'We Launched Tariff Response...': Mark Carney Makes Big Move Over Trump Tariffs Against Canada

Added: 2026-04-30

[00:00:00]that we talked about how important it was to take our future into our hands to build this country, build this country strong, and it starts with the people in this room and who you represent. Thank you so much for welcoming me. I've been looking forward to this day as a symbol.

[00:00:16]It's a symbol of what we're doing together. So, thank you for what you do. Thank you for welcoming us here. It is great to be with Canada's building trades unions. You are the force, the literal force of the Canadian economy.

[00:00:33]14 international unions bound together representing more than 600,000 skilled trade workers across Canada.

[00:00:45]Union workers have built the very foundations of Canada's shared prosperity.

[00:00:52]And our message is that Canada needs you more than ever.

[00:00:58]You know, >> [applause] >> throughout our history throughout Canada's great history, whether in the face of economic hardship, threats to our sovereignty, pursuit of greater prosperity, we have chosen to build.

[00:01:18]Before Confederation, not far from here, Canadians built the Rideau Canal.

[00:01:25]As young nation, Canadians built the Canadian Pacific Railway. 1950s, after the war, Canadians built the St. Lawrence Seaway. All nation-building projects that connected and transformed our country, built by workers like you.

[00:01:43]Workers like Andres Flores, a member of Canada's building trades, whose father would point to projects and say, "I helped build that."

[00:01:56]Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Flores. Thank you, Andres. Thank you to every worker in this room and who you represent for everything you've helped to build, from homes to stadiums to power lines to ports to energy that has shaped this country that we know today.

[00:02:16]Thank you.

[00:02:25]And we know that Canada faces challenges from a world that's changing rapidly.

[00:02:31]We know we can't control what other nations do.

[00:02:35]So, we're focusing on what we can control, and what we can control is what we choose. We choose to build.

[00:03:32]To build Canada strong, we're catalyzing a series of nation-building projects in energy, trade, critical minerals, transport, data, and beyond. And the work's just starting.

[00:03:43]Give examples. Last spring, construction began on the Darlington new nuclear project here in in Ontario. This month, we broke ground on the Contrecoeur terminal expansion at the Port of Montreal.

[00:03:55]This summer, there'll be shovels in the ground in the Mackenzie Valley Highway in the north. These are a few examples.

[00:04:00]These are projects, particularly the last two, they have been dreams for decades.

[00:04:06]Dreams for decades. We've been talking about the Mackenzie Valley Highway since I was born.

[00:04:10]They are becoming realities within months.

[00:04:38]Through Build Communities Strong Fund, we're building new hospitals, public transport, community centers. Give some examples.

[00:04:47]Hamilton Community Center and park in Brampton.

[00:04:50]New roads in Laval.

[00:04:52]The Marpole Community Center in Vancouver.

[00:04:55]And our message is that we are just getting started.

[00:05:05]And because because we are just getting started, the next decades, not the next years, the next decades are going to be a great time to be in the skilled trades.

[00:05:20]>> [applause] >> It's a tough time to be a Minister of Finance around the world. Yesterday, our Minister of Finance released the government's first spring economic update.

[00:05:35]It's the next step in our plan to build a stronger, more independent, more resilient Canadian economy.

[00:05:41]Its message, simplify it. Despite the chaos, the turmoil in the world, Canadians can have confidence in our future.

[00:05:52]As responsible fiscal managers, Canada's new government has made some tough but pragmatic choices to deliver results.

[00:05:59]In that update yesterday, the deficit is $11 billion below what we had projected just last fall before the war started.

[00:06:07]And the deficit will keep going down every year for the next 5 years. We're cutting more than $60 billion in expenses.

[00:06:16]Within 2 years, we'll balance the operating budget right on schedule.

[00:06:20]And this matters because just as Canadians are carefully managing their expenses, they rightly expect their government to do the same.

