Thank you, Judy.
Madam Chair and honourable members, it's a pleasure to be here.
Thank you for being here.
Canada enters this CUSMA review at a time of profound global change. We're living in a much more complicated, complex and dangerous world. The security environment of the world has deteriorated over the last few years, with wars and increased economic tensions, including the current trade war with the United States. This will continue to be our government's reality.
We know that there are things that we have no control over, but that there are many others that we do have control over.
Our government is focusing on what we can control. Here's the plan: First, we'll protect jobs. Second, we'll create jobs. Third, we'll attract talent and investment.
Our plan is working. We're seeing 2.6% growth, tracking to be the highest in the G7. Inflation has come down to 2.2%. Wages are up 3.5% year over year. In September alone, we created 60,000 jobs. In October, we created 67,000 jobs.
These results show that our plan is delivering real benefits for our economy and for Canadians. The Canadian economy is resilient, but we keep working tirelessly for our people.
Let's start with the first pillar of our plan: to protect jobs and protect industries. We're working in a reality in which we have certain sectors that are the target of the American tariffs. Of course, we're talking about steel, aluminum, auto and lumber, industries that are vital to our economic strength and to our communities across the country.
Here's what we're going to do for all of these sectors. In the short term, we'll protect our market, and we'll offer liquidity to companies. We'll make sure that we support industries, as well as the businesses and the workers in these sectors. We're doing this by tightening the tariff rate quotas on steel imports to 75% of the 2024 levels, a decisive step to protect our market in the short term and to ensure that the steel sector is protected.
In the medium term, we need to make sure that industries can adapt and pivot. They need to be able to seek out new markets, and they need to be able to develop new products.
We support our industries through a new $5-billion strategic response fund and with the help of our regional economic development agencies, including Canada Economic Development for Quebec. In the long term, we need to work tirelessly toward building a strong domestic market. Our government is doing so through its defence spending, buy Canadian policies, housing strategy and major national projects.
Meanwhile, let me focus on Stellantis. When I talk about Stellantis, I mean the Dodge Caravan, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Jeep Compass, the Jeep Wrangler and the Chrysler Pacifica. I was clear at my committee appearance at INDU that Stellantis is on the hook.
Within a day of Stellantis's announcements on October 15, I sent a letter to Antonio Filosa, the global CEO of Stellantis, stating that the company's actions were unacceptable and that we expected them to honour their legally binding commitments to the Government of Canada.
On October 20, I summoned Jeff Hines, the then CEO of Stellantis Canada, for a meeting in Ottawa, joined by Vic Fedeli, Ontario's Minister of Economic Development, and Lana Payne, national president of Unifor.
On October 23, together with the Minister of Finance, I announced a 50% reduction in Stellantis' annual remission quota. This means Stellantis has 50% less of a market for its cars without tariffs in our country.
On October 30, I went to Brampton to meet with the strong men and women who have built the backbone of Canada's auto industry to let them know we'll always fight for them.
On November 3, I triggered the formal dispute resolution process under the contracts.
Today, on December 4, I'm formally announcing that we're serving Stellantis with a notice of default under the contracts.
When it comes to protecting auto jobs, we will not let these industries down. We will stand firm for the sake of our workers, our industries and our nation because defending these jobs means defending Canada's economic backbone and the livelihoods of countless families.
I've talked to you about the first pillar, which is protecting jobs. Let me talk to you about the second pillar, which is to create jobs—and of course, beyond this, to create industries.
In every single crisis, there's an opportunity, and we need to act with audacity, purpose and determination. While we know some things are beyond our control, creating jobs is really what we can do.
Right now, we're investing in defence through a defence industrial strategy. We're also investing in major projects across the country. Meanwhile, we will continue to make sure that we can support our demand for steel, for aluminum and for lumber. We can do that through, obviously, the buy Canadian policies and the housing policy we've put forward.
Finally, our third part of the plan is to attract.
The third pillar of our plan is to attract investments and talents, and we've already started to bring talents in. The budget includes $1.7 billion to bring in 1,000 new talents, 1,000 new researchers in Canada. We are also working to attract investments. That's why I was able to go all across Europe and Asia to bring in new investments and to protect industries impacted by tariffs.
I look forward to answering your questions. Of course, I've already had the chance to have many discussions at the INDU committee and in the House of Commons, and I look forward to having a conversation.
Thank you so much.
