Full text: Mark Carney’s Liberal leadership victory speech

Prime Minister, I think it’s clear we should just skip a generation. Wow. This room. This room is strong. This room, this room is Canada strong. Thank you. Thank you, Cleo. Thank you, Cleo. And to my wife, Diana, our children, Cleo, Tess, Amelia and Sasha. Without your support, I wouldn’t be standing here. And, like the Prime Minister, without your examples, I wouldn’t have a purpose, and without, without your love, I wouldn’t have the strength that I need for what lies ahead.

Mr. Chrétien, may I say, that you inspired my family to become Liberals, including my father, to run as a Liberal candidate in Alberta in the 1980s. Some elections are tougher than others — and you inspired me — inspired me over the years and now to have an opportunity to continue your tradition of fiscal responsibility, social justice and international leadership. Prime Minister Trudeau, my time doesn’t permit me to recognize all your accomplishments, so I’ll speak at a higher level. You have combined strength and compassion every day as a fighter for Canada. You, you have led us through some of the hardest challenges that this nation has ever faced. I, I pledge to you and to all Canadians that I will follow their example.

I will work day and night with one purpose, which is to build a stronger Canada for everyone. But I will need help. I will need a lot of help. And so, I’d like to thank Chrystia, Frank and Karina, for your energy and ideas and leadership that you have brought to this campaign. And I would like also to thank those ministers who remained in their post to serve Canada directly during this time of great peril and to the incredible group of Liberal MPs that we have. You are the voices for your communities, and you are the conscience of our party. Thank you for your service.

Now, to give a sense of that service, I’m going to quote from a message that I and Chrystia and Karina, sorry, Karina and Frank, the three of us, the four of us received from someone called Bob Zettel. Now, Bob full disclosure: I know the Leader of the Opposition’s into full disclosure, so I’m going to — full disclosure. Full disclosure: just want to get this on the table! Bob goes to my church. Actually, I go to Bob’s church because he goes there a lot more frequently than I do. Anyways, point is, Bob wrote to the four candidates, and he said, I quote: “Right now, everyone sees the main threat as the Trump tariffs, but the far greater challenge will be, as it always has been, to foster unity and a sense of the common good. There are those who will seek power by dividing us.” We’ll get to that later on. And we need — we being the people of Canada — we need you — my fellow candidates myself — “to continue in positions of leadership, to promote a united Canada, a commitment — a commitment — to common good and the respect and the rule of law throughout the world.”

See, I quote Bob, because right now, all Canadians are being asked to serve in their own ways. We’re all being called to stand up for each other and for the Canadian way of life. So let me ask you: who’s ready? Who’s ready to stand up for Canada with me? Hundred per cent. Yes, yes. Yes, Canada — yes, Canada — the Liberal Party is united and strong and ready to fight to build an even better country. I feel like everything in my life has helped prepare me for this moment. Two months ago, I put up my hand to run for leader, because I felt we needed big changes, big changes guided by strong Canadian values, the values I learned at the dinner table from my parents, Bob and Verlie, and my three siblings, Brenda, Sean and Brian. Values that I learned at the hockey rinks of Edmonton from my coaches, such as ‘Stormin” Norman Lee — he exists. We didn’t call him that to his face, by the way, but that was his (nickname).

My parents were teachers, and they stressed the importance of hard work, of community and of tolerance. My coaches were dedicated volunteers who taught me the importance of teamwork, ambition — and because it’s Canada — humility. Canadians know that new threats demand new ideas and a new plan. They know that new challenges demand new leadership. Canadians want positive leadership that will end the vision and help us build together. And to respond, my government will put into action our plan to build a stronger economy, to create new trading relationships with reliable trading partners, and to secure our borders.

Now, I am a pragmatist above all, so when I see that something’s not working, I will change it. So my government will immediately eliminate the divisive consumer carbon tax on families and farmers and small and medium-sized businesses, and we will stop — and we will stop — the hike in the capital gains tax, because we think builders, we think builders should be incentivized for taking risks and rewarded when they succeed. Canada needs more of this type of change. Change that puts more money in people’s pockets. Change that makes our companies more competitive. Change that builds the strongest economy in the G7. There is — there’s someone who’s trying to do the opposite. There’s someone who’s trying to weaken our economy: Donald Trump, Donald Trump.

And Donald Trump, as we know, has put, as the Prime Minister just said, unjustified tariffs on what we build on what we sell, on how we make a living. He’s attacking Canadian families, workers and businesses, and we cannot let him succeed, and we won’t. I am proud. I am proud of the response of Canadians who are making their voices heard and their wallets felt. I am grateful for how our provinces are stepping up to the fight. Because when we are united, we are Canada strong.  Canada — America is not Canada, and Canada never, ever will be part of America in any way, shape or form. Look, we didn’t ask for this fight. We didn’t ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves. So the Americans, they should make no mistake in trade, as in hockey, Canada will win.

