Saint-Apollinaire, Quebec - 27 March 2015
Thanks everyone.
Thank you very much.
I’d like to thank my colleague Jacques Gourde for his kind introduction.
And also for his hard work, not just here in the district of Lotbinière-Chute-de-la-Chaudière, but also in Ottawa as our Quebec caucus chair.
Minister Lebel, Minister Blaney, Minister Lessard from the Quebec government, Senator Maltais, Senator Fortin-Duplessis and Saint-Apollinaire Mayor Ouellet.
Thank you all for your warm welcome.
It’s always a pleasure to come back and see you, especially in such a nice building.
Congratulations Mr. Mayor.
The ceremonial ribbon cutting for this multipurpose centre reminds us that infrastructure is not just about concrete and mechanical shovels.
It’s also about jobs, both pre- and post-construction.
And in this case, it’s about making a direct and lasting contribution to a community’s quality of life.
But above all, it’s about investing in a community’s and a region’s future.
Modern infrastructure is also about harbours and border crossing facilities, bridges and piers, and laboratories and water treatment plants.
In other words, infrastructure enables us to transport goods, provide services and enhance everyone’s quality of life.
That is why our Government has pumped so much money into infrastructure.
In fact, as a government we have made among the largest national infrastructure investments in our country’s history.
And over the past decade, no country among the world’s large industrial powers has invested as much in its infrastructure as we have.
In 2007 we launched the Building Canada Plan.
Since 2009 we have doubled the Gas Tax Fund, indexed it and made it a permanent measure.
Thanks to this long-term funding, Canadian municipalities have been able to build or revitalize their own public works while creating jobs and opportunities at the local level.
And in our 2013 Economic Action Plan, our Government – in the person of Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel – made the longest and most massive contribution in Canadian history to our country’s economic foundation: the new Building Canada Plan.
This commitment, totalling some 70 billion dollars, will see all manner of infrastructure investments, primarily at the provincial, territorial and municipal levels.
Of this amount, nearly two billion dollars from the New Building Canada Fund and some five billion dollars from the Gas Tax Fund will be earmarked for projects in Quebec.
All of these infrastructure projects have generated and will continue to generate tens of thousands of jobs.
They are also the fruit of open and genuine cooperation with the provincial and municipal governments.
And that was the case, in fact, for the construction of your new multipurpose centre, funded equally by the federal and provincial governments as well as the Municipality of Saint-Apollinaire.
But the federal government is also responsible for its own buildings and its own facilities.
And thanks to our responsible management of public finances, we can make additional investments earlier than expected in a wide array of infrastructure projects.
Last November I announced that our Government would spend nearly six billion dollars on these projects over the next three years throughout the country.
For example, we’re going to upgrade border facilities as well as investing in airports, rail services and small craft harbours.
We will modernize and improve federal research centres and laboratories, as well as RCMP and National Defence facilities.
In addition we will undertake restoration work on national historic sites.
In fact, a few months ago I announced some major restoration work on the Fortifications of Québec.
Today I’m very proud to announce more than 40 additional specific projects that will be funded in eastern and northern Quebec.
And just a ways down the road in Lévis we will be repairing the walls of Fort No. 1, a historic site that is turning 150 years old this year.
I remember attending a twilight concert there with Steven Blaney back in 2007.
It was quite impressive, perhaps because neither Steven nor I had our instruments on us.
Significant maintenance work will also be carried out on the Citadelle de Québec.
In Québec City we will be redoing the greenhouses and grounds of the Department of Agriculture Research Centre to make them more productive and economical.
We will also be upgrading the Centre de foresterie des Laurentides in Ste. Foy.
New facilities to be shared between the Department of Agriculture and the Université Laval will also be built in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures.
The small craft harbours in 34 municipalities will also be repaired.
These investments will also support the Quebec government’s maritime strategy.
And improvements will also be made to three isolated airports in Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Schefferville and Blanc-Sablon, which will no doubt make it easier to implement the Plan Nord.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am very proud of our infrastructure accomplishments.
As I said earlier, no Canadian government has ever done as much as we have in this area.
Thousands of jobs have been created, with a lot more on the way.
Across Canada, investments like this in infrastructure have improved the quality of life and prosperity of communities like this everywhere, and with your help we’ll be able to make more such investments in the future.
All of these achievements have been made possible by our Economic Action Plan, based on our measures to lower taxes, balance our budgets, reduce the debt load, expand international trade, develop competencies and immigration, promote research and innovation, and stimulate venture capital.
We have accomplished a great deal together.
I am particularly proud that we have been able to make these historic infrastructure investments as part of our Economic Action Plan at the federal level, not by raising taxes, but by reducing them.
We have lightened Canadians’ tax load every year since we formed the government, to the point where today the amount of federal taxes sits at its lowest level in over 50 years.
For a government, increasing taxes is the easy way out, but the easy way is rarely the best way.
And you can count on us to continue making tough – but necessary – choices.
In closing, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you for your hospitality and commend you once again on the construction of this community centre.
Thank you.
