Campaign Kickoff: A New Plan for Canada

August 5, 2015

A few years ago, I launched my Leadership bid in my home riding of Papineau. So it’s quite fitting that I now get to launch my bid to become Prime Minister of Canada right here in my second home of BC. And somewhere, my grandpa Jimmy Sinclair is smiling and nodding approvingly.

Canadians want change. They want real change. And no wonder. Stephen Harper’s economic plan has failed our country.

We are working harder and harder to make ends meet, but falling further and further behind. Those few who have done well have done very, very well. But the middle class, and those hoping to join it?

Stephen Harper had a different idea this year. He spent something alright. Your money. A lot of it. 125 million dollars of it.Justin Trudeau

The truth is, folks today are more likely to fall out of the middle class than they are to join it. Now, to top it all off, we are headed into another recession.

My friends, I’ve travelled from coast to coast dozens of times. I’ve met thousands of Canadians, where they live and work. In Tim Horton’s, in the factories they go to every morning, in parks where they go with their children, in arenas, and in their homes. I want to say to each and every one of the men, women, and kids I’ve met: This election is about you. It’s about your life, your future, and who has the plan and the team to make a real, positive difference for you.

You are asked to vote on your future, and to choose the person who has the plan and the team that will make a real difference – a positive difference – in your everyday life. Someone who shares your values and who understands what you’re going through. It’s about who gets it. Who has a new plan for the economy.

It’s time to choose a person and a team with an economic plan based on this fundamental truth about Canada:

If you want to create jobs and grow the Canadian economy, you have to give middle class Canadians a real and fair chance to succeed.

Let’s be clear: there’s a big choice to be made in this election. The Conservatives think you grow the economy by making wealthy people wealthier. We know you grow the economy by strengthening the middle class, and those hoping to join it. I’ve been to every corner of this country over the past few years, and you’ve told me over and over again that you don’t think anyone in Ottawa is listening. Well, I am.

I think we’ve had enough of that kind of cynicism from the Harper Tories.Justin Trudeau

You told me: “Give us change that makes a real, positive difference in our lives. We’re working harder than ever, but we just can’t get ahead. We can’t save for our kids’ education, let alone our own retirement. We’re seeing our adult children return home, unable to find work. And we worry that we will be thrown out of work, ourselves. We know all the government ads in the world cannot hide the truth: Canada’s economy is not working for us, and it’s harder and harder to make ends meet.”

That’s what the people I’ve met are saying. Canadians are my advisors.

In every home, in every town and city across this country, this election is about the people with bills to pay and futures to plan.

This election is not about who’s up or who’s down in the polls. It is not about political tactics. It’s about talking to the people who work hard and raise kids and build our communities. People who believe that the future can be better for our country. During this campaign, I’m going to cross this country again and again and again — and our candidates are going to go door to door — to talk directly to people who haven’t been listened to in a long time. People for whom Parliament Hill seems far away from their everyday reality, but the next bill is always near.

Low-income families will see 315 thousand kids lifted out of poverty.Justin Trudeau

And here is what we’re going to say to them: You know the Harper Conservatives. And you know they are out steam, out of ideas, and out of touch. You know it’s time for a change, for a new government, a new direction. But you want that change to mean something. To you and your family. You don’t want to replace a failed plan for the economy with a mirage. You want a new plan. One that will work. For you. You want change that works for you.

That changes not just where we all sit in the House of Commons, but where your finances sit, when you go over the bills, and crunch the numbers at the end of every month. That plan is our Liberal plan.

A family with two kids making $90,000 dollars a year will get $2500 more, tax free.

Low-income families will see 315 thousand kids lifted out of poverty. Nine out of ten Canadians will be better off, in hard dollars and cents, under our plan than either of my opponent’s plans. We will pay for our plan in two ways. We will make the wealthiest pay more in taxes. We think that’s fair. After all, they’ve had it pretty good for ten years. And we will stop sending cheques to millionaires, just because they have children. We have a new plan for the economy that helps the middle class.

That’s what the people I’ve met are saying. Canadians are my advisors.Justin Trudeau

By making life for Canadians better, our plan will make Canada better. When hard-working families can save for their retirement, they invest in companies, employers, jobs. When they can afford to put their kids through school, they help build a highly educated work force that can take on the world. When we lift up the middle class, we will elevate our country.

We’ll also be talking about many other ideas in this campaign to create jobs and economic growth for the middle class – including new and innovative infrastructure investments, ensuring opportunities for post-secondary education are available to everyone, and investing in world-leading research and innovation, particularly around the environment.

Because Liberals understand this: when the middle-class does well, so does the entire country.

Mr. Harper has a failed plan, and Mr. Mulcair’s plan is a mirage.

The NDP will talk about raising the minimum wage. What they won’t tell you is that their plan won’t help 99% of the people who make the minimum wage in this country. It won’t help the people I met serving in restaurants, working behind motel reception desks, in parking lots and at checkout counters.

Tom Mulcair’s plan won’t give them a dime, because it only applies to minimum wage workers who are regulated by the federal government.

The truth is, folks today are more likely to fall out of the middle class than they are to join it.Justin Trudeau

NDP candidates won’t tell you that. They’re peddling false hope to hard-working people. They’ll say they will help. But they won’t. And Mr. Mulcair knows it.

I think we’ve had enough of that kind of cynicism from the Harper Tories. I think that’s one of the reasons Canadians want change in the first place.

And the NDP’s other answer for everything is to make the company you work for pay more in taxes. That means fewer jobs and less investment, all while our economy is stalled. The NDP wants to put the brakes on the economy at the worst possible time.

The NDP will talk about helping the middle class, but they won’t raise taxes on the wealthiest Canadians.

And Mr. Mulcair won’t cut taxes for the middle class. In fact, he’ll even keep Stephen Harper’s plan in place that sends child benefit cheques to the wealthiest Canadians.

Quite frankly, I just don’t know why he made the choices he made. Maybe he was afraid of their attacks. Well, I’ll tell you something, my friends. I’m not.

My opponents can say whatever they want about me. I’m going to stay focused on you, on making a real change happen that will make a real difference in your life.

This election is about you. It’s about your life, your future, and who has the plan and the team to make a real, positive difference for you.Justin Trudeau

So that’s what I’m going to do: stay focused on you, the people who build this country every day, and offer the best plan to help you.

Our plan. The Liberal plan.

You know, British-Columbians usually spend the August long weekend with family. We go camping, have friends over for a barbecue, or maybe catch a kid’s soccer tournament.

Well, Stephen Harper had a different idea this year. He spent something alright. Your money. A lot of it. 125 million dollars of it. Why? Because it’s the best idea he could come up with to help him keep his job.

Well, I believe a Prime Minister has three main jobs. Keep our country united. Keep Canadians safe. And give everyone, the Canadian people, a real and fair chance to succeed.

That’s what our plan will do. That’s what our team is committed to fighting for. And that’s what this election, truly, will be all about.

Thank you.