Now, Donald Trump is trying to weaken our economy, but there’s someone else who, if he succeeds, will weaken our economy. It’s Pierre Poilievre. Pierre — Pierre Poilievre — just doesn’t get him. He is the type of lifelong politician — and I’ve seen this type around the world — a lifelong politician who worships at the altar of the free market despite never having made a payroll himself. And now — and now — in the face of President Trump’s threats, Pierre Poilievre still — still — refuses to get his security clearance. At a time when our national security is under threat that it’s never been before; at a time of immense economic insecurity, he would undermine the Bank of Canada.

Pierre Poilievre would let our planet burn. This is not leadership. It’s ideology. It’s ideology that betrays what we as Canadians value: each other. It’s an ideology that also represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how the economy works. Unlike Pierre Poilievre, I’ve actually worked in the private sector, I know. I know. I know — I know how the world works, and I know how it can be made to work better for all of us. And that and that knowledge, that knowledge is especially useful now in the service of Canadians when we must build a new economy and create new trading relationships.

Let me tell you something else that we know that Pierre Poilievre doesn’t. We know that markets don’t have values: people do. And we know, we know, as Liberals, that it’s our job, our job, to make markets, to make the economy work for all Canadians, these are the most powerful tool we’ve ever invented. They can find solutions to our greatest problems. And when the private sector, when the markets are governed well, they deliver great jobs and stronger growth faster than anything. But markets are also indifferent to human suffering, and they are blind to our greatest needs. So when they’re not governed well, or not at all, they will deliver enormous wealth for the lucky few and hard times for the rest. And in this crisis, in this crisis, we must help those who are hit hardest by the American tariffs while we build our strength here at home. That’s the right thing to do. That’s the fair thing to do. That is the Canadian thing to do. That is what makes us strong.

So, so Donald Trump thinks — thinks — he can weaken us with his plan to divide and conquer. Pierre Poilievre’s plan will leave us divided and ready to be conquered, because a person who worships at the altar of Donald Trump will kneel before him, not stand up to him. Pierre Poilievre’s — Pierre Poilievre’s slogans are not solutions. His anger isn’t action. His division isn’t strength. Division won’t win a trade war. Division won’t pay the rent or the mortgage. Division won’t bring down the price of groceries. Division won’t make Canada strong.

Now, I — now, I — I’ve learned a few things from long experience in crises, and the first is that plan beats no plan, and you need to distinguish what you can change from what you can’t, and we can’t change Donald Trump can’t change him. And we can — and because we’re masters in our own home — we can control our economic destiny with a plan that puts more money in your pockets, a plan that will ensure your government spends less so Canada can invest more. A plan, a plan, a plan that builds millions of homes, a plan that makes us an energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy; a plan that creates new trade corridors with reliable partners; a plan that creates one Canadian economy, not 13, because in Canada, we are stronger when we are united.

We can give ourselves far, far more than Donald Trump can ever take away, but it will — it will take extraordinary efforts. It won’t be business as usual. We will have to do things we haven’t imagined before, at speeds we didn’t think possible. We will do it. We will do it for the common good, so that everyone, everyone benefits. You know, I do care about the economy, but it’s not because I’m an economist, it’s because I care about people. That’s why I’m a Liberal. That’s why we are Liberals. So we need a strong economy. But when we’re fighting for a strong economy, we’re fighting for good Canadian health-care for everyone. We are fighting for strong support for our seniors who built this country. We are fighting — we are fighting for child-care for young families that they put in place.

We are fighting for dental care and pharma-care for everyone who needs it. We are fighting for rights. We are fighting for a strong economy so we can create a more sustainable world for our children and grandchildren, and we will deliver. I know, I know that these are dark days, dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust. We are getting over the shock, but let us never forget the lessons: we have to look after ourselves and we have to look out for each other. We need to pull together in the tough days ahead.

And so to those families watching this evening in Fort Smith in Edmonton and across every community in Canada, I promise you this: together, we can and we will get through this crisis. We can, and we will come out stronger than ever, and we will, because Canada is built on the strength of its people, from, from our mines to our ports, from our logging roads to our city streets, we’re strongest when we’re united, when we’re one economy, not 13. When we can cheer for different teams and still be on one team, when it counts, when we come together, when we come together, we build things that last, because we are Canada strong. Viva la Canada.