Here’s the text of the speech Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered in Orleans, Ont. this afternoon, in front of about 500 people.
This is the text as supplied by the PMO communications team. Was largely delivered as written:
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Chers amis.
Thank you for that tremendous welcome.
It’s great to be here and I’m pleased to be joined by so many members of our Conservative Caucus team.
Je suis particulièrement heureux de pouvoir rendre hommage à Royal Galipeau, dans la communauté qu’il sert avec tant de dévouement depuis deux mille six.
Durant presque toute sa vie adulte, Royal a cherché à servir ses concitoyens et concitoyennes,
Il a laissé sa marque dans la politique municipale, la santé, le transport en commun, les langues officielles et la lutte contre la pornographie visant les enfants.
Même dans une situation difficile pour sa propre santé, il n’a jamais cessé de s’occuper de sa communauté.
Son dévouement n’est pas inspiré par l’ambition ou l’opportunisme, mais par un souci profond du bien commun.
So, I ask you to please rise and give a hand to somebody who’s a strong parliamentarian, a good Conservative and a great Canadian, your MP for Orleans, Royal Galipeau!
Ladies and Gentlemen, Parliament returns tomorrow, for the first time in this New Year.
We’re ready and we have a lot of work to do.
Of course, just as Canadians are proud of our country, we are proud of our record.
But, more importantly, we’re looking to the future.
We love our country, and Canadians sent us here to do a job.
We never forget that.
We’re focused on what matters to Canadians, not the pundits, not the self-appointed experts and elites, we’re here to serve hardworking Canadian families, the people who pay their taxes, play by the rules and are trying to make ends meet in a challenging world.
And as we return to Parliament, we are focused on the issues that matter to them, la sécurité économique et financière, la création et la protection des employs, la réduction des taxes et des impôts pour les familles, et la sécurité du Canada et des Canadiens et Canadiennes, dans un monde dangereux et incertain.
Economic and financial security, creating and protecting jobs, lower taxes for families, and keeping Canada and Canadians safe, in a dangerous and uncertain world.
That’s what Canadians care about!
Our Government has made careful, principled choices, reflecting the values of hardworking Canadians.
As I’ve said before, the measure of good government – the true test of leadership – lies not in achieving success in times of stability and peace, but doing so during times of risk and danger.
Quoi qu’il arrive ailleurs nous savons que notre Canada va dans la bonne direction and, friends, notwithstanding all the terrible troubles in the world, our Canada is moving in the right direction!
Now, friends, as you know, around the world much of the economic news is not good.
In many cases, it has not been good for several years.
But we have dealt with these challenges before and we have emerged fast – and strong – from the worst global recession since the Great Depression.
La croissance économique est en hausse au Canada depuis plus de cinq ans, et l’emploi a considérablement augmenté.
We have had steady economic growth in Canada for over five years, and employment has risen considerably.
Depuis le pire de la récession, l’économie canadienne a créé près de d’un virgule deux million d’emplois – la plupart sont des emplois à temps plein, bien rémunérés, dans le secteur privé.
Since the worst of the recession, the Canadian economy has created nearly 1.2 million jobs – overwhelmingly full-time, high-paying, private-sector jobs.
There are still challenges.
Obviously, today, in the energy sector, and also for young people.
C’est pourquoi, en tant que parents, nous investissons dans de nouvelles façons de former nos jeunes pour les emplois qui les attendent.
That’s why, as parents ourselves, we’re investing in new ways to train our young people for the jobs that are out there.
That’s why we established the Canada Job Grant, to help Canadians train for the exact skills employers need.
That’s why we introduced internships for young people in high-demand fields, such as engineering, health sciences, and skilled trades.
And that’s why, earlier this month, I announced that our Government has introduced a loan programme to support apprentices.
These are the kinds of programs that Canada needs!
Mes amis, l’impact global de notre Plan d’action économique et des choix prudents que nous faisons, crée des possibilités économiques maintenant, et pour les générations futures.
Friends, the overall effect of our Economic Action Plan and the prudent choices we’ve made, have secured economic opportunities now, and for future generations.
I’ll give you two examples.
Last year, we finalized trade deals with Europe and South Korea – tripling the number of countries Canada has trade agreements with.
