January 31, 2015 - Boston, Massachusetts
Check Against Delivery
It’s a great pleasure to be here in Boston with Canada’s North American neighbours.
I would especially like to thank [U.S.] Secretary [of State John] Kerry for his warm hospitality in inviting us into his home yesterday. We knew the meeting was over when he said “get out of my house!”
But seriously, this has been an important opportunity for us to take some time to really dig into a number of regional and global issues.
The United States, Mexico and Canada are friends and partners, not just in North America, but often around the world.
When we work together, we all win.
So I'm glad we've been able to spend this time talking about how to take this cooperation further.
John, [Mexican Foreign Secretary] José [Antonio Meade] and I have had very useful discussions focused on economic competitiveness, energy, and regional and security cooperation.
Canada is actively seeking to expand (even further) our trade and investment ties across North America.
That means jobs and growth for all of us.
By strengthening the foundations here at home in North America we can make sure that our peoples enjoy sustainable prosperity for years to come.
Of course, a huge part of that will involve the energy sector—and energy is at the leading edge of North American cooperation.
We are blessed with huge natural resources.
With determination, and Mexico’s historic reforms to its energy sector, we could make this a ”North American decade” as David Petraeus put it.
And as you all know, in the spirit of North American cooperation, Canada is very keen to make sure that we don’t delay in building the infrastructure we need.
Where there is a need for North American energy imports, they should be filled with North American resources.
Finally, on security issues, I believe that terrorism is the great struggle of our generation, and no nation is somehow immune to that.
Sadly, this great city knows the impact of terrorism only too well, as does my home city of Ottawa.
I was truly grateful that John came up to Ottawa within days of those October attacks, to show his solidarity and pay his respects.
We all have to do what we can to stop the cancer of terrorism.
On the home front, Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday announced new anti-terror laws, to give our security agencies the tools they need.
On the global level, we reiterated here today that the dangerous cult that is ISIL [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] or Daesh is an outrageous affront to our values and basic humanity.
We share deep concerns about Russian-sponsored violence in Ukraine, which has resulted in the deaths of another 15 Ukrainian soldiers in just the last 24 hours.
We also had a session on cyber security, which is something we’re all grappling with more and more.
I think it has been a genuinely productive couple of days.
And I look forward to broadening the discussions when we meet with our hemispheric neighbours at the Summit of the Americas in Panama.
We want to acknowledge the truly historic change in American policy with respect to Cuba. We are a country who believes that the more Americans, American values and American capitalism permeate Cuba, the freer the Cuban people will be. And not only was it about time, but actually it was at the perfect time that this important policy change was made.
More immediately, this evening I’m looking forward to seeing the Boston Bruins take on the Los Angeles Kings.
With your recent weather and a hockey game, I feel right at home.
Thank you very much.
