Thank you Mr. President.  Good morning everyone.  It’s an honour to be here. 

As I’ve reflected on the storied relationship between our two great countries, I constantly return to President Kennedy’s wise words on our friendship: that what unites us is far greater than what divides us.  And as President Obama mentioned earlier, if geography made us neighbours, then shared values made us kindred spirits, and it is our choices, individually and collectively, that make us friends.

That friendship, matched by much hard work, has allowed us to do great things throughout our history, from the beaches of Normandy, to the Free Trade Agreement, and now today, on climate change.

The President and I share a common goal.  We want a clean-growth economy that continues to provide good jobs and great opportunities for all of our citizens.  And I’m confident that by working together, we’ll get there sooner than we think.

Let’s take the Paris Agreement for example.  That agreement is both a symbolic declaration of global cooperation on climate change, as well as a practical guide for growing our economies in a responsible and sustainable way.  Canada and the U.S have committed to signing the agreement as soon as possible.  We know that our international partners expect and indeed need leadership from us on this issue.  The president and I have announced today that we’ll take ambitious action to reduce methane emissions nearly by half from the oil and gas sector; reduce use and emissions of hydrofluorocarbons, and implement aligned greenhouse gas emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, amongst other plans to fight climate change.

We also announced a new partnership to build a sustainable economy in the Arctic. This partnership sets out the development of new standards based on scientific data for commercial fishing in the high seas in the Arctic Ocean and the development of standards to ensure low-carbon shipping. The partnership will also promote sustainable development in the region and raise the bar in terms of conserving biodiversity in the Arctic. We also committed to make borders both more open and more secure. We also signed an agreement in principle to extend pre-clearance services to Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport and Quebec City’s Jean-Lesage Airport, as well as to rail service in Montreal and Vancouver. We will also create a Canada-US remedies working group within 60 days to speed up the complaint handling process and more easily resolve cases of mistaken identity on no-fly lists.                                                                                                                                                  

Finally, the president and I acknowledge the fundamental and wholly unique economic relationship between Canada and the United States.  We have historically been each other’s largest trading partners.  Each and every day, over 2.4 billion dollars’ worth of goods and services cross the border.  Today we reaffirmed our commitment to streamlining trade between our countries. 

Overall, the president and I agree on many things—including of paramount importance--the direction we want to take our countries in to ensure a clean and prosperous future.  We’ve made tremendous progress on many issues.  Unfortunately, I will leave town with my beloved Expos still here in Washington.  You can’t have everything.

I’d like to conclude by extending my deepest thanks to Barack for his leadership on the climate change file to date.  I want to assure the American people that they have a real partner in Canada.  Canada and the U.S will stand side by side to confront the pressing needs that face not only our two countries, but the entire planet. 

I'm very much looking forward to the remainder of my time here in Washington.  So thank you again for your leadership and your friendship.  I know that our two countries can achieve great things by working together as allies and as friends as we have done so many times before.

Thank you very much Barack.