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Vancouver, British Columbia
Thank you. Good afternoon.
Let me begin by thanking Ujjal (Dosanjh) for being such a strong voice for Vancouver in our Liberal caucus, and for that warm welcome.
The entire B.C. team is here today: Ujjal, Joyce Murray, Keith Martin, Sukh Dhaliwal, Hedy Fry, Senator Larry Campbell, and Senator Mobina Jaffer.
It’s a great team. And it’s going to be bigger after the next election.
It’s good to be back in Vancouver.
Liberals are here this week to vote for the next Leader of our Party.
I feel pretty good about my chances.
But we’re in Vancouver for a bigger reason. We’re here to plant our flag in British Columbia—at the heart of our country’s gateway to Asia and the Pacific.
This is where our future is as an export economy. This is where the action will be. And our Party is going to be part of it.
There’s a change happening in Canada’s economy—our centre of gravity is shifting. It’s shifting to the Pacific.
Since the end of the Second World War, we have built our economy on our trading relationship with the United States. Our centre of gravity was the 49th parallel.
But the 21st century may not belong to the United States. The centre of power in the world economy is moving from North America to Asia.
China and India are already lynchpins of global trade and commerce. That importance will only grow. And Canada needs to be ready.
Our centre of gravity needs to shift, too.
We need to strengthen our trading and political relationships—and build new ones—with the giants of the 21st century economy. At a time when the U.S. economy has stalled, we cannot miss opportunities to diversify our markets.
Vancouver is the hub of our economic ties to Asia and the Pacific. This city will be the face we show to the world—and not just during next year’s Olympics.
And a Liberal government is going to do its part to help Vancouver lead.
We’re going to stand behind the Olympics, which will be a source of pride for all Canadians. And when the world is watching, we’re going to stand with the City of Vancouver and the Province of B.C. to tackle homelessness in the Lower Mainland.
We’re going to stand behind our police—and give them the tools they need to fight gang violence and gun crime. And when we commit to putting more police officers on the streets of this city, we’re going to deliver.
We’re going to stand with small business owners and entrepreneurs and exporters here and across Canada—and I’m proud to be the Leader of the Party that gave Canadians the biggest tax cut in our history, and then cut personal and corporate taxes again.
A Liberal government will help our business people take advantage of the incredible opportunities in growing Asian markets. And we will make up for lost time—because under the Conservatives, Canada hasn’t kept pace with China’s emergence as an economic superpower.
In 2006 and 2007, our exports to China barely kept pace with the growth of the Chinese economy. In the same period, the U.S. increased its trade by 60 percent.
We aren’t just falling behind the Americans. Thailand, the Philippines, Germany, and Australia are all getting a bigger piece of the Chinese import market than we are.
And that’s not good enough.
When Peter MacKay was the Conservatives’ Foreign Minister, he refused to meet with the Chinese Ambassador to Canada—for nine months.
That’s not good enough.
Last year, Stephen Harper insulted China by refusing to attend the Beijing Olympics, and one of his MPs compared China to Nazi Germany.
That’s not good enough.
The premiers of British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec have visited China. The prime minister? Not once.
That’s not good enough.
And a Liberal government will do better.
In an economic crisis, we need our federal government to have vision and foresight. We need to plan for a stronger, more prosperous future. If we turn our back on China, that better future will be impossible.
Right now, it’s businesspeople and entrepreneurs and institutions that are driving our relations with China. The federal government is following your lead.
Simon Fraser University has set up a dual-degree program in computer science with Zhejiang University in China, and U.B.C.—where I had my first teaching job—has a joint program in business with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
That’s the sort of co-operation we need. We need to support our universities, and we need to educate our children to be able to compete in the global economy.
Nous devons faire de nos relations avec la Chine une priorité si nous voulons continuer de prospérer au vingt et unième siècle.
We need to reach out to the Chinese government and Chinese industries, like we did under the former Liberal government’s Team Canada trade missions.
We need to build on our greatest asset—our people—to make our ties to China stronger.
It’s incredible to me that in the Conservatives’ first two years in office, they cut immigration to Canada from China by 36 percent.
1.4 million Canadians are of Chinese ancestry. Many of them—many of you—are tied to China by family, culture, and language.
That’s our advantage. That’s our strength. And under a Liberal government, we will use it again.
But first, I need your help.
Together, we can make Canada a great trading nation again.
Together, we can make our economy ready to compete in the 21st century.
Together, we can build a stronger, more prosperous, safer future for our children.
That’s my vision. That’s a Liberal vision. And together, we’re going to get there.
Thanks for listening.
