you be the judge, but I believe that our government has made great strides in the past seven months on all the fronts I have just mentioned.

On the international scene, some of our initiatives will have obvious benefits for our prosperity. One of those is the agreement between Ottawa and Washington on customs pre-clearance for passengers travelling to the United States from Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto or Jean-Lesage International Airport in Québec. Passengers travelling to the United States from Montréal and Vancouver railway stations will also benefit from this agreement.

Our government is convinced that the road to prosperity is not narrow; it encompasses elements such as the environment, security and human rights. A world that is more secure, more just and more peaceful is more likely to achieve inclusive, lasting prosperity.

Our government promotes prosperity when:

• It plays a positive role at the COP 21 climate conference in Paris, which dovetails with the constructive role it played here in Montréal at COP 11 in 2005.
• It invests $2.65 billion over five years to help developing countries fight climate change and revitalize their economies at the same time.
• It reorients its plan for the security of Iraq, Syria and neighbouring countries to the tune of $1.6 billion over three years, not only to eradicate a terrorist group but also to promote the economic reconstruction of this key region in the world.
• It welcomes over 25,000 Syrian refugees, in the tradition of our country, which has benefited so much from successive arrivals of immigrants and refugees. It pays to be a land of refuge when you do it right.
• It strongly engages in all forums for negotiating peace—for Somalia, for Syria, for Israel and the Palestinian people—and also at the UN, where we are intending to bid for a seat on the Security Council.
• It develops a bold plan for our financial participation in activities linked to UN peace operations and to conflict prevention over the next three years.
• It works with its allies to strengthen sanctions against countries that disturb the world order, but it no longer unilaterally imposes sanctions that only penalize its own population without really affecting the targeted country.
• It renounces all irrational disengagement with Russia and agrees to resume dialogue with that country while at the same time supporting Canadian allies, such as Ukraine, more steadfastly than ever.

Our quest for prosperity combines issues, rather than fruitlessly opposing them. Just as environmental and economic policies need to go hand in hand, the fight for human rights is also a sound economic policy.

When we agree with the Europeans on investment rules that will respect governments’ capacity to legislate for the environment or health standards, we are showing that free trade, social progress and respect for the environment can strengthen one another. 

When we strive, here in Canada, to better respect Indigenous peoples, we are investing in our economy.
When we promote the rule of law worldwide, we are working for a more prosperous economy.

When we champion women’s rights and the rights related to sexual and reproductive health, and when we undertake initiatives in this regard in Africa, the Middle East or Myanmar, who can deny that we are working at the same time for greater prosperity?

And when we ratify the “Minimum Age Convention” of the International Labour Organization (also known as Convention 138), as we did last week, no one can deny that in a healthy global economy all children should be in school, not in factories or mines.

We are inspired by responsible conviction when we seek prosperity while defending human rights on several fronts.

All of those actions and others, whether economic, political, military or humanitarian, enable Canada to take its rightful place on the international scene and contribute to this new prosperity.

This is what our government has accomplished in seven months. This is the direction it will take during the remainder of its mandate, as it works to achieve greater inclusivity and lasting prosperity here in Canada and throughout a world that will enjoy greater peace, security and justice.

We know that to reach those goals, we will need to listen, watch, learn, be inspired by good ideas from all sources and innovate, which will in a sense be your experience during this conference. So I wish you a very productive conference. Examine what the roads to prosperity are, and let us know whether our government is on the right path.

Thank you

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