Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Pictures Media Radio.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Policy and Rights.
Speaker 3: Shows.
Speaker 2: Welcome to policy that human joys.
Speaker 1: All right, welcome back to Policy and Rights here at
Speaker 1: the Visions Media Radio. I'm your host, Michael Clarks. In
Speaker 1: this next episode, well let's get down to it. Basically,
Speaker 1: we're gonna hear from David eb as we're talking about
Speaker 1: cleaner energy and the president of BC Hydro, the province's
Speaker 1: energy company, is stepping down and there's going to be
Speaker 1: a new president who's going to actually step in, and
Speaker 1: we're going to hear more about how clean projects and
Speaker 1: clean energy for the state of British Columbia is actually
Speaker 1: going to come about. And during this press conference, David
Speaker 1: eb was also asked about some some of the projects
Speaker 1: that are happening to on a federal level that to
Speaker 1: build a strong Canada and to help Canada be united
Speaker 1: in a lot.
Speaker 2: Of different ways.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that is going to be
Speaker 1: brought up is about how the federal government is supporting
Speaker 1: a subsidy for lower very fairs and toll bridges in
Speaker 1: the Atlantic region. Atlantic Canada is getting a subsidy so
Speaker 1: that so that people who live and commute away in
Speaker 1: and away from uh maritime provinces and especially Pei are
Speaker 1: getting a subsidy for their berries and they're getting a
Speaker 1: subsidy for their tolls, then it makes sense in a
Speaker 1: lot of different ways. It doesn't actually make sense.
Speaker 2: And but.
Speaker 1: Davidbe brought up brought up something that is true, and
Speaker 1: Daniel Smith has also brought this up about how British
Speaker 1: Columbia and Alberta are taxed to as to equalize things
Speaker 1: out so that the commerce that is brought about in
Speaker 1: two of the most commercially productive provinces in Canada that
Speaker 1: eat an equalization that is paid back into the federal
Speaker 1: government so that they can produce these programs to help
Speaker 1: the Maritimes and Atlantic Canada provinces bear out better, so
Speaker 1: that so that these tolls can be lowered and so
Speaker 1: that the fairies ferry bears can so be lowered. Also
Speaker 1: so the folks in British Columbia we also have ferries,
Speaker 1: and that there are no substats. And in fact, when
Speaker 1: it came time to actually have a new ferry built
Speaker 1: for BC Ferries, that they actually had to go to
Speaker 1: an Asian company instead of finding one a shipbuilding company
Speaker 1: here in Canada to build a ferry to support those needs,
Speaker 1: in which case also meant that there weren't any subsidies
Speaker 1: being put forward to help purchase that.
Speaker 2: Very awesome. There are also, of course, other questions that.
Speaker 1: Were asked of David eb because they asked his opinion
Speaker 1: around the August first impending tariff uh Trump tariffs as
Speaker 1: as they are are supposed to be put in place
Speaker 1: on August first, and what it leads us into. Also,
Speaker 1: we're going to hear from Stephen Harper as he talks
Speaker 1: about from from the standpoint of a former prime minister,
Speaker 1: as you remember he was the Prime minister before Justin Trudeau,
Speaker 1: and he talks about the importance of having a good
Speaker 1: relationship with the United States, as he has has talked
Speaker 1: in in Saskatoon and a Midwestern legislative conference, talking about
Speaker 1: how it is important to have that good commerce relationship
Speaker 1: with our neighbors to the south, which it does.
Speaker 2: It is important, but it shouldn't be so important.
Speaker 1: That it hurts the Canadian economy and it keeps the
Speaker 1: Canadian economy completely dependent upon what is happening in the
Speaker 1: United States. So yeah, on one hand, yeah, we do
Speaker 1: they actually need to make sure that we play nice
Speaker 1: with our neighbors. We play nice with with with Mexico,
Speaker 1: we play nice with with the United States, and that
Speaker 1: there's a line of relations because we need to be
Speaker 1: allied because we're neighbors. It doesn't vode too well to
Speaker 1: have an enemy be your neighbor.
Speaker 2: Just ask Russia in Ukraine that.
Speaker 1: Question, and I'm sure that they will people will answer
Speaker 1: that it will be better at him.
Speaker 2: Our neighbors are our allies.
Speaker 1: Where a slightly different example of that also asked Israel
Speaker 1: and Palestine. What it is like to have your enemy
Speaker 1: be your neighbor. So it's good that we have our
Speaker 1: ally be our neighbor, and that be the United States,
Speaker 1: and also that being Mexico, and and and to be
Speaker 1: a good neighbor. That also means issues around the Arctic
Speaker 1: region and keeping are part of the Pacific and the
Speaker 1: Atlantic safe and making it easy and accessible for tourists
Speaker 1: and trade to actually happen by by building these bridges
Speaker 1: and ferries and everything that that link Canada together. The
Speaker 1: more the more linked together Canada is, the easier it
Speaker 1: is for us to trade among the provinces, but it
Speaker 1: also easy to get trade back out of the country,
Speaker 1: so that commerce is easy to deal with, so so yeah,
Speaker 1: we're it is a good thing. We're also going to
Speaker 1: hear from Prince Edward Island as there is a press
Speaker 1: conference about those tolls and those ferries, and we're going
Speaker 1: to hear from the Premiere of Prince Edward Island as
Speaker 1: he is internally grateful for what the federal government is
Speaker 1: doing to produce funding the helps lower those tolls and
Speaker 1: those ferry affairs so that they can get Prince Edward
Speaker 1: Island can actually get commerce in and commuters in and
Speaker 1: out of their province because there are people that actually work.
Speaker 1: They may live in Prince Edward Island, but they may
Speaker 1: work and say Nova Scotia, New Brunswick or Quebec, so
Speaker 1: they need they need that access. It's understandable. And it
Speaker 1: was also a campaign promise to build that sort of
Speaker 1: infrastructure for the Atlantic region of Canada. So it is
Speaker 1: a promise made in Prince Edward Island and a promise
Speaker 1: kept to Prince Edward Island by Mark Harney. And you
Speaker 1: are also going to hear of course Christia Freeland as
Speaker 1: she also is discussing the importance of a strong Atlantic Canada.
Speaker 2: So it's not necessarily a bad thing.
Speaker 1: It is a very good thing to subsidize these particular
Speaker 1: right bears and tolls so that people can move back
Speaker 1: and forth easily and affordable. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: when we look back across at British Columbia, should there
Speaker 1: not be a subsidy to help people go back and
Speaker 1: forth from the Gulf Islands to the mainland British Columbia
Speaker 1: so that there is easily it's easy to move trade,
Speaker 1: it is easy to move commerce back and forth and
Speaker 1: people in commuters back and forth across the Gulf area
Speaker 1: of British Columbia between those islands in British Columbia for
Speaker 1: the same exact reasons that it's happening on the Atlantic,
Speaker 1: should the Pacific get that's exact treatment. And it is
Speaker 1: a really good question and it would be a good
Speaker 1: answer from Mark Carney of how he plans to help
Speaker 1: British Columbia solve some of the problems of committing back
Speaker 1: and forth. So why don't we go ahead and we're
Speaker 1: going to start listening. We're going to start off with
Speaker 1: why we need a good relationship with the United States.
Speaker 1: In the opinion of the former Prime Minister, Conservative Prime Minister.
Speaker 2: Stephen Harper, Good morning to all of you.
Speaker 4: I am pleased to join all of my colleagues in
Speaker 4: the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in welcoming our legislative friends
Speaker 4: and colleagues from across the region too, siss to our
Speaker 4: beautiful city of Saskatoon, to this one of a kind event,
Speaker 4: the seventy ninth Annual Meeting of the Council of State
Speaker 4: Governments by National Midwestern Legislative Conference. As you know, this
Speaker 4: meeting has become an invaluable way for the leaders of
Speaker 4: our provinces and our states to learn together, to learn
Speaker 4: from one another, to develop genuine friendships, and to build
Speaker 4: lasting and mutual beneficial partnerships. Our two countries and the
Speaker 4: eleven states and four Canadian provinces in our Midwest Legislative
Speaker 4: Conference have a special relationship, and this meeting helps to
Speaker 4: strengthen it. Ladies and gentlemen, few if any people understand
Speaker 4: the Canadian US relationship and the importance of it more
Speaker 4: than my friend, the right Honorable Stephen J.
Speaker 5: Harper.
Speaker 4: We are extremely grateful and pleased to have our former
Speaker 4: Prime Minister here to kick off our meeting, to share
Speaker 4: his unique insights and to engage in a conversation with US.