[00:06:28]And we know that when we spend less on government operations, Canadians can invest more for a brighter future for all.

[00:07:46]This is an important point.

[00:07:48]I listed those previous big infrastructure projects, and they were great projects, and they benefited Canada and Canadians.

[00:07:57]More jobs, stronger growth, more connected But they also benefited a very few uh private investors at the core.

[00:08:07]I like to I joked the other day, uh you ever notice there's a lot of things named Strathcona? Well, Lord Strathcona was the guy who built the CPR or who owned the CPR that was built.

[00:08:19]And what we're looking to do is make sure that all Canadians benefit from these projects directly and give them a chance to do so even more.

[00:08:28]Now, to build those ports, bridges, the mines, data centers, yes, we need investors and companies, but to build Canada strong, truly strong, we need welders, we need crane operators, we need electricians. We need builders like you.

[00:08:47]By 2033, less than a decade from now, we will need more than 1.4 million additional trade workers.

[00:08:56]1.4 million to build more homes for families, new transit lines for cities, and new hydro plants to power communities.

[00:09:05]That means we need to expand, speed up, make more effective our training and apprenticeship programs.

[00:09:12]There's lots of issues right now.

[00:09:13]There's too few seats in those programs today.

[00:09:16]The certification path is long. It's tough to start. It's confusing to start young people getting in.

[00:09:23]And the steps are disconnected, so people fall out through the way. Too many employers won't take a chance on a first-year apprentice.

[00:09:55]>> by new pre-ve, the surplus done in that year specialized.

[00:10:00]See when you shouldn't the pool aid you see more and study in Linda transport electricity come doing cover this the devil the former in the myth of the way they can pass it.

[00:10:16]Say poor set reason could new long song initiative in a keep Canada fought duty the cease million investment.

[00:10:27]6 billion dollars of investment in new team Canada strong.

[00:10:36]in workers in skilled workers >> [applause] >> Money well spent because team Canada strong is our new nationwide effort to recruit to train to hire up to a 100,000 new red seal trade workers in the next 5 years.

[00:11:00]>> [applause] >> It's a serious plan. It's an urgent plan to get more young Canadians properly trained and on to job sites faster.

[00:11:11]What does that require? It means end-to-end support standing alongside young Canadians every step of the way from their first interest in the trades to their first job.

[00:11:22]Means faster results. Our goal is to cut the time it takes to get certified by at least 50%.

[00:11:28]It means scale to deliver training capacity for those extra 100,000 skilled workers.

[00:11:34]And it demands a multi-channel approach starting with unions including colleges employers the Canadian Armed Forces and Indigenous partners.

[00:11:46]We'll provide youth age 15 to 30 with paid entry-level trades related work experience.

[00:11:53]This will help pave the way for apprenticeships and new careers in the skilled trades. We'll make it easier and more affordable for employers particularly SMEs to hire and train apprenticeships apprentices.

[00:12:04]And with our new build Canada apprentice service will provide SMEs with up to $10,000 towards the first year apprentices salary.

[00:12:15]The set that song to the travail for home occupy in travail Sandy key don't let me know Manuel a realization the wrong project ambitious.

[00:12:27]I shoot down a seller could new alone you may lay the upper upper see at the new veil possibility don't blow so key bar upon the end demand.

[00:12:38]You want and see poor pass a moment of the time associated in a blow a period of travail soon chant key.

[00:12:49]When apprentices want to learn from the best who do they call?

[00:12:53]They contact unions.

[00:12:55]The federal government will support your work in training the next generation by expanding the union training and innovation program so-called UTIP.

[00:13:07]>> [applause] >> And I've been visiting these centers. I know what they can do and this will help upgrade union run training centers provide modern equipment expand the number obviously of apprenticeship opportunities.

[00:13:23]Now we know that one of the challenges one of the reasons why it's only about a third of apprentice apprentices as I said earlier that are going through the process are actually finishing. One of the challenges is because of the cost opportunity cost of being in and the cost of training. So what we're going to do with the new team Canada strong is ensure that apprentice and apprentice gets an extra $400 a week top up while they're training.

