Stephen Harper’s Remarks in Winnipeg

Winnipeg, Manitoba

22 November 2013

Thank you very much.

Thank you for that warm welcome.

Good day, everyone.

Greetings to all of my colleagues.

Thank you, Minister Glover, Shelly, for your kind introduction.

Greetings to everyone, to Minister Candice Bergen, Joy Smith, Bob Sopuck, James Bezan, Joyce Bateman, Rod Bruinooge, Lawrence Toet, all of my colleagues, Steven Fletcher.

Also to our distinguished guests, to Premier Selinger of Manitoba, I’m delighted you could be here, to Mayor Katz, of Winnipeg, Diane Gray, President and CEO of CentrePort, and Rick Suche, President of Fort Garry Fire Trucks, who are our hosts.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be brief.

As you know economic growth and job creation remain our Government’s number-one priority.

And to build prosperity at home our Government has worked extremely hard to develop Canada’s trade links abroad.

In particular we’ve expanded Canada’s network of free-trade agreements.

This has been a huge effort but it has been well worth it and the results are dramatic.

When our Government came to office Canada had free trade agreements with just five countries.

Last month we reached an agreement in principle on a wide ranging trade deal with the European Union.

And I want to thank you, Premier, for your government’s support for this agreement.

Once this agreement is ratified Canada will have free-trade agreements with 42 countries.

And as a result Canadian business will have privileged access to markets representing more than half the global economy.

Indeed Canada will find itself uniquely positioned as common ground between Europe and North America.

Well, trade between the European Union, the United States and Mexico remains subject to tariffs Canadians will have preferential largely tariff free access to all of them.

Thanks to NAFTA and free trade with Europe, Canada is open for business on two continents.

And this will help make us a preferred destination for investment.

It is a unique and a massive competitive advantage for this country.

However for hard working Canadian families to realize the full benefit of this opportunity that our Government has created it’s imperative that goods be able to move easily.

This means more than just removing bottlenecks.

First it means building up our ports including inland ports such as CentrePort that allow easy transshipment of freight between rail, road and air.

Originally conceived as part of Canada’s Asia-Pacific Gateway strategy, CentrePort will also serve the growing European commerce that our free trade deal will make possible.

CentrePort brings together three major railway lines, a trucking hub and an international airport and in a Canadian first, it does all this within a federal foreign trade zone.

This offers a custom bonded warehouse, reduced red tape and it facilitates duty and sales tax relief.

These CentrePort facilities are also connected to CentrePort Canada Way, a highway link to the rest of the continent that our Government has invested in in partnership with the government of Manitoba.

For ease of transshipment this brand, new four-lane divided highway runs immediately beside where the common use rail facility will be built.

It also allows Centreport to expand in the future as it links previously inaccessible lands to the rest of the development.

But above all this fast road to fortune will allow truckers to reach the desired industry standard of five minutes to 55 miles per hour.

No traffic jam coming out of the gate.

Thus without further ado, let’s make it official.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m very pleased to announce that CentrePort Canada Way is now officially open.

Now, friends, Premier, and Diane, after a ribbon cutting like that, I feel we should be maybe playing the Paul Brandt song, Convoy.

At least that’s what I was thinking as my teeth were chattering.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to close with this.

Winnipeg is in the middle of Canada.

And now with our new free-trade linkages Canada is now in the middle of the global economy of half of the world’s economy.

Clearly the opening of CentrePort Canada Way is a major milestone for this inland port.

Investment in this expressway seeks to create more opportunities for Canada when it comes to international trade.

It seeks to help Canadians from across this land to capitalize on global market opportunities by enabling them to ship their goods from a modern, efficient terminal here in Winnipeg.

By supporting both the highway and the inland port our Government is leveraging Winnipeg’s location and assets to great jobs and prosperity here in Manitoba and ultimately across the country.

And please, everyone, let’s thank both our hosts today, CentrePort earlier and our hosts here at Fort Garry Fire Trucks for all their cooperation and hospitality.

It’s a great organization.

So what we are seeing here today really is a great encouragement.

It should remind all of us that for Manitoba and for Canada, big things are on the way.

Thank you very much.

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