Speaker 4: Mister Harper served as Prime Minister of Canada from two
Speaker 4: thousand and six to twenty fifteen. During that time, he
Speaker 4: helped lead the deepening ties between the United States and
Speaker 4: Canada while navigating our two countries relationship through a period
Speaker 4: mark by complex geopolitical, economic, and security challenges. He also
Speaker 4: is an acclaimed author book on hockey, a business leader,
Speaker 4: sought after speaker on geopolitical trends and political leadership. Joining
Speaker 4: mister Harper is another good friend of mine, Victor Thomas,
Speaker 4: who will moderate our conversation this morning. Born and raised
Speaker 4: right here in Saskatchewan, mister Thomas serves as President and
Speaker 4: CEO of the Canada India Business Council and has long
Speaker 4: been one of the country's most respected business leaders, particularly
Speaker 4: in such areas as technology and innovation and international trade
Speaker 4: and investments. Ladies and gentlemen of the Midwest Legislative Conference,
Speaker 4: please join me in welcoming the right Honorable Stephen J.
Speaker 4: Harper and mister Victor Thomas.
Speaker 6: Sir, you start off, and everyone start centag.
Speaker 7: I just quit when I'm ahead.
Speaker 6: So we heard today there's a premier, there's an ambassador
Speaker 6: the state legislators. There is minister speakers, but one right honorable,
Speaker 6: and so I'm just going to call you mister Prime minister.
Speaker 7: Appreciate that. That's what we love about the Americans. You
Speaker 7: keep the titles. Great to be here, always, great to
Speaker 7: be back in Saskatchewan, which in my political lifetime the
Speaker 7: last generation since two thousand and seven, has become I think,
Speaker 7: probably the most dynamic part of the country. Saskatoon the
Speaker 7: business capital. Great to be here, Thanks for your words,
Speaker 7: say your worship. Thanks for the introduction, Ken much appreciate it.
Speaker 7: It's great to see you again. I saw you in Calgary,
Speaker 7: I saw you in India. I'm seeing you here and
Speaker 7: I'm hearing your one year old daughter. I hope I
Speaker 7: can improve her mood and what I say.
Speaker 6: She's excited to hear you. So, mister Harper, mister Prime Minister.
Speaker 6: As I was prepared for this today, I actually thought
Speaker 6: about the conversation I had with President lie of Taiwan
Speaker 6: last year and I got to meet him, and this
Speaker 6: was just shortly after his inauguration, and he made the
Speaker 6: comment to me, where are you from? And I actually
Speaker 6: thought he'd be briefed. You know, I'm from Canada, but
Speaker 6: maybe he got confused when he looked at me. I
Speaker 6: was too tall, maybe too brown. But he then quickly said,
Speaker 6: you have good neighbors, And I just got a glimpse
Speaker 6: of so many parts of the world do not have
Speaker 6: good neighbors. And I just thought of the plight that
Speaker 6: he experiences. And then I actually got back to our
Speaker 6: amazing neighbor to the south of US, and how good
Speaker 6: a neighbor we actually do have when you look at
Speaker 6: the world, And so I actually wanted you know, you
Speaker 6: are right, honorable, you're Prime Minister. You got to have
Speaker 6: a great working relationship with President Bush, President Obama. Maybe
Speaker 6: give us some stories or insights to five hundred of
Speaker 6: your closest friends here.
Speaker 7: Of course, So yeah, no, look, it's interesting you say
Speaker 7: that we we sometimes forget it because we take it
Speaker 7: for granted. You know, Prime Minister Netanya, who once said
Speaker 7: to me Canta is the best position in the world
Speaker 7: in terms of security, oceans on three sides, the United
Speaker 7: States of America on the other says, now you compare
Speaker 7: my position. We won't get into that, but you know it.
Speaker 7: You usually be reminded that I've always thought one of
Speaker 7: the great assets of this country is the is our
Speaker 7: you know, having the United States is our our great
Speaker 7: you know, really our only neighbor and our critical partner
Speaker 7: in ally, I think it's been a great asset for
Speaker 7: this country. I hope that will continue. But look, it's
Speaker 7: always something we shouldn't we shouldn't take for granted. You
Speaker 7: asked me about the two presidents. Actually, I just completed
Speaker 7: a draft of my memoirs. Now. I have to be honest.
Speaker 7: All the best stories can't go in, they really can't.
Speaker 2: That's why we're here.
Speaker 7: I think it someday maybe I should just do like
Speaker 7: Margaret that you're writeing for when I die. But look,
Speaker 7: I'll just say this, and I've said it before. President Bush,
Speaker 7: President Obama, very different people, different agendas, but you know
Speaker 7: we were ninety nine percent aligned because Canada and the
Speaker 7: US are aligned on the important global issues. And you know,
Speaker 7: I was very different people, but I was never in
Speaker 7: a room a summit where the American president, either one
Speaker 7: of them, was not one of the best, if not
Speaker 7: the best, briefed and articulate people in the room. And
Speaker 7: we did some I thought we did some very good
Speaker 7: things together. You know, Canada was you know, at the
Speaker 7: time of President Bush. He was obviously a president focused
Speaker 7: on security, especially after nine to eleven. In my time,
Speaker 7: we were a significant contributor to the mission in Afghanistan,
Speaker 7: the Multilateral Mission, and unfortunately, as some of you may remember,
Speaker 7: at one point we had the highest pgapita casualty rate
Speaker 7: of any allied country there. So it was a you know,
Speaker 7: it was a difficult but a meaningful contribution that that
Speaker 7: we made. President Obama came after the global financial crisis,
Speaker 7: more focused on the economy. We did a number of
Speaker 7: great things on you know, with Transpacific partnership negotiations, border negotiations.
Speaker 7: You know, it was actually a Canadian who under President Obama,
Speaker 7: it was actually a Canadian commander who led the mission
Speaker 7: to Libya. And of course we worked with President Obama
Speaker 7: very closely on the global response to a bull in
Speaker 7: West Africa, making sure it did not become a global pandemic.
Speaker 7: So you know, look, we just had and I always
Speaker 7: looking I always say this to my Canadian colleagues, and
Speaker 7: particularly first minute, it's you know, we're always going to
Speaker 7: have irridance between our countries. But what's really important is,
Speaker 7: I think whether the United States likes it or not,
Speaker 7: the United States has a leadership role in the world,
Speaker 7: and it's really important as a Canadian that before you
Speaker 7: get to the list of grievances you see, you know,
Speaker 7: how can we be of assistance in that leadership role.
Speaker 6: So you spoke of at some of these multilateral events.
Speaker 6: You know, you've been to many many of those over
Speaker 6: your your tenure, and you even hosted a G eight
Speaker 6: and a G twenty. Where does the work actually get done?
Speaker 6: Does it happen on the sidelines or actually in the room?
Speaker 7: So I think there's a misunderstanding about summits. Generally, there's
Speaker 7: kind of an expectation. It's kind of a media thing.
Speaker 7: You have a summit, and like, what are the delivererals?
Speaker 7: What have you decided? What's happening? And you know, and
Speaker 7: sometimes those things happen. But I think the truth of
Speaker 7: the matter is that for a lot of our summits,
Speaker 7: especially those with our closest partners and allies, I actually
Speaker 7: think there's way too much emphasis on, you know, some
Speaker 7: specific achievement. The real purpose is meeting and being in
Speaker 7: contact and discussing ongoing issues and having a close working
Speaker 7: relationship and understanding with your international partners. I mean obviously.
Speaker 7: You know, there were times like the global financial crisis
Speaker 7: when President Bush called us all the White House after that,
Speaker 7: where you know, people were frantically hammering out plans of
Speaker 7: action for dealing with that. Most of the time those
Speaker 7: things are decided beforehand, except you know, some very controversial
Speaker 7: things which will come up at the meeting at the
Speaker 7: meeting itself, but I say most of the time, my
Speaker 7: view of the value of it was really the ongoing
Speaker 7: working relationship and partnerships.
Speaker 6: I should just remind folks that if those everyone should
Speaker 6: have an app for this conference and were able to
Speaker 6: input your questions under this session into the APP, and
Speaker 6: we'll try to get through to a couple of those
Speaker 6: near the end. Prime mister Harper, you've been a fierce
Speaker 6: advocate of free trade throughout your entire career and and
Speaker 6: have fought almost against protectionism. How do you look at
Speaker 6: the current world in terms of the protectionistic tendencies that
Speaker 6: are creeping in? And then two, is free trade now passe?