These agreements are about opportunities, growth and jobs.
Together with the North American Free Trade Agreement and all the other deals our Government has done, Canada’s world-class products, our workers and investors will have virtually unfettered access to countries representing more than half the world’s economy.
Alors que le gouvernement précédent avait marginalisé le Canada, nous avons aujourd’hui des accords de libre-échange avec quarante-trois pays, l’un des plus grands réseaux commerciaux du monde.
Last year we passed legislation to put the deal with Korea into effect, and this year we plan to do the same for the trade deal with the European Union!
Nous faisons aussi des investissements majeurs – les plus gros investissements fédéraux de l’histoire – dans l’infrastructure.
We’re also investing, big-time – the biggest federal investments ever – in infrastructure.
We’ve launched a massive program – over 75 billion dollars – in contributions to all manner of provincial, territorial, community, and, of course, our own federal infrastructure projects.
We’re building and modernizing the roads and bridges, airports and railroads, wharves and harbours, we all depend upon.
This, alone, is creating thousands of jobs, and will support economic growth for many years to come.
The big picture then, is that in Canada’s entire history, il n’y a jamais eu plus de Canadiens au travail qu’il y en a aujourd’hui – jamais there have never been more Canadians working than there are today – never before!
And, of course, friends, Canadians must benefit from that, which means that, when they get those jobs, they must be able to keep the money they’re earning.
Les Canadiens et Canadiennes travaillent fort pour leur argent.
C’est pourquoi nous réduisons les taxes et les impôts des familles, des entreprises qui créent de l’emploi.
En fait, en commençant par la TPS, nous avons réduit le fardeau fiscal de tous les Canadiens et Canadiennes.
That’s why we’ve lowered taxes for families, for businesses that create jobs.
In fact, starting with the GST, we’ve lowered taxes for all Canadians.
We established Tax-Free Savings Accounts.
To help families make ends meet, we brought in the Universal Child Care Benefit.
It puts money directly into the hands of families with small children.
To help seniors, we introduced income-splitting.
Et cet automne, nous avons augmenté et amélioré la Prestation universelle pour la garde d’enfants pour les familles avec enfants jusqu’à l’âge de dix-sept ans.
Et nous tenons aussi notre promesse d’offrir la Baisse d’impôt pour les familles en permettant le fractionnement du revenu pour les familles avec enfants.
And, last fall, our Government was very proud to announce, as promised, further enhancements to our low-tax plan for families.
Effective this spring, we are increasing and expanding the Universal Child Care Benefit.
Families will receive an additional 60 dollars per child under six, for a monthly total per child of 160 dollars.
C’est près de deux mille dollars par année, par enfant !
That’s nearly two thousand dollars per year per child!
Those with children from the age of six through seventeen will now also receive 60 dollars per month.
Ça représente plus de sept cents dollars par année, par enfant !
That’s more than 700 dollars per year, per child!
We’ve also raised the childcare expense deductions for every Canadian family.
And we are, at the same time, honouring our promise to deliver the Family Tax Cut by introducing income-splitting for families with children.
That’s a benefit of up to another two thousand dollars annually!
Chers amis, nos adversaires ont été clairs.
Ils annuleraient la Prestation universelle pour la garde d’enfants, augmenteraient les impôts des familles, et donneraient cet argent à des bureaucrates.
Friends, our opponents have been clear.
They would take away the Universal Child Care Benefit.
They’ve said so on many occasions.
They would raise your taxes, raise taxes back up for Canadian families.
They’ve said so.
And, of course, once they do it to families, you can bet raising taxes back up for pensioners will be next.
And, of course, they would, because they need the higher taxes to pay for their gigantic spending promises.
And what they take from your families they will give to a child-care bureaucracy.
This difference goes right to the heart of what our party stands for.
Frankly, it’s a key reason why Laureen and I first got involved in politics.
Nous en avons assez de voir des politiciens libéraux donner de l’argent à toutes les bureaucraties et à tous les groupes d’intérêts imaginables et la seule chose que recevait la famille canadienne moyenne, qui travaille fort, est une imposition plus lourde.
Voilà pourquoi nous donnons le soutien pour la garde d’enfants directement aux familles !
