Dear friends, I am very happy to be here with you today to discuss Canadians' top priority: who's going to play goal against the Maple Leafs in Toronto tomorrow night?
Kidding aside, on the eve of the playoffs, even though I am, like you, a big hockey fan, I am here, of course, to talk to you about the economy and transportation.
I did make a little sports joke, but it wasn't irrelevant since sports, business and politics have a lot in common.
Sports made my life.
I played several sports, including badminton, baseball, fastball, hockey, golf and cycling.
Over the years, sports made me the person and the manager that I am today.
Respect, discipline, hard work, pushing yourself, performing under pressure and putting aside your own statistics for the good of the team are values present in every area of my life.
Like you, I have always needed to make things happen. In my case, it was for the good of my city, my region, Quebec and Canada.
After being mayor of Roberval for seven years, I made the jump to federal politics in 2007, with the same objectives of helping improve things now and for our children and grandchildren.
Since I was first elected in 2007, I must say that a lot of water has flowed under the bridge…especially the bridges of Montreal.
I won't get into what Marc Brazeau just told you in his presentation, but I'm going to talk to you in a moment about the project to build the new bridge in Montreal.
Your focus today is transportation, and I have to say that as Canada's Minister of Transport, I am pleased to see this kind of discussion forum. I am also very aware of the importance of transportation for the country as a whole, and especially for a city like Montreal.
Whether it's marine, road, rail or air transportation, our government is working to constantly improve the safety, security, and efficiency of the transportation system while respecting the jurisdiction of the provinces.
I had the honour of being appointed Minister of Transport in May 2011.
A hundred and forty days later, on October 5, 2011, I announced that the federal government had made the decision to replace the Champlain Bridge and build a new bridge for the St. Lawrence.
I said this bridge would be funded using tolls and built under a public-private partnership.
I also said that the bridge would incorporate public transit and that our goal was to open the bridge in 2021. Speaking of public transit, Minister Gaudreault announced last Friday that the Government of Quebec had chosen a light rail system and that the Agence métropolitaine de transport would establish a project office to manage this project. We are satisfied that our partners have made their choice regarding a public transportation solution – this will guide us as we carry out technical studies and do the preliminary work for the new bridge while we meet deadlines.
In January 2012, we undertook an environmental assessment and I committed to having it completed within 18 to 24 months.
Two series of open houses were organized to present our work to the public and seek their input.
We have an open, rigorous and transparent process.
You can visit the Web site for the new bridge for the St. Lawrence, which is linked on the Transport Canada homepage at www.tc.gc.ca.
Dozens of meetings have also been held with stakeholders from the Government of Quebec, the cities, the business sector, design experts, elected officials, and other partners.
We have put in place an open and inclusive governance structure, working in close collaboration with the Government of Quebec, the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and the cities.
We have also had discussions with the First Nations to hear their comments.
We've also retained PricewaterhouseCoopers to develop the business case for the project.
This involves in-depth financial and technical studies to help us arrive at practical and feasible options, determine their costs, and propose ways to achieve the best value for taxpayer dollars, within our tight timeline.
In terms of the bridge's architecture, we are currently working closely with the City of Montreal and other organizations to develop a process that includes architectural quality while necessarily meeting the functional, budgetary and time-related constraints of the project. For example, because our winters can be harsh, we would need to avoid incidents that have occurred with other bridges due to falling ice and problems with the de-icing system.
I hope to be able to give you more details about the architecture in the fall.
For me, the key thing to keep in mind is that the Champlain Bridge will be reaching the end of its life cycle in the not too distant future, and this must guide our actions.
No one wants this corridor to be closed for a long period of time because it is taking too long to build the new bridge.
That would be catastrophic for the quality of life of the bridge's users and for our economy.
So we say yes to an attractive bridge, but no to anything that would unduly delay construction.
The 2013 Economic Action Plan has allocated 124.9 million dollars to replace the Nun's Island Bridge with a temporary causeway-bridge and its construction should begin late this summer.
We will have mitigation measures for the traffic and we hope to open this bridge in 2015.