Speaker 7: Well, look, I'm obviously concerned about what's happening. And look,
Speaker 7: just to be clear, I wrote about this in my
Speaker 7: book right here right now. You know, no, there's probably
Speaker 7: there are very few trade relationships in the world that
Speaker 7: are purely free trade. You know, countries do want to
Speaker 7: protect things, they do have national security interests, these sorts
Speaker 7: of things. But that said, we tried to greatly liberalize trade.
Speaker 7: And we'll talk maybe a bit later about what we did.
Speaker 7: In my term of office, we created almost all of
Speaker 7: Canada's modern trade agreements except us MCA, and look, that
Speaker 7: has been the basis of post war peace and growing
Speaker 7: prosperity around the world. Now, I do think some really
Speaker 7: serious mistakes have been made along the way, and you know,
Speaker 7: the mistakes along the line of just because you are
Speaker 7: for liberalized trade, that you know, the assumption that means
Speaker 7: that any kind of trade deal is a good deal.
Speaker 7: And the most infamous I don't mind saying is is
Speaker 7: really the terms on which the West, the United States
Speaker 7: and ourselves and other allies, the terms on which we
Speaker 7: admitted China to the World Trade Organization, which essentially allowed
Speaker 7: China to conduct in the name of free trade and
Speaker 7: neo mercantilist trade policy. Their policy has not been about
Speaker 7: the mutual benefits of free trade. It's been about accumulating
Speaker 7: surpluses at the expense of other countries and using those
Speaker 7: for geostrategic objectives, competitive objectives, and you know, and that
Speaker 7: you know when when they can sell to us and
Speaker 7: we can barely sell them to them, Like, that's not
Speaker 7: a liberalized trade agreement, and it was a big mistake.
Speaker 7: And there have been some others. So you know, when
Speaker 7: President Trump says there's some trade relationships that have to
Speaker 7: be fixed, some national security considerations have to be brought in,
Speaker 7: and in particular the China thing, and there's some others.
Speaker 7: There have to be better reciprocal access. That's that's all true,
Speaker 7: but you know, should be all under no illusion like
Speaker 7: I'm I'm an economist, and I'm actually not. You know,
Speaker 7: my specialty was fiscal policy and economic history and comprehensive protectionism.
Speaker 7: You know, the idea of using tariff barriers to raise
Speaker 7: revenue and relocate, comprehensively re reocate industries like this is
Speaker 7: a failed economic policy where it has been tried, and
Speaker 7: so I am worried about that general direction. I don't
Speaker 7: think everybody's going there though, I don't think this country
Speaker 7: will ever go there.
Speaker 6: So you mentioned your focus on trade and trade deals
Speaker 6: while you were Prime minister. You know, not everyone's not
Speaker 6: everyone's always on the same page. How do you balance
Speaker 6: the interest of the country with the priorities of other
Speaker 6: nations as you get to those deals.
Speaker 7: Well, you know, I'm we're sort of indirectly talking about
Speaker 7: President Trump in the Art of the Deal, which is
Speaker 7: a good book, by the way, But you know, actually
Speaker 7: I did a bunch of in my career, bunch of
Speaker 7: political deals and trade deals, and now I do business deals,
Speaker 7: and I actually think I'm a pretty good deal maker.
Speaker 7: And the key to deal making is when when that's
Speaker 7: really the key to deal making when I hear people
Speaker 7: say that their idea of a deal is they can
Speaker 7: get up on a podium and explain how the other
Speaker 7: guy lost, Like, that's actually not how you make a deal.
Speaker 7: I always used to say, and never made a deal
Speaker 7: with I never made a deal with anybody without first
Speaker 7: of all, trying to understanding before I got to the
Speaker 7: bargaining table what the other guy really wanted and needed,
Speaker 7: and then being able to on the day we announced
Speaker 7: the deal, political trade whatever, being able to say not
Speaker 7: just why we won, but why he won to And
Speaker 7: so I just think that's really that's a really critical
Speaker 7: lesson that I'm worried is slipping through fingers these days.
Speaker 6: So one of the trade deals you're working on was
Speaker 6: the Transpecific Partnership, which really ties in a lot of
Speaker 6: the emerging markets of the world. What's your sense of
Speaker 6: those is they're really developing and growing.
Speaker 7: Yeah. Look, you know, as you know, what was really
Speaker 7: funny about this is this, the whole trans Specific Partnership
Speaker 7: negotiations were driven by the United States, by the Obama
Speaker 7: administration quite aggressively, to the point where we were compelled
Speaker 7: to announce the conclusion of the deal during my twenty
Speaker 7: fifteen federal election campaign. Not ideal timing, but it actually
Speaker 7: worked out. It actually in the end worked out pretty well.
Speaker 7: And then of course the US ultimately didn't join. And
Speaker 7: just to be fair because people say, you know, Trump
Speaker 7: pulled this out, but actually I think the deal was
Speaker 7: dead when Hillary Clinton, who was the Democratic nominee the
Speaker 7: successor of Obama, also came out against the deal. So
Speaker 7: that kind of killed the United States participation. But to
Speaker 7: my surprise, what then happened was Prime Minister Abbe, who
Speaker 7: was the next biggest partner of Japan, he really let
Speaker 7: it forward and ultimately they you know, basically you know,
Speaker 7: modified the package for the fact that the United States
Speaker 7: was no longer in and got it done. That's what
Speaker 7: they called the cp TPP. So look, I think it's important.
Speaker 7: It's it's important even if the United States is not
Speaker 7: in it. It's important to have a liberalized trade area
Speaker 7: not dominated by China. This was besides the mutual gains
Speaker 7: from trade. This was one of the geo strategic objectives
Speaker 7: of the negotiations. And even without the United States, I
Speaker 7: think it's important to note that even without the United States,
Speaker 7: other parties Japan, Australia, Canada, et cetera, ultimately recognized that
Speaker 7: it was necessary for it to go ahead on that basis.
Speaker 6: You mentioned we were in India earlier this year, and
Speaker 6: you have been in India I think at least once
Speaker 6: every year since big and more than once, yeah, sometimes
Speaker 6: several times. So you talk about China and the counterbalance
Speaker 6: in many is India. Maybe just share what are you
Speaker 6: why do you keep coming back? Why do you keep going?
Speaker 6: And then two is what are you most excited about India?
Speaker 7: Well, look, we had a great relationship with India when
Speaker 7: I was Prime Minister and did the you know, nuclear
Speaker 7: the uranium sales deal, nuclear cooperation. We had important for
Speaker 7: the Province of Saskatchewan. We just great relationships with India.
Speaker 7: And oh why did I keep going? I like to
Speaker 7: say I went there partly because in India I was
Speaker 7: admired from my sense of fashion.
Speaker 8: You actually Canadians.
Speaker 7: Canadians although what that's about. But no, look, I go
Speaker 7: there because look, the world right now, I don't sugarcoat
Speaker 7: things like the world right now is a pretty troubled
Speaker 7: place on a lot of fronts geopolitical, environmental, economic, obviously military.
Speaker 7: There aren't a lot of really really good news stories
Speaker 7: in the world right now, and one of them is India.
Speaker 7: You know, India is one of the rare countries democratic
Speaker 7: countries these days that has, whether you like Modi or
Speaker 7: do not like Modi, a leader who's in a strong
Speaker 7: political position and moving his country forward in a very
Speaker 7: clear direction. And that's not that common these days. It's
Speaker 7: you know, the Indian economy is booming now, it's very uneven,
Speaker 7: but overall booming. And I have been saying I was
Speaker 7: in and I've been saying for twenty years I was
Speaker 7: a minority twenty years ago, less of a minority now
Speaker 7: saying that India is the better longer term bet than China,
Speaker 7: because I just think that over time, democracies create better balance,
Speaker 7: more inclusive, sustainable growth patterns. That's my view. Nobody thought
Speaker 7: that twenty years ago. People, I think are starting to
Speaker 7: come around on that. But it look it's it's it's
Speaker 7: a booming place. I say, rare in the world, very
Speaker 7: difficult still to do business in, but a rule of
Speaker 7: law environment. And I do think longer term, because it
Speaker 7: is a democratic nation, it will be. It won't be.
Speaker 7: It will not be an ally like you know, North
Speaker 7: American Western Europe, but it will be a more aligned
Speaker 7: country in the future. What I think is going to
Speaker 7: be an increasingly difficult world.