[00:13:55]>> [applause] >> So what that means a total of up to $16,000 in addition to employment insurance payments.

[00:14:06]And when an apprentice finishes their certification they will get a $5,000 completion bonus as an incentive and to help them transition into work.

[00:14:20]>> [applause] >> A parallel to seller new alone met a less a new veil park reserve of force army Canadian.

[00:14:33]The program below the acquisition experience don't let me to the reserve key a console party the Canadian a Canadian don't let me premiere reserve.

[00:14:46]So program the offer in formation of met you on chair more pay key bar say you take a new experience of travail at home pass here in the moon array don't let me go the project leader the Brazilian say oh after structure key key don't let me reserve the left back.

[00:15:06]Year ago this week just a year ago this week year ago yesterday right? Yeah, time flies yesterday.

[00:15:13]Year ago this week we were elected and we were elected on a clear commitment to build a stronger Canada in the face of a more dangerous and divided world.

[00:15:24]Our plan has always been built on the foundation of workers on builders like you. So one of our first initiatives as a government was to introduce the most comprehensive suite of workers supports in history.

[00:15:38]We created our buy Canadian policy so that when we build major projects or build new homes when we buy and manufacture new defense hardware we're building with Canadian steel Canadian aluminum Canadian lumber and Canadian workers.

[00:16:02]We launched something called the regional tariff response initiative and a strategic response fund to help our businesses diversify their products and ask access new markets in the face of US tariffs.

[00:16:15]We brought in reskilling packages to train 50,000 50,000 workers impacted by tariffs.

[00:16:21]These measures have provided relief to more than 55,000 workers and enabled more than 20,000 of our fellow citizens to keep their jobs.

[00:16:32]As >> [applause] >> as we build a better future for you and your family we also recognize just Canadians are facing with affordability. So we're providing a boost today for that bridge to tomorrow.

[00:16:53]Nearly half of the measures by dollar value in that spring update released yesterday are targeted to bring down costs for Canadians.

[00:17:02]That includes temporarily suspending the federal fuel excise tax cutting taxes for 22 million middle-class Canadians and introducing the new Canada groceries and essential benefits. On that one 12 million Canadians will be getting their first checks on the 5th of June up to $533 for a family of four.

[00:17:31]Because we are building a Canada that's not just strong but that's good. A Canada that's not just prosperous but is fair. A Canada that is not just for some most of the time but for all all of the time.

[00:17:48]You don't pay down certainty the menace of the difficulty economy the Canadian Canadian on choose the to say say let it touch the new perfect you want or should we new alone the man conviction so sell the long vision a lot of determination perfect challenge a lot of the best thing to nation.

[00:18:13]And as we build a better future we've learned from our past.

[00:18:19]I mentioned a few moments ago the Rideau Canal.

[00:18:22]In the 19th century yes it transformed the economy of this region provided a new supply route from Montreal all the way to Kingston.

[00:18:30]But it came at a huge human cost.

[00:18:34]1,000 workers died building it thousand thousands more toiled in appalling conditions. The wealth created by the crew to the few not the many.

[00:18:46]So today we're building differently.

[00:18:49]We're building better.

[00:18:51]We're building sustainably. We are building inclusively in full partnership with First Nations Inuit and Métis and above all we're building in solidarity with workers creating good union jobs.

[00:19:13]Because one of the fundamental things that unions do is to help make the difference between prosperity that's seized by the few and prosperity that's shared by the many.

[00:19:25]You've always understood that it's not just what we build but how we build.

[00:19:31]Unions have always known that we're strongest when we're united.

[00:19:36]And together we're building for all Canadians.

[00:19:40]Together we are building Canada strong for all. Thank you very much. Merci beaucoup.

[00:19:48]>> [music] >> Mhm.