You know, when we make investment decisions, we try to do so with a global vision.
That is the case for the Montreal-Windsor corridor, with our investments to maintain the Champlain Bridge and our commitment to building a new bridge to replace it, with major investments for Highway 30, significant investments in various Port of Montreal projects, and much more.
It is also the case for investments like those for the new bridge between Windsor and Detroit, which will be beneficial for the economy of Quebec and the rest of Canada.
It is estimated that 20% of cargo transported by truck to the United States from Quebec passes through this corridor.
So, for example, many of our truckers will use this new bridge, which will be built by a public-private partnership like the new bridge in Montreal, and funded using tolls.
If Marc Cadieux of the Association du camionnage du Québec is in the room, he will be able to confirm the importance of this bridge for the truck drivers of Quebec and for exports by Quebec businesses wanting to sell our products to the United States and create jobs in Quebec.
This is why we have a comprehensive vision of the economic corridor.
Let's take a moment to picture how things work.
Materials may arrive by ship at the Port of Montreal and travel to a Quebec business by train and/or truck.
This business then produces goods, which are put back on a truck and travel to the United States by truck, plane, or another mode of transportation to be sold, thereby creating jobs for families right here at home.
Safe, high-quality transport necessarily means safe, high-quality infrastructure.
And in terms of infrastructure, the federal government is doing a lot. In fact, no other federal government has done so much.
As Minister of Infrastructure, I can tell you that I am very happy that Economic Action Plan 2013 includes a new infrastructure plan of 53 billion dollars over 10 years, starting in 2014.
When we include the billions of dollars invested in federal infrastructure and for the First Nations, we're talking about 70 billion dollars.
This plan is the largest long-term federal commitment to Canadian infrastructure in our nation's history.
And remember that our previous plan included investments of 33 billion dollars over 7 years.
It was under the previous plan that, for example, federal funding for Highway 30 – over 700 million dollars – was made available after the Government of Quebec identified it as a priority.
The new plan will include a 32.2 billion dollar Community Improvement Fund, which consists of the indexed Gas Tax Fund and the incremental GST Rebate for Municipalities.
We have also expanded the categories under the Gas Tax Fund to give our partners greater flexibility.
As well, there is a new 14 billion dollar Building Canada Fund and 1.25 billion dollars to renew the P3 Canada Fund
The Building Canada Fund will have two components: a major infrastructure component supporting investment in larger projects, and a provincial-territorial infrastructure component supporting projects of national, regional and local significance.
The P3 Canada Fund will continue to support innovative projects.
And finally, we have allocated six billion dollars in order to support projects that are underway but have not yet been completed.
Over the coming year, I will be able to give you more details about the program's parameters.
I'm now going to take a few moments to highlight measures from our government's Economic Action Plan 2013.
This is a responsible plan that will create jobs, growth and long-term prosperity.
Since the depth of the global economic recession, the Canadian economy has created nearly 900,000 net jobs – the best record among advanced economies.
90% of these jobs are full-time, and nearly 80% are in the private sector.
While the Canadian economy continues to grow and create jobs, we still face significant threats from a fragile global economy.
Our plan will continue to keep taxes low for hard-working families, seniors and businesses.
Since 2006, we have lowered taxes over 150 times.
Thanks to our tax cuts…
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the average family of four pays $3,220 less in federal taxes per year;
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seniors pay an average of $2,260 less tax;
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a Canadian small business with taxable income of over $500,000 now pays 34% less federal tax than in 2006 – which adds up to tax savings of $28,600 that can be reinvested to stimulate growth and create jobs;
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our government is extending and expanding the hiring tax credit and increasing the lifetime capital gains exemption to $800,000, indexing the new limit to inflation;
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we have reduced the corporate tax rate, which was 21% under the former Liberal government, to 15%, and 11% for small and medium enterprises.
This is equivalent to tax breaks of over 60 billion dollars and it makes Canada a preferred location for investment and job creation.
We are proud of our plan to keep taxes low and will continue to do so.