Speaker 6: You mentioned a fashion and you happen to be at
Speaker 6: the wedding of the Decade last year in India, maybe
Speaker 6: just in terms of the geopolitical draw and the business
Speaker 6: draw to event like that just shows sometimes the difference
Speaker 6: that you know, India even twenty years ago would have.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I was at the billion dollar Am Bonnie wedding,
Speaker 7: and you know, normally going to kind of purely social
Speaker 7: events is not my thing, but I just couldn't pass
Speaker 7: this one up. And I've gotten to know the a
Speaker 7: Bonomies a little bit in in business and actually do
Speaker 7: some work with their recent institute. It was I look
Speaker 7: at people, ask you, what's a billion dollar wedding, Like,
Speaker 7: you know, you can't you have to be there to
Speaker 7: when they build entire hotels and arenas just for the wedding.
Speaker 7: But I'll just give you one little flavor, which was
Speaker 7: when they had the formal I think it was the
Speaker 7: formal religious ceremony part. And this is the second by
Speaker 7: the way I went. There was second of three weddings.
Speaker 7: I was invited the first two. The third one is
Speaker 7: a small family affair. So I was at the second,
Speaker 7: which was the biggest one, which is like three or
Speaker 7: four thousand people, and I'm in this very you know,
Speaker 7: this kind of VIP area they had for the religious ceremony.
Speaker 7: And I don't know Ballywood very well, but I thought
Speaker 7: a couple of seats over, I thought that's a Balllywood Star.
Speaker 7: I kind of recognized what was so I took out
Speaker 7: my phone and I googled Balllywood Stars and then I
Speaker 7: realized every single one of them was sitting around me,
Speaker 7: every single one, and Kim Kardik a bunch of other people.
Speaker 7: So anyway, it was it was quite something it was,
Speaker 7: it's I'm lowering my daughter's expectations though for any kind
Speaker 7: of wedding.
Speaker 6: Just in another day in the life of mister Prime minister.
Speaker 7: When you look at this is a good thing about
Speaker 7: being foreign Premnis. You could do this kind of stuff.
Speaker 7: I couldn't do this as Prime minister. You know, the
Speaker 7: government would have made me pay for my first my
Speaker 7: travel and everything.
Speaker 5: But anyway, true.
Speaker 6: So one of the things that's been interesting this this
Speaker 6: resonates with a lot of legislators here. They feel that
Speaker 6: they feel that.
Speaker 7: I wanted to be pretty good out of office.
Speaker 5: Actually, no, kid yourself.
Speaker 6: One of the things that's been interesting is that in May,
Speaker 6: for the four consecutive months, trade with the US has
Speaker 6: actually gone down from Canada, including that month it went
Speaker 6: up five point seven percent to other parts of the world.
Speaker 6: So I want to get your prospective on what the
Speaker 6: longer term of view in terms of trade from Canada.
Speaker 6: And then also what would you want to tell our
Speaker 6: American colleagues here.
Speaker 7: Yeah, look, really good question. You know, you have to
Speaker 7: be careful about interpreting too much from month to month
Speaker 7: data because there's a lot of noise, a lot of
Speaker 7: natural fluctuation, in that I think we all are aware,
Speaker 7: certainly anybody in the airline hospitality business is aware of
Speaker 7: the decline in Canadian vacation travel to the United States.
Speaker 7: It's been very dramatic. Look, I'm just gonna I'm just
Speaker 7: gonna put it in this context just so everyone understands.
Speaker 7: You know, I was, I think it's fair to say,
Speaker 7: probably the most pro American prime minister Canadian history. And
Speaker 7: I tell people that if a year ago the government
Speaker 7: had asked me, you know, President Trump's coming in, he's
Speaker 7: talking about, you know, big challenges on trade, USMCA tariffs,
Speaker 7: what would you advise, I would have said a year ago,
Speaker 7: this is a real opportunity for Canada to really deepen
Speaker 7: its economic and security partnership with the United States. However,
Speaker 7: when this government did actually ask me a few weeks ago,
Speaker 7: my advice, my advice was the opposite. My advice was, yes,
Speaker 7: you know, on the economy, we've got to kind of
Speaker 7: get something short term worked out with the Trump administration.
Speaker 7: But this really is a wake up call for this
Speaker 7: country to truly diversify its trade export markets. That's why,
Speaker 7: you know, that's why we did sign the trade deals
Speaker 7: all around the world Europe, Asia, Pacific, the Americas and
Speaker 7: there and Canada has been to be blunt. This is,
Speaker 7: you know, nothing against the US. The reality is independent
Speaker 7: of the current disputes. Canada has been to use business
Speaker 7: term and I'm in the investment business. Now. We have
Speaker 7: been grossly overweight the United States as a country, and
Speaker 7: there is no reason for that. Just because we have
Speaker 7: that geographic proximity does not justify the degree of dependence
Speaker 7: that we have on a single market, which is sometimes disadvantageous.
Speaker 7: And the other thing, you know, in terms of security,
Speaker 7: my advice to the government is, yes, absolutely spend more
Speaker 7: on defense. We should been doing it all along. But
Speaker 7: let's well, we spend a lot more in defense. While
Speaker 7: the border is a shared responsibility. Let's make sure we
Speaker 7: spend a lot more on defense so that we can
Speaker 7: be independently responsible for our own land season guys, independent
Speaker 7: of the United States. And I'm just going to tell
Speaker 7: you right now, I know one political role I still have.
Speaker 7: I chair the Global Federation of Conservative Parties, and I
Speaker 7: can tell you that this is the advice every allied
Speaker 7: capital is getting from everybody like me that they talk to.
Speaker 7: And this is not ideal, but I just think it's
Speaker 7: a reality. The cats out of the bag, you can't
Speaker 7: or toothpases out of the two, whateveryone want to call it,
Speaker 7: you can't put it back. And I think it's unfortunate.
Speaker 7: I think in the long term this will, actually this
Speaker 7: direction will weaken the free world more than it will
Speaker 7: more than it will help it, and it will I
Speaker 7: think ultimately weaken the United States as well. So I
Speaker 7: think it's unfortunate, but that is the reality of the
Speaker 7: situation that.
Speaker 9: He squeezed. Amtion Ancient's my traditional name and it comes
Speaker 9: from Sileur two. So I just want to thank our
Speaker 9: coosalest relatives for the opportunity to do this work here today.
Speaker 9: I'm also Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development and Nonprofits and
Speaker 9: I'm absolutely honored to m see this morning's important announcement.
Speaker 9: It's absolutely awesome to have this bat drop within our territory.
Speaker 9: It's absolutely gorgeous. We got the sisters behind us looking
Speaker 9: after us, and I grew up in the waterfront, so
Speaker 9: it's wonderful. I love water and I love fish more
Speaker 9: and welcome to the park. This is Harbor Green Park.
Speaker 9: It stretches along Coal Harbor looking out over the Broad Inlet,
Speaker 9: and I just wanted to say, a couple of days
Speaker 9: ago there were orcas swimming in in the inlet, and
Speaker 9: they had been here since nineteen twenty, but they came
Speaker 9: back in twenty fifteen and they've been coming back ever since,
Speaker 9: so we're doing something right. So I'm just so happy
Speaker 9: they're back. This green space is mons sitting amongst the
Speaker 9: busy streets and towers of Vancouver, but it does capture
Speaker 9: the commerce and economic pulse of Vancouver and British Columbia.
Speaker 9: We have both that and the natural environment as well
Speaker 9: as the diversity of the population, so we're really in
Speaker 9: a very heavenly spot and it's a perfect place for
Speaker 9: this announcement about building strong, secure, sustainable and prosperous future
Speaker 9: for all British Columbians. I'd like to acknowledge our guests
Speaker 9: today joining us at this site are there's Indigenous leaderships.
Speaker 9: Representatives from the First Nations Leadership Council. Unfortunately, my favorite
Speaker 9: one isn't here. We had a very long drive yesterday
Speaker 9: so he's still sleepy. We have First Nations Energy and
Speaker 9: Mining Council representatives. We have representatives from labor unions, from
Speaker 9: industry and most importantly from environment and clean energy associations
Speaker 9: and organizations, and from the Canada Infrastructure Bank, staff and
Speaker 9: executive from BC Hydro and a number of Vancouver area MLAs.
Speaker 9: I see the honorable Carry Young, So thank you very
Speaker 9: much for being with us today and joining me up
Speaker 9: here to make this announcement, or of course our very
Speaker 9: own Premier David eby the audible Adrian Dix, who's the
Speaker 9: Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions, Chris O'Reilly who's President
Speaker 9: and CEO of bc i DROME, and Duma Cole Sayers
Speaker 9: who's the executive director of Clean Energy Association of British Columbia.