We were tired of seeing liberal politicians funnelling money to every conceivable bureaucracy and interest group, and the only thing that the average, hard-working Canadian family ever got was the higher tax bill.
That’s why we give support for childcare directly to families!
Quand on veut se battre pour la classe moyenne, on le fait en laissant plus de son argent dans son portefeuille.
If you want to fight for the middle class, you do it by putting more of their money back in their pockets.
You don’t do it by taking that money away.
You don’t do it by taxing more people, more heavily and by giving the money to so-called experts who think they know what’s better for us than we do.
Just like you can’t help the middle class with a so-called carbon tax which, as we all know, is a tax on everything, frankly, just a way of trying to reverse the cut we made to the GST.
Real help means lower taxes.
And here’s the bottom line on taxes:
Le fardeau fiscal fédéral est aujourd’hui à son plus bas niveau en un demi-siècle.
The federal tax burden is now at its lowest level in half a century, and I can tell you, that with your help, our party, our Government, is firmly committed to keeping taxes down!
And, friends, to ensure taxes stay down, we will, as a Government, live within our means.
Et maintenant, parlons du déficit.
Which leads me to the deficit.
You know, with the falling oil prices, the Government’s fiscal flexibility has been reduced, at least for the short term.
To some, it’s a reason not to balance the budget.
But to them, there is always a reason not to balance the budget.
That’s how the small Trudeau deficits of the early 1970s became big deficits that went on for a quarter of a century, and ended up with the Liberals dramatically hiking taxes on everybody and massively cutting even the most essential of programs, our health care and education.
Ce gouvernement libéral a accusé un déficit quand nous étions en récession.
Nous ne sommes plus en récession, et nous allons donc équilibrer le budget cette année.
This Government ran a deficit when we were in recession.
We’re not in recession now and so we will balance the budget this year!
Mes amis, notre gouvernement est aussi fier de tout ce que nous avons fait pour assurer la sécurité des Canadiens et des Canadiennes, et celle de nos rues et de nos communautés.
Friends, our Government is also proud of all we have done to keep Canadians and our streets and communities safe.
We have been cracking down on violent crime.
We’ve brought in tougher penalties for child predators.
To protect vulnerable women, our anti-prostitution law targets pimps and johns.
And our Conservative Government has stood up for victims.
For too long, the system was all about the rights of criminals.
Mais la justice existe aussi pour les victimes.
But justice is for victims, too.
With our Victims’ Bill of Rights, before Parliament right now, we are putting innocent victims back where they belong, at the very centre of the justice system!
But we will do more than that.
Canadians expect us to protect them from the worst kind of criminal, those people who truly deserve to be called a menace to society.
Now, let’s be clear, when somebody breaks the law, and pays their debt to society, our hope is always for permanent rehabilitation.
No one wants to see anybody degenerate to a life of crime.
Mais y a certains criminels, certains des contrevenants les plus dangereux, les plus violents, les pires récidivistes, dont les crimes font que nous ne pouvons pas courir le risque de les laisser en liberté.
But there are some criminals, the most dangerous, violent, repeat offenders, whose actions mean that we cannot risk permitting them on the streets.
Yet sometimes we do, as the law stands.
Therefore, I can tell you that in the upcoming session of Parliament, our Government will introduce changes to the law.
Une peine de prison à vie sera vraiment une peine de prison à vie.
For the protection of Canadians, a life sentence will mean exactly that, a sentence for life!
Now, my friends, our Government is also taking action to protect Canadians from other threats.
The evil that happened in October in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and in Ottawa at the very heart of our democracy has reminded us – if we really needed reminding – of the grave dangerous realities of today’s world.
Le terrorisme djihadiste n’est pas une possibilité future, il est une réalité maintenant.
Le djihadisme violent n’est pas un danger qui n’existe qu’ailleurs.
Il cherche à nous atteindre ici chez nous.
Et nous devons réagir.
Jihadist terrorism is not a future possibility, it is a present reality.
Violent jihadism is not simply a danger somewhere else.
It seeks to harm us here, through horrific acts like deliberately driving a car at a defenceless man, or shooting a soldier from behind as he stands guard at a war memorial, or undertaking the foiled plots on Via Rail and by the Toronto 18 – acts of killing, kidnapping, chaos.
