RIGHT HONOURABLE JUSTIN TRUDEAU (Prime Minister of Canada): Thanks Mark. I’m very pleased
to be here this morning. Today’s announcement is very good news.
. It’s good news for Oshawa, for Markham, for Kapuskasing and for the entire province
of Ontario.. It speaks to General Motors’ commitment
to expanding its Canadian engineering team to 1 000 people.
These are well-paid, middle-class jobs that bring us closer to our
objective of creating a clean economy. An economy where investments
in clean, innovative technology pay off.
I first met with GM’s President, Mary Barra, back in January at the World Economic Forum.
And in our meeting, I made the case for investing in Canada. That’s something I will always
do as Prime Minister because it’s important that business leaders know that Canada is
a sound place to invest, that we’re open for business; that we’re willing to work
with them; to be their partners as they plan for future growth.
I want to thank the GM team here in Canada, for all the hard work they did in making the
case that Canada was the best place to invest. They understand that Canada is home to some
of the world’s best engineering schools. We’ve got an incredibly well-educated workforce
and a constantly growing network of innovative start-ups and suppliers. Here in Ontario we’re
home to innovation clusters in places like Kitchener-Waterloo and right here in the GTA.
We have the capacity to do the kind of advanced automotive research and production that GM
rightly wants to do more of. We know that to create good, world-class jobs,
the kinds of jobs that are being announced today, we have to be on the
cutting edge. This investment by GM in jobs that will support their operations
operations all around the world shows that we are succeeding in
that regard. In choosing Canada to be the home base for its global centre
for advanced vehicle software development, GM is affirming the skills,
the ingenuity, and the immense potential of Canada’s workers.
We know that to create good jobs, the kinds of jobs that are being announced today, we
have to be on the cutting edge. This investment by GM in jobs that will support their operations
all around the world shows that we are succeeding in that regard.
In choosing Canada to be the home base for its global centre for advanced vehicle software
development, GM is affirming the skills, the ingenuity, and the immense potential of Canada’s
workers. It’s a perfect fit in so many ways and I'm really glad that GM saw it that way
too. In budget 2016, we made a firm commitment
to expand the infrastructure needed to support the alternative fuel vehicles that GM and
other auto manufacturers are now developing. Those are investments we need to make today
so that we’re better able to support consumer choice in the future. And I’m proud that
the budget extended the federal government’s investments in the Automotive Innovation Fund
by a further three years. As we’ve seen today those kinds of investments
and these kinds of partnerships are essential to creating the kind of good, well-paying
jobs that Canadians need to succeed. Today’s announcement is not an end point but just
another step in building Canada’s clean growth economy, one that will deliver cleaner
air, better jobs, and a brighter future for all Canadians.