Speaker 9: So it's a pleasure now to invite Premier EB to
Speaker 9: the podium with today's important announcement. Thank you, Thanks there,
Speaker 9: you're going awesome.
Speaker 10: Thanks Joe, Thanks so much, Joan. It's great to see
Speaker 10: everybody here. What a beautiful day in Vancouver. You can
Speaker 10: see why tourism numbers are setting records here in British Columbia.
Speaker 5: It's a beautiful place to be.
Speaker 10: Whether you're in downtown Vancouver, in the far northeast of
Speaker 10: the interior, out on the island, you can't beat British Columbia.
Speaker 5: And for those of you who.
Speaker 10: Are staying close to home this year for your family vacations,
Speaker 10: thanks for doing that. And for those of you are
Speaker 10: visiting British Columbia, welcome. It's great to be here. I
Speaker 10: am really glad to see special guests out in the audience.
Speaker 10: I see Robert Phillips out there. I see Terry Young
Speaker 10: MLA for Downtown Vancouver. I see Michael Goring from the
Speaker 10: Mining Association. It's very good to see a good group
Speaker 10: of people out here for today's announcement and it reflects
Speaker 10: the importance of the work that we're doing here. You know,
Speaker 10: our country is under a direct attack by the United States,
Speaker 10: specifically by the President of.
Speaker 5: The United States, Donald Trump.
Speaker 10: Unfortunately, we're not unique in that we're seeing an attack
Speaker 10: around the world on allies, particularly of the United States,
Speaker 10: from the President. No one can really make sense of
Speaker 10: why that's happening, but it is happening. And as we
Speaker 10: try to keep track of the multiple announcements of the
Speaker 10: President about attacking this sector or that sector, or this
Speaker 10: country or this tariff. What we have to do, is,
Speaker 10: British Columbians, what we have to do is Canadians is
Speaker 10: push ahead and make sure that we're building our economy
Speaker 10: to stand strong on our own two feet, diversifying our markets.
Speaker 10: And the proud thing for British Columbians is, although this
Speaker 10: is a time of great uncertainty and challenge for major
Speaker 10: industries in our province and in our country, is that
Speaker 10: we know that our province is positioned to be the
Speaker 10: engine of the new economy that we're building here in Canada.
Speaker 10: And we saw that recently with the Highland Valley Copper announcement,
Speaker 10: a two point four billion dollar investment in our province
Speaker 10: by tech nineteen hundred jobs shipping copper to markets in Asia.
Speaker 5: We've seen that through.
Speaker 10: Major investments, we shipped our first LNG cargo, the first
Speaker 10: Canadian l LNG cargo ever out of our northwest port
Speaker 10: in Kitamat to Asia. We are developing more than fifty
Speaker 10: billion dollars in capital projects in this province that are
Speaker 10: either shovel ready or are in approvals, processes that we
Speaker 10: are excited about that are.
Speaker 5: Going to build this economy.
Speaker 10: So while there are challenges out there, we know that
Speaker 10: we will be the engine of the Canadian economy going forward.
Speaker 10: In this very difficult time as we restructure to protect
Speaker 10: our sovereignty and protect Canadian jobs and respond to the
Speaker 10: attacks from a white house that up until very recent
Speaker 10: memory was a close ally of Canada's. Now there's something
Speaker 10: special about that engine in British Columbia, and that is
Speaker 10: that our engine is electric. One of our big advantages
Speaker 10: here in British Columbia is clean, cheap electricity. It attracts industry,
Speaker 10: it keeps industry here. And one of the things we
Speaker 10: know is that projects that are proposing to come to
Speaker 10: our province need to use more and more electricity than
Speaker 10: ever before. They want to use clean electricity, and in
Speaker 10: doing so, they produce the lowest carbon products in the world.
Speaker 10: And it doesn't matter what it is that's produced. We
Speaker 10: set records for having very low carbon emissions when projects
Speaker 10: are when products are produced here in British Columbia. And
Speaker 10: so that's one of the reasons why you saw a
Speaker 10: couple of months ago an announcement much like this. Over
Speaker 10: on Vancouver Island, we announced a call for power for
Speaker 10: BC Hydro. Call for power is not a he man
Speaker 10: standing in front of Castle Gray Skull. This is a
Speaker 10: that's a gen X reference.
Speaker 5: They may not land for everybody. Yeah, it's a it's an.
Speaker 10: Open call to independent power producers, First Nations communities. If
Speaker 10: you have an opportunity to generate electricity for our province,
Speaker 10: bring it forward. PC Hydro will work with you and
Speaker 10: award a contract to buy that electricity from you.
Speaker 5: So we did that first call for power.
Speaker 10: It was oversubscribed, five thousand gigaway of electricity, enough to
Speaker 10: power five hundred thousand homes through clean energy through wind
Speaker 10: power through solar. Very impressive in that nine of the
Speaker 10: ten projects our majority Indigenous owned and the tenth forty
Speaker 10: nine percent clear partnerships between industry and First Nations and
Speaker 10: local communities across the province. Very inspiring stuff and delivered
Speaker 10: at a cost who is forty percent less than the
Speaker 10: twenty fifteen BC Hydro call for power, So ensuring that
Speaker 10: we're continuing to provide affordability around hydro, that we're building
Speaker 10: our economy, representing billions of dollars in private investment in
Speaker 10: our province, creating jobs, prosperity in remote communities, including in
Speaker 10: First Nations. A hugely successful first call. So that is
Speaker 10: why we're gathered here today as an announcement that we're
Speaker 10: building on that success of the first announcement that we
Speaker 10: are building more energy here in British Columbia. Today, I'm
Speaker 10: announcing a second call for power, an additional five thousand
Speaker 10: gigawatts of clean energy that we're calling for to be
Speaker 10: produced here in British Columbia, enough to power five hundred
Speaker 10: thousand homes as well as major industrial projects across the province.
Speaker 10: Is an economic driver in every corner of British Columbia
Speaker 10: for communities right across this beautiful province of ours. And
Speaker 10: it's a reflection of two things. One is our commitment
Speaker 10: to grow our economy to ensure that we're standing strong
Speaker 10: as British Columbians. We're relying on our advantages and we're
Speaker 10: supporting growth in the industries in which we're strong.
Speaker 5: And the second.
Speaker 10: Is that we believe the climate change is real, that
Speaker 10: we understand that we have a role to play here
Speaker 10: in British Columbia and driving down emissions and clean electricity
Speaker 10: is the way that we're going to do it. And
Speaker 10: we're going to address climate change at the same time.
Speaker 5: As we're growing our economy.
Speaker 10: And I couldn't help but notice the President of the
Speaker 10: United States, Donald Trump saying that he doesn't like those
Speaker 10: windmills that produce electricity. They interfere with the views from
Speaker 10: his golf courses. Let me tell you to all American
Speaker 10: clean energy producers, come relocate to British Columbia. We are
Speaker 10: the clean energy capital of the world. We're going to
Speaker 10: do it. We're creating energy here. We're supportive of clean
Speaker 10: energy and we will continue to be so you can
Speaker 10: join the amazing more than seven hundred medical professionals that
Speaker 10: have applied to join our health service from the United States,
Speaker 10: and we welcome you, and you are welcome here. With that,
Speaker 10: i'd like to turn it over to the Mister of Energy,
Speaker 10: our next speaker, with more details about today's announcement.
Speaker 5: Thanks very much, Thank you.
Speaker 8: It's great to be here today. It's great to be
Speaker 8: here with friends and guests and advocates of clean energy
Speaker 8: and advocates of economic growth and advocates of action against
Speaker 8: climate change. Today, today we're announcing and it's out the
Speaker 8: request for proposal for this second Call for Power in
Speaker 8: fifteen months. It's a significant proposal. We're expecting to get
Speaker 8: from this proposal five thousand gigawatt hours of clean, renewable
Speaker 8: electricity annually large projects. This time there's no maximum project
Speaker 8: size gap cap as there was in the first Call
Speaker 8: for Power, and a minimum of twenty five percent equity ownership,
Speaker 8: with options at higher levels as we saw in the
Speaker 8: first Call for Power, and incenting additional benefits outside of
Speaker 8: equity ownership. We will be awarding these electricity purchase agreements
Speaker 8: in early twenty twenty six, on around March the tenth
Speaker 8: we expect projects. It will be an operation from these
Speaker 8: two calls for power between twenty twenty eight and twenty
Speaker 8: thirty three. This builds on that call of power. It
Speaker 8: means more jobs, job creation, thousands of them in the
Speaker 8: building of projects, job creation in the electricity produced by
Speaker 8: these projects, and more ownership opportunities for first nations. Why
Speaker 8: do we need that because the opportunities in British Columbia,
Speaker 8: is the Premier has just said, are strong and almost unprecedented,
Speaker 8: particularly for example in our mining sector, and that will
Speaker 8: be powered in British Columbia by clean electricity. This is
Speaker 8: a significant importance. But of course you just have to
Speaker 8: be here in Metro Vancouver and other communities to know that.
