00:00To build Canada up in the face of Donald Trump's attack on our economy and our sovereignty.
00:08And the Prime Minister has indeed stepped up.
00:11And I want to thank everyone here, Council President John Leonard, thank you so much,
00:17and the representatives of the 14 building and construction trade unions who make up Trades NL.
00:23Your support for our new and better deal to develop Churchill Falls means everything.
00:32You have always given me and my team a warm welcome.
00:38And you have always been good partners to our government as we worked to build a stronger and better Newfoundland
00:49and Labrador together.
01:00I know the people in this room and thousands of other trades workers across our province are ready to get
01:08to work and build big things.
01:11And for my part, I see our role in government to help ensure that more workers in our province can
01:21find jobs in our province
01:23so they can stay in our province and do their part to build up our province.
01:29I am sure in this room we have workers who have had to leave home every day to find good
01:37jobs to support their families.
01:40And all the members of my caucus here today, we have constituents, we have neighbors, we have family, we have
01:50friends
01:52who have had to make that same long journey to contribute to the economy of some other place elsewhere.
02:01And listen, I am a big believer in trade, I am a proud Canadian, and I am a big supporter
02:08of exports.
02:08But I, for one, am tired of our province exporting our skilled and talented trades workers to contribute to the
02:18economies of other parts of Canada.
02:33When they could be, and should be, and will be, working right here to build a stronger Newfoundland and Labrador.
02:43And I think I'm not alone.
02:48My message to these workers, my messages to the members of your unions looking for long-term work right here
02:56at home,
02:57is that get ready to come home, to stay home, and find new jobs, good jobs, union jobs with good
03:08pay and good benefits,
03:10right here at and in our own province, because our government is never going to stop working for workers.
03:30We've already come far, we saw it already in our investment to kickstart the offshore.
03:36By reaching an agreement with Ecuador on Beta North, including hundreds of millions in support for the creation of a
03:45new floating dry dock,
03:46that will not just create short-term jobs today, but maritime repair and maintenance jobs over the long term.
03:56That's what this is about.
03:57We see it in our ongoing push to bring even more federal defense spending to Newfoundland and Labrador,
04:05to ensure that our country's eastern flank gets the attention it deserves.
04:11And yes, we see it in our new and better deal for Churchill Falls and Gull Island,
04:17the biggest pro-jobs investment in Newfoundland and Labrador history.
04:33And I am so proud to have the support of Bob and Corey, John and Vic and Trades and Elves
04:41Board of Directors,
04:41and their unions in this historic achievement.
04:47I would look forward to continuing that.
04:50And just as I want to thank as well Canada's Building Trade Unions, Energy NL,
04:57the St. John's Board of Trade, the Council of Canadian Innovators and the Canadian Climate Institute,
05:05all who have come out in support of our new and better deal.
05:10I want to thank all of them.
05:13I want to thank all of you and everyone across our province who supports our new and better deal
05:22that will provide tens of thousands of guaranteed good-paying jobs,
05:27tens of billions of guaranteed revenue, hundreds of new megawatts of new power to us with complete optionality,
05:38new transmission, new mines, new industries, new wind projects, new transmission projects,
05:48economic opportunity and financial self-sufficiency,
05:53and a chance to finally escape the shadow of the 1969 Churchill Falls Agreement.
06:02All from a deal that was not on the table a year ago and will not be on the table
06:08a year from now.
06:10Right now we have a Prime Minister in Mark Kearney who has both the will, the vision and public support
06:18to do big things, unprecedented things, to build Canada up in the face of Donald Trump's attack on our economy
06:27and our sovereignty.
06:30And the Prime Minister has indeed stepped up with billions of new investments in our province to get this built.
06:38It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, but the federal government has made the urgency clear.
06:47We need to get building right away.
06:51We need to get this deal done today.
06:54And we need to act now.
06:57And I am proud to say we're ready to act.
07:02Our government is ready to act.
07:04Trades NL is ready to act.
07:07All of you here are ready to act.
07:11We are ready because this deal, this choice and the power to control our resources will remain in our hands
07:21for decades to come.
07:23For the first time, we have complete optionality in how we choose to use the power from Churchill Falls.
07:33We have a better deal today than the one that was proposed in 2024, because the facts of this deal
07:42are clear.
07:43With Prime Minister Kearney at the table, we have delivered a true win-win-win.
07:49I think everyone here understands how important the decisions we make today will be to the next 10, 20, and
08:0030 years.
08:02Waiting gets us nothing.
08:05Waiting does not develop Gull Island.
08:08If we do not move forward now, Gull Island will not be developed.
08:14If we do not go now, we risk another 15 years of zero.
08:20Simply doing nothing is not a plan.
08:26Opportunities do not create themselves.
08:30Projects do not build themselves.
08:33Prosperity does not happen by accident.
08:35Instead, we are choosing more jobs.
08:40We are choosing more power.
08:43We are choosing more value.
08:45More transmission.
08:47More growth.
08:49More opportunities.
08:51And more optimism.
08:53My message to trades workers at home and abroad is get ready to get to work.
08:59Because we are building a better and brighter future for Newfoundland and Labrador.
09:05The opportunity is before us.
09:08The facts are clear.
09:10The time to act is now.
09:13Let us move forward together and seize it.
09:18Thank you so much for being here.
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