Les djihadistes s’opposent violemment à notre société et à nos valeurs.
Ils détestent le pluralisme, la tolérance, la liberté des autres.
Violent jihadists oppose everything about our society and our values.
They hate pluralism, tolerance, and the freedom of others.
And, as crazy as it seems, they dream of destroying the kind of open, diverse, and free society that Canadians have chosen.
Our Government has never hesitated to call jihadi terrorism what it is.
And just as we are not afraid to condemn it, we are not afraid to confront it.
That’s why our Government committed the Canadian Armed Forces to the broad international coalition against the so-called Islamic State.
No Canadian government should ever stand on the sidelines while our allies act to deny terrorists a safe haven – an international base – from which they would plot violence against us.
And let’s be clear, les hommes et les femmes en uniforme font notre fierté, our men and women in uniform are doing us proud, and we stand one hundred per cent in support of them and the work they are doing on our behalf!
But, friends, there is work to be done here at home as well.
Notre gouvernement est déterminé à assurer que la police et les organismes de sécurité ont les outils dont ils ont besoin pour répondre aux menaces nouvelles, et pour assurer la sécurité des Canadiens et des Canadiennes.
This coming week, Friday, we will put before Parliament new legislation.
It will contain a range of measures to ensure that our police and security agencies have the tools they need to meet evolving threats, and keep Canadians safe.
Ces mesures visent à aider les autorités à stopper les attaques planifiées, à protéger nos rues contre les menaces, à criminaliser la promotion du terrorisme, et à empêcher les terroristes d’aller à l’étranger et de faire du recrutement.
These measures are designed to help authorities stop planned attacks, get threats off our streets, criminalize the promotion of terrorism, and prevent terrorists from travelling and recruiting others.
To be clear, in doing so, we shall be safeguarding our constitutional rights of speech, of association, of religion and all the rest.
These are the rights violent jihadists see to destroy and that we seek to protect.
Peu importe la menace, nous n’allons pas réagir de façon excessive.
Mais nous allons réagir, notwithstanding the threats, we will not overreact.
But neither will we under-react, because the big picture, my friends, is very worrisome.
Jihadi terrorists are destabilizing large parts of the globe.
In Asia and Africa, an increasing number of territories are becoming ungoverned and under their influence, attacks and plots outside these regions are becoming ever more frequent and dangerous in Australia, in France, in Belgium just recently, and of course here.
Que ça nous plaise ou non, les djihadistes extrémistes ont déclaré la guerre à tous les gens libres, et précisément au Canada.
Et ce n’est pas en prétendant le contraire que nous allons supprimer cette réalité.
Like it or not, extreme jihadists have declared war on us, on all free people, on Canada specifically.
And pretending it is not so and is not going to make it go away.
Canadians understand this, and so does your Government.
But these threats, while we will address them, they will not overwhelm us in anger or in fear.
Because we as Canadians are in the business of building something that, when the ISILs of this planet are long-forgotten, will endure and bless the world: un Canadafort et libre, plus uni et prospère que jamais !
A Canada strong and free, more united and more prosperous than ever!
Now, my friends, you’ve heard me say this before: we get the future we choose.
So what is our choice today?
As Conservatives, we choose lower taxes and balanced budgets.
We choose trade and growth and jobs.
Nous avons choisi non pas d’investir dans la bureaucratie mais dans les familles directement.
We choose to put honest, law-abiding citizens and victims ahead of criminals.
We choose to take a strong stands in the world based on our values, based on our interests, based on standing by our friends and standing up against those who threaten them and us.
And even as we confront the world’s uncertainties and its dangers, so too we choose to embrace its opportunities, with optimism.
Mesdames et Messieurs, nous avons décidé de ne pas rêver, de ne pas nous faire d’illusions, mais plutôt de travailler pour continuer à bâtir le meilleur pays du monde.
Ladies and gentlemen, we choose not to turn back to silly nostalgia or wishful thinking but to the hard task of continuing to build the best country in the world, where Canadians are free to choose their identities to work hard for their dreams, confident that their families will be safe and their children will have the best possible opportunities in life.
This future is taking shape before us and we will not rest until our job is done.
Thank you all for being here, and let us go forward together!
Merci beaucoup.