Speaker 8: We also have a growing population and other opportunities opportunities
Speaker 8: from high tech and it AI and LNG opportunities that
Speaker 8: require more clean electricity. And the good news is the
Speaker 8: cost of clean electricity is coming down forty five percent
Speaker 8: lower in our first call for power than in the
Speaker 8: previous call for power, which tells us that this is
Speaker 8: the right investment for people and the right investment to
Speaker 8: do what BC Hydro has always done, which has had
Speaker 8: some of the lowest hydro rates in North America. Builds
Speaker 8: on a broader program that the Premier talked about that
Speaker 8: we announced in May and have been laying out over
Speaker 8: the last number of months. A request for expressions of
Speaker 8: interests of firm power, which support which support other forms
Speaker 8: of renewable energy that that deadline is September. Requests for
Speaker 8: expressions of interest on conservation to build on conservation opportunities
Speaker 8: that save our resources and are in effect by saving
Speaker 8: resources inexpensive power investment in energy innovation. In short, we
Speaker 8: have a plan, a clean energy plan that will fuel
Speaker 8: BC's economy into the future. This announcement today builds on
Speaker 8: a plan that is significant for people, that involves involves
Speaker 8: the private sector, involves first nations. In fact, these calls
Speaker 8: for power were designed by BC Hydro with First Nations
Speaker 8: in British Columbia. So this is action action action. There
Speaker 8: is urgency. See in this moment, urgency because we've seen
Speaker 8: in the United States an attack on Canadian sovereignty. We
Speaker 8: have to become more self sufficient and we have to
Speaker 8: become stronger. This helps us do that.
Speaker 2: So I want to.
Speaker 8: Thank the Premiere. I want to thank everyone at BC
Speaker 8: Hydro for their involvement in this. So also my last
Speaker 8: opportunity to say thank you. We have a little bit
Speaker 8: of a transition at BC Hydro and Chris O'Reilly is
Speaker 8: retiring after a long contribution thirty five years to BC Hydro,
Speaker 8: retiring on Friday. Our new president and CEO is just
Speaker 8: over there, Charlotte Meta. We want to welcome her, and
Speaker 8: it's really an honor for me to introduce Chris O'Reilly
Speaker 8: for what Well, we still got three more days, still
Speaker 8: got three more days, but a few more steps to take.
Speaker 8: But I want to welcome Chris and thank him for
Speaker 8: all his service to British Columbia and to BC Hydro.
Speaker 11: Well, thank you so much, minister for your kind words.
Speaker 11: It's great to be here on the territory of the Muscliam,
Speaker 11: Squamash and Slay with youth. First Nations for this really
Speaker 11: important announcement and a privilege to stand before you today
Speaker 11: to talk about the path ahead, one that's powered by
Speaker 11: our provinces, abundant natural resources, renewable power and lasting partnerships.
Speaker 11: As you've heard from Premier eb and Minister Dix, VC
Speaker 11: Hydro was officially launching the twenty twenty five Call for
Speaker 11: Power today. This is a major step forward in our
Speaker 11: continued commitment to provide British Columbians with a affordable, reliable
Speaker 11: and renewable electricity. This initiative supports our thriving economy, it
Speaker 11: fuels job creation and helps communities across British Columbia to
Speaker 11: continue to grow and succeed. We're now issuing a request
Speaker 11: for proposals to acquire up to five thousand gigawatt hours
Speaker 11: annually from clean and renewable resources, and that's enough electricity
Speaker 11: to power half a million homes.
Speaker 8: Just like.
Speaker 11: Just like last year's call, First Nations participation is central
Speaker 11: to this. It's not an option, it's integrated deeply in
Speaker 11: the initiative. Each project must include a minimum of twenty
Speaker 11: five percent First Nations equity ownership with incentives up to
Speaker 11: fifty one percent. These partnerships mark a transformative shift rooted
Speaker 11: in reconciliation, shared economic prosperity, and First Nations leadership in
Speaker 11: energy development. We're also collaborating closely with the Canada Infrastructure Bank. Together,
Speaker 11: we're opening new financing pathways that enable First Nations and
Speaker 11: clean energy developers to scale their ambitions, to stimulate local
Speaker 11: economies and propel British Columbia towards its climate goals. This
Speaker 11: call for power also complements BC Hydro's broader efforts to
Speaker 11: expand energy infrastr structure, to strengthen grid reliability and grow
Speaker 11: with the communities that we serve, all while advancing sustainability
Speaker 11: and affordability. As has been said, this is my final
Speaker 11: media announcement as President and CEO of BC Hydro. Over
Speaker 11: the past thirty five years, I've had the privilege of
Speaker 11: serving British Columbians in a variety of role roles in
Speaker 11: this outstanding organization. As I approach my retirement, I take
Speaker 11: great pride in the legacy that we've all built together,
Speaker 11: from record setting investments in renewable energy to historic collaboration
Speaker 11: with First nations. We've laid the groundwork for a cleaner, stronger,
Speaker 11: and more inclusive energy future. To our BC Hydro employees,
Speaker 11: indigenous partners, our customers, industry collaborators, communities, provincial and local governments.
Speaker 11: We've achieved this together. Thank you for your trust, your
Speaker 11: leadership and your vision. As my colleague Charlotte Meta takes
Speaker 11: over as president and CEO of PC Hydro on Friday,
Speaker 11: we'll keep the momentum going and together we'll build an
Speaker 11: energy future that's clean, inclusive and resilient. Thank you. And
Speaker 11: now I'd like to welcome Quatuma Cole Sayer's executive director
Speaker 11: of Clean Energy Association of BC, to the podium.
Speaker 12: Thank you, Chris. I hope you can have some downtime
Speaker 12: in your retirement. I just want to think on palf
Speaker 12: of the clean energy industry. I want to thank you
Speaker 12: for your leadership and your time at BC Hydro. And
Speaker 12: we welcome Charlet Mita and her time. We look forward
Speaker 12: to working with you. It's an honor to join you
Speaker 12: on the territories of the Squamish, Musculiam and Slowstith nations.
Speaker 12: Thank you to Abstin John Phillips for the wonderful welcome here,
Speaker 12: and to the Premier and the Minister of Energy for
Speaker 12: welcoming the Clean Energy Association of Burt's Klumby to speak
Speaker 12: here today. We're honored to be here on the launch
Speaker 12: of the twenty twenty five Call for Power. My name
Speaker 12: is Quatuma col Saaras. I'm the executive director of Clean
Speaker 12: Energy Association of British Columbia. The launch to the second
Speaker 12: Call for Power, along with a clear commitment to future
Speaker 12: calls every two years, is important and necessary step in
Speaker 12: building the electricity infrastructure that we need to power our province.
Speaker 12: These calls in a strong signal to the clean energy sector,
Speaker 12: to investors and two communities that British Columbia is serious
Speaker 12: about planning ahead and making the long term commitments required
Speaker 12: to meet future demand. At Cleanery BC, we believe that
Speaker 12: clean power development is most successful when first nations are
Speaker 12: at the center of the process. When nations lead projects
Speaker 12: on their territories, working in partnership with industry and supported
Speaker 12: by meaningful government engagement, the results generate lasting benefits for
Speaker 12: all British Columbians.
Speaker 5: These projects will deliver.
Speaker 12: Long term jobs, attract world class investment strength, and environmental
Speaker 12: studewerdship and provide stronger economic growth. The approach now today
Speaker 12: that the approach and nounce today advances economic reconciliation. It
Speaker 12: recognizes the rights and leaderships of nations to own and
Speaker 12: shape clean agy projects on their lands, guided by their
Speaker 12: own values and stewardship of their projects. Do collaboration benefits
Speaker 12: will flow into communities across the province and create lasting
Speaker 12: prosperity for first nations and local communities in all British Columbians.
Speaker 12: Cleaning BC plods continue collaboration on clean age of projects
Speaker 12: as meaningful path forward for reconciliation, energy security, and opportunities
Speaker 12: that will burnish all that will benefit all British Columbians.
