Toronto, Ontario
26 September 2014
Thank you very much everybody.
Excellencies, dear friends, President Van Rompuy, President Barroso, colleagues from the Parliament of Canada, members of the diplomatic corps, our very many other distinguished guests from Europe and here in Canada, ladies and gentlemen, good evening.
You know, I was thinking today with the great step forward we took and thinking about the Summit we just completed between Canada and the European Union, and also the strategic partnership – the comprehensive strategic partnership we signed last month – I thought about a few reflections on the relationship between Canada and Europe.
Obviously, by comparison with Europe, Canada is a very young country.
Our confederation being not yet 150 years old, yet the links between us can be said to go back a thousand years to when the Vikings first visited our shores.
They in turn were followed by fishermen and explorers and traders of numerous nationalities, most notably French and British, but as the decades have gone by from literally every European nation.
Today, despite a great change in immigration over the past two generations, still more than three quarters of Canadians are of European origin.
And France and Great Britain are the mother countries of our fundamental institutions, our two national languages, and our pan-Canadian culture.
But tonight we celebrate a new era in this special relationship, as earlier today of course I announced the release of the final text in English and French of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
Of course, I spoke about this at length earlier today, but once again, it would be difficult to exaggerate how important this Agreement is to our country.
This Agreement opens the way to vastly increased trade, greater prosperity, and deeper friendships, as also demonstrated as I mentioned in our new Strategic Partnership Agreement.
In this historic achievement, friends, there are many who have been involved and deserve recognition, none more than my European leader friends here today.
Let me mention first, Herman Van Rompuy.
Herman, as President of the European Council, in fact the first permanent president, as well as Prime Minister of Belgium before that, you have long dedicated yourself to the unity and prosperity of all Europe, and to its good relations around the world, including with Canada, and I know that you have been a consistent and unambiguous advocate of this Agreement, and for all of that, thank you for what you have done.
Of course, our congratulations also go to the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.
Negotiating this Agreement falls under the responsibility of the Commission and it is with José Manuel that I have worked most closely on this project.
In fact, José Manuel, I remember well how you and I began this adventure with a shared sense of hope and optimism some five years ago in Prague.
Your commitment ever since – literally through thick and thin – because they haven’t all been happy days, we have to say.
But literally through thick and thin, your commitment has been unwavering.
And in a distinguished career of service to your country as Prime Minister of Portugal, and of course this last decade to all of Europe, we believe with a distinctly Canadian bias that this deal is your crowning achievement, so congratulations.
Let me also say to Herman and José Manuel, as I know that very soon these two gentlemen, as you know from the news, will be ending their terms.
I have to just say this, I’m glad I have the opportunity to say it here in our country, what a pleasure it has been to work with both of you over these past several years.
We have been confronted as a world with economic and other serious global challenges really without precedent.
And through all of that, you have always been voices of reason, of calm, of experience, and of fine judgement.
Your fellow leaders will miss you and just – as to take nothing away from your successors – Europe will also miss you, and I just want to wish you personally all the best in all of your future endeavours.
More recognition, friends, the unwavering support of Canada's provinces and territories throughout the negotiations was also key to achieving this positive result.
So I want to say to all of the provincial, territorial trade ministers and their negotiating teams who are represented here today, I want a special recognition because I know my colleague, the former Premier of Quebec, Jean Charest, is also here who was just an outstanding advocate and proponent of this from the beginning.
But to Jean, to all of the premiers past and present, let us also give a great hand of congratulations to them as well.
Of course, I would be remiss if I did not give enormous credit to our own minister who has gone around the world again and again, expanding our network of trade relationships until it is now the envy of every country that calls itself a trading nation.
I’m talking of course about our own Minister of International Trade, the Honourable Ed Fast.
You guys have to wave because up here in these bright lights, I can hardly see anybody.
But Ed, what a week you have had signing the Korea Trade deal on Monday and now this milestone with Europe on Friday, feel free to take the weekend off.
This also would not have been possible without the support and hard work of Ed’s counterpart in the European Union, Karel De Gucht, so thank you also Commissioner De Gucht, for your work.
Of course, I should also recognize and congratulate the many public servants – we’re just the tip of a very large pyramid – the many public servants who gave their best over a long period of time to get this done, especially our chief negotiator, Steve Verheul, and all of his entire team.
Let’s give them a big hand.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not also thank the business leaders.
Canadian and European business leaders have been, throughout this process, unfailingly supportive and much still rests on you.
I want to tell you how really excited I was, John, by that announcement today of the extremely broad-based coalition that’s been put together to press this forward.
And I think as José Manuel said particularly, it’s important we not give up the fight.
We have to keep pushing.
You know, friends, in something as complicated in this, there are always possible road bumps, there’s always possible misinformation, federal-provincial wrangling, things that get diverted by less-important issues, so I’m glad you’re going to continue to go out there and advocate for this.
I can also tell you that the government is going to continue to work with you on promoting this and getting our start in Europe doing trade missions, making the connections that are necessary to make this work, because it isn’t just a matter of passing it and implementing it, it’s also a matter of getting results.
And the results of this – you and the business community – it’s upon you that that venture ultimately rests, so thank you for what you’ve done so far.
Congratulations, and best of luck as you move forward.
Friends, the splendid result we celebrate tonight has been many years in the making but I believe it will also stand the test of time.
The Canada-EU Trade Agreement gives Canadian exporters preferential access to the world’s single largest marketplace.
For Canadians and for Europeans, this means jobs, jobs, jobs, and it means prosperity.
This means that Canadian and European families will have access to more choices and to lower prices.
Because as soon as this Agreement is implemented, 98% of tariffs both ways will be removed.
So, one more thing to think about: friends, in three years Canadians will celebrate the 150th anniversary of our Confederation.
A political arrangement, but in effect also our first trade agreement.
This anniversary will be an opportunity to celebrate a political and economic experience that is today envied worldwide, and to recognize our performance in coming through a period of global economic upheaval and looking to the future with renewed confidence.
Thanks in part to the economic ties we have forged with partners on virtually every continent.
Trade really has been, historically and today, it is the lifeblood of our country.
It has been so since the very beginnings of Canada’s recorded history.
And today, trade is responsible for one out of every five jobs in this country.
Upon this foundation, we have now concluded the largest and deepest trade agreement we have ever negotiated – tripling the number of countries with which we will trade freely – between them accounting for more than half of the global marketplace.
Moreover, this Agreement is the achievement of a very longstanding goal for our country.
That goal has been of course to broaden our trade beyond the United States.
And most particularly, and the most critical goal we have had for four decades in that regard, has been to secure greater and more secure trade with Europe, because Europe is a continent whose peoples share with Canadians a commitment to freedom, democracy, human dignity for all – all that is good in the world – a great force for progress, not only on that continent but for the entire human race.
This friends, we have now achieved, so it is indeed a very good day.
Thank you again to everyone.
And I can’t end any better than Herman did.
Long live Canada! Long live the European Union!