Speaker 12: Together with our members, we are committed to advancing projects
Speaker 12: that create meaningful benefits, support thriving communities, and leave a
Speaker 12: legacy of clean energy projects for generations to come.
Speaker 5: Thank you for having me today, quick.
Speaker 9: Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate the Premier's
Speaker 9: remarks with respect our neighbors to the south. I wonder
Speaker 9: if anybody tried unplugging them and then plugging them back in,
Speaker 9: because something's going on there that's uh, just not right,
Speaker 9: and it's when it just hurts them, it hurts all
Speaker 9: of us. But I'm just so happy and honored to
Speaker 9: be here to talk about the clean, affordable and reliable
Speaker 9: electricity that will help build this province. Clean energy power
Speaker 9: will forward us into a bright and sustainable future and
Speaker 9: in collaboration with Indigenous nations, creating jobs, helping a community grow,
Speaker 9: and driving a strong and clean economy. It's been my
Speaker 9: privilege to participate in this morning's announcement, so I'd like
Speaker 9: to thank you any you.
Speaker 13: A little delayed there, the Prime Minister kept looking at
Speaker 13: the kayak over there, and I knew what he was
Speaker 13: going through his mind, saying, jeez, I'd love to unload
Speaker 13: that and go look wonderful to be here today, you know,
Speaker 13: a historical moment for Islanders, Prince Edward Island, our MPs,
Speaker 13: and first of all, I want to take a quick
Speaker 13: shout out to Ron and Pam for allowing us to
Speaker 13: use this. I don't think the view gets much better
Speaker 13: on Prince Edward Island than what you're staring at today
Speaker 13: and what we have our backs to.
Speaker 8: It's absolutely phenomenal.
Speaker 14: A piece of engineering.
Speaker 13: That's been a statue for us as a recognition of
Speaker 13: an Island. So I just wanted to first of all,
Speaker 13: thank everyone that's here and p McDonald, Casey Morrissey Iacona
Speaker 13: who took the bridge and spending, like many islands, many
Speaker 13: people in Canada, his time on Prince Edward Island as
Speaker 13: a tourist, Minister Freeland, Minister Thompson, Premier Lance and of
Speaker 13: course r PM Mark Kearney. Look, it all started here
Speaker 13: in Confederation Confederation Bridge. We're very fortunate to get to
Speaker 13: this point. It's something that Islanders have been asking for
Speaker 13: for a long time. And I'm not going to take
Speaker 13: too much time because i think there's more important things
Speaker 13: to talk about than me standing up here. But I
Speaker 13: do want to say, you know, as a relatively new MP,
Speaker 13: as a new Cabinet minister, working closely with Minister Freeland's
Speaker 13: office on this and the MPs that represent Prince Ofward Island,
Speaker 13: and having the leadership of mister Kearney to get this
Speaker 13: across the finish line force, it's pretty special for all
Speaker 13: of us. And look, were united across this country, as
Speaker 13: you all know, Thank you love. Were reunited across this country.
Speaker 14: As you all know.
Speaker 13: We're building Canada as fast and as quickly as possible
Speaker 13: to face some adversities that we have and this is
Speaker 13: part of it.
Speaker 2: This is part of it.
Speaker 13: And I can still remember my first meeting with mister
Speaker 13: Kearney and he said to me, what are your three
Speaker 13: things for Pei? And I won't mention the other two,
Speaker 13: but I will mention this one. We're not there yet
Speaker 13: on the other two, but I will mention this one.
Speaker 13: And it was a bridge and I won't say his response.
Speaker 14: But it was like, whoa, this is awesome.
Speaker 13: So without further ado, mister Kearney, look, we appreciate it
Speaker 13: here as Islanders and as MPs that represent the island
Speaker 13: working with you and Minister Freeland's office.
Speaker 15: Thank you, Thanks very much, Thanks, thanks very much. Heif
Speaker 15: you weren't calling me mister back then when you were
Speaker 15: listing the three things, Thank you minister for that kind
Speaker 15: of introduction. And I want to thank our Atlantic Caucus
Speaker 15: or p I Caucus here Ministers Freeland and Thompson. MPs
Speaker 15: from across the country just happened to be dropping by.
Speaker 15: I want to acknowledge and thank Premier Lance for taking
Speaker 15: the time to be here today and for his leadership,
Speaker 15: leadership of this province and leadership incoming now leader and
Speaker 15: chair of the Council of the Federation, incredibly important body.
Speaker 15: I'm going to say a few words about what Heath
Speaker 15: was just talking about, bringing the country closer together, and
Speaker 15: the Council of the Federation group of premiers working.
Speaker 14: With the federal government is a big, big part of that.
Speaker 15: Look it is, it's always a good day when you
Speaker 15: wake up on Prince Edward Island.
Speaker 14: That's true.
Speaker 15: They're here and today is an especially a good day.
Speaker 14: It's a big day. So I want to get I
Speaker 14: want to get right to it.
Speaker 15: One of the reasons seven months ago that I decided
Speaker 15: to run for parliament was to bring Canadians closer together
Speaker 15: so that we could build Canada strong and back in
Speaker 15: early February when I visited Charlottetown, I had those conversations
Speaker 15: with Heath, with Sean, with Lawrence, with Bobby, Lawrence McCauley
Speaker 15: at the time, the Kent McDonald of his day, Lawrence mccomedy,
Speaker 15: had those conversations, and that caucus made this point to me,
Speaker 15: and I made a promise then obviously to Islanders but
Speaker 15: all Atlantic Canadians, that we would cut the tolls on
Speaker 15: the Confederation Bridge to twenty dollars and that we would
Speaker 15: cut the fairs on the Eastern Fairies and Marine Atlantic
Speaker 15: in half.
Speaker 14: And today we're making good on those promises.
Speaker 15: Yeah, doing that to bring Atlantic Canada closer together, bring
Speaker 15: Canadians closer together. There's around three thousand vehicles crossing Confederation
Speaker 15: Bridge on average every single day, some million vehicles every year.
Speaker 15: And each time drivers leave PI on the bridge. I
Speaker 15: don't know why they leave PI on the bridge, but
Speaker 15: I have to go. They're paying over fifty dollars right
Speaker 15: now for trucks. The tolls even higher, and those trucks
Speaker 15: are often driving back and forth.
Speaker 14: Multiple times during the day to transport goods.
Speaker 15: And the Eastern Ferry Service and Marine Atlantic are essential
Speaker 15: transportation corridors between the island Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova
Speaker 15: Scotia and New Brunswick. And there's over twenty five hundred
Speaker 15: people twelve hundred vehicles, both passengers and commercial, that take
Speaker 15: those routes every single day. And the costs of the
Speaker 15: bridge and the ferry don't just fall on tourists like Angelo.
Speaker 15: They hit his family, They hit islanders. Angelos stay in
Speaker 15: an extra day. I'm gonna tell you, I'm going to
Speaker 15: tell you why they hit Islanders, Newfoundlanders, Nova Scotians, New
Speaker 15: Brunswickers and Quebecers and Canadians commuting to work or visiting
Speaker 15: family in friends. They make it more expensive for businesses
Speaker 15: of all sizes to be Cecazi Canadian San confronte, increse
Speaker 15: de coud levi ilenousvo govenmounts in Canada, consent so objective
Speaker 15: de redria, poke Le Canadian Peace, Galde in blue, grande
Speaker 15: passi de la gen quizon, dirmentns entrpice piece prosperity. If
Speaker 15: we're going to build a stronger, more united economy, and
Speaker 15: we are doing that, we are going to need to
Speaker 15: make it more affordable to travel around this country for
Speaker 15: people and for businesses. And that's what we're doing today
Speaker 15: as of August. For today, Angelona's family are now leaving
Speaker 15: the island. Canada's new government is reducing the toll for
Speaker 15: all vehicles on the Confederation Bridge by more than half,
Speaker 15: from fifty to twenty five.
Speaker 14: To twenty dollars.
Speaker 15: Yeah, and we're reducing the tariffs the fares by fifty
Speaker 15: percent for passengers, for vehicles for commercial traffic on eastern ferries.
Speaker 15: Those Eastern ferries that are federally supported and funding Marine
Speaker 15: Atlantic to reduce its passenger fares by fifty percent.
Speaker 14: Of folks roots for these fayries. So this is big,
Speaker 14: you know, it's big money.
Speaker 15: Combine, this is going to save users approximately one hundred
Speaker 15: million dollars and that's one hundred million dollars and go
Speaker 15: back into our economy year after year, savings that will
Speaker 15: get funneled back into local businesses that will catalyze new
Speaker 15: investment and forge deeper connections. For example, the reductions to
Speaker 15: the Marine Atlantic fairs in Newfoundland and Labrador alone are
Speaker 15: expected to bring over twenty eight million dollars into that
Speaker 15: province's economy and boost out of town, out of province tourism.
Speaker 14: As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats.
Speaker 15: Hello the nuvau gounmal Canada A jesu leumanda to bats
Speaker 15: an economy in Canada, de fal in Canada a p
Speaker 15: sasheka dispose de risos necessaire. On day one in government,
Speaker 15: we canceled the consumer carbon tax, so it's a lot
Speaker 15: less expensive to drive cars in Canada this summer. Our
Speaker 15: first order of business in the House of Commons following
Speaker 15: the election, to cut taxes for all.
Speaker 14: Canadians, including the middle.
Speaker 15: Class, to reduce the cost of housing for first time
Speaker 15: home buyers, making the goal of home ownership a reality
Speaker 15: for many Canadians. These measures provide immediate relief for hard
Speaker 15: working Canadians, but the brighter future that Canadians deserve requires
Speaker 15: much more, and that's why we're transforming our national economy.
Speaker 15: We're moving from reliance to resilience, from potential to prosperity,
Speaker 15: and a big part of this transformation is to bring
Speaker 15: the country closer together. Because economies are additive of one another.
Speaker 15: When we connect regional economies through travel and trade, they're
Speaker 15: stronger than the sum of their parts. That's what we've
Speaker 15: been doing with our One Canadian Economy Act, which is
Speaker 15: eliminating all federal barriers to the movement of goods and people.
Speaker 15: And I want to thank the Minister Transport is also
Speaker 15: the Minister of Internal Trade.
Speaker 14: Christian Freeland, for leading that effort.
Speaker 15: And we're working with the provinces and territories now under
Speaker 15: Premier Lance's chairship, to remove far more significant barriers that
Speaker 15: exist between provinces and there's huge progress being made.
Speaker 3: On that.
Speaker 15: Upouvondne Plucce Governor Gemi ne B Loscow, New Creon in
Speaker 15: Economy Canada, Ullio de Tre's New sum Plufar s Old
Speaker 15: Team Loscow, News Element, Liberia commercialn Loscow, New Pattison, Come.
Speaker 14: Dot PS New Hondo de Soup. It is a too police.
Speaker 15: When we make it more affordable to travel between provinces,
Speaker 15: we increase mobility across the region. We build a stronger
Speaker 15: Atlantic Canada and with more opportunity and greater prosperity. And
Speaker 15: that's exactly why we're also focused on building major projects
Speaker 15: such as new energy and trade corridors that will connect
Speaker 15: our provincial and territorial economies and create new links between
Speaker 15: Canada and the rest of the world to build Canada
Speaker 15: strong nation building product projects that will create high paying
Speaker 15: careers and turbocharge our industries of the future, from agriculture
Speaker 15: close to Heath's heart and my heart, agriculture to artificial intelligence.
Speaker 15: I'll call finish by observing, and I have to observe
Speaker 15: on a day like to this. I've been fortunate in
Speaker 15: so many ways, including being here on Prince Edward Island
Speaker 15: on a gorgeous summer day. Today's announcement will mean more
Speaker 15: Canadians can see more of Atlantic Canada and so all
Speaker 15: Canadians families can have the chance to enjoy our beautiful
Speaker 15: country this summer. We've also created the Canada Strong Pass
Speaker 15: so families can visit our national parks, our museums, are galleries,
Speaker 15: and our historical sites for free. It allows Canadians to
Speaker 15: take the Via rail through the Rockies with their kids
Speaker 15: at a lower cost drive across Confederation Bridge to see
Speaker 15: Cabinish Beach in Pi National Park where I'm headed.
Speaker 14: Right after this, I might add.
Speaker 11: Oh.
Speaker 15: Vois le villagetor ric Commemora Listois come Jeanie la chancier.
Speaker 15: We as Canadians are fortunate to live in the greatest country.
Speaker 14: In the world.
Speaker 15: It's also this is true, yeah yeah, it's also one
Speaker 15: of the largest countries in the world. And with today's announcement,
Speaker 15: we're bringing it a bit closer together as Canadians come
Speaker 15: together to build Canada Strong.
Speaker 14: Thank you very much me, and.
Speaker 15: Now it's my pleasure to introduce the Minister of Transportation
Speaker 15: and Internal Trade, Christian Freeland.
Speaker 5: Minister.
Speaker 3: Thanks Prime Minister. Okay, good morning everyone, what a beautiful
Speaker 3: day here on Pei. Thank you so much, Prime Minister.
Speaker 3: It is such a privilege to be here with you
Speaker 3: and our wonderful colleagues from the island Atlantic Canada, and
Speaker 3: even a visitor from Quebec. Our new government is delivering
Speaker 3: on a core committe meant to build one strong United
Speaker 3: Canadian economy, and that includes making it easier to get
Speaker 3: around in Atlantic Canada. Today's announcement will bring real measurable
Speaker 3: economic benefits and make life more affordable for businesses and
Speaker 3: families in this great community and across Atlantic Canada. Commance
Speaker 3: aconte du premier u en fredri lecu d transport pludn
Speaker 3: Les du Quebec a don ensembles du Canada Atlantique. This
Speaker 3: is a really big deal. The tolls for all vehicles
Speaker 3: on that great bridge are going to go down to
Speaker 3: twenty bucks on August first, on Friday, we're cutting the
Speaker 3: fares by fifty percent for all vehicles on the Eastern
Speaker 3: Canada ferry services that are federally supported, and we're supporting
Speaker 3: Marine Atlantic to reduce fares for passengers by fifty percent
Speaker 3: passengers and passenger vehicles. This is about keeping a campaign
Speaker 3: promise that the Prime Minister made here with Pi colleagues.
Speaker 3: Promise made today, Promise kept. This is about making life
Speaker 3: affordable for people here on Pei and across Atlantic Canada
Speaker 3: and Quebec. And as the Prime Minister has just explained,
Speaker 3: this is about building one Canadian economy. This is about
Speaker 3: building Canada strong. I do want to offer a shout
Speaker 3: out specifically to the Pei MPs who are here, Bobby
Speaker 3: Sean Heath Lawrence also he's still kind of here with
Speaker 3: us Kent. They have been absolutely tireless in campaigning for this.
Speaker 3: I couldn't even say hello to them without hearing about
Speaker 3: the bridge. It's true they're laughing, but persistence works.
Speaker 15: For me.
Speaker 3: Really, they are role models because they know their community
Speaker 3: and they have worked so hard to advocate for their community. So, gentlemen,
Speaker 3: well done. Maybe take a minute before bugging us about
Speaker 3: other things. No, we love it, and I do also
Speaker 3: want I'm really happy that Premier Lance is here. He
Speaker 3: has worked really hard on this with us, and you
Speaker 3: know we have, as the Prime Minister has said, we
Speaker 3: have a lot of work to do, building Canada strong,
Speaker 3: building one Canadian economy. PI has led confederation since we
Speaker 3: had confederation, and we're counting on you to do that
Speaker 3: At this time a real national challenge. Nearly sixty five
Speaker 3: percent of all goods to and from Newfoundland are transported
Speaker 3: by marine Atlantic. That includes fresh produce, medical supplies, and
Speaker 3: home heating fuel. Cutting those costs means more reliable supply
Speaker 3: chains and lower prices for consumers. AVEC de Free, Redui
Speaker 3: E Mayer Service, d Vantage, the Canagin at Explore Canada,
Speaker 3: Atlantique Entris Local Genere de jons de la Croissant's Economic
Speaker 3: contre in Economy Canagin moder U les marchandis.
Speaker 15: La mandev.
Speaker 3: Sep U gill schwas. We are cutting tolls and fairy fares,
Speaker 3: and in doing that, we are breaking down interprovincial trade
Speaker 3: barriers that divide our markets and limit our nation's economic potential.
Speaker 3: As we've just heard from the Prime Minister, this is
Speaker 3: a really challenging time for Canada.
Speaker 15: We all know it.
Speaker 3: But if we work together, if we build one Canadian economy,
Speaker 3: if we build Canada strong, we can give more to ourselves.
Speaker 3: We can do more for ourselves and each other than
Speaker 3: anyone can take away from us. Together, we are building
Speaker 3: the strongest economy in the G seven, in the best
Speaker 3: country in the world.
Speaker 10: Thank you very much.
Speaker 9: It's great to be there.
Speaker 3: Then I think I'm passing it over.
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