Shirt sleeves rolled up.  There we go.

Oh, exactly.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Your Prime Minister!

Thank you Bono for that kind introduction.  I swear I had my sleeves rolled up before I walked into the room…

… and I do have to say that my wife is a much bigger fan of yours than she is of mine most days.  So, I think that makes us even on that level.

Thank you Bono for inviting me to be part of this.  I know how important it is for you to be focused on bringing everyone together, focused on challenging everyone.  And the fact that you are sharing the stage with a politician is something that I really, really appreciate.  Thank you.

But this… this is an issue that goes beyond political parties and politics, and that’s why I’m so glad to know that there are politicians, MPs from every different party in the room here today, and I think that’s really, really important to recognize.  This is beyond partisan politics.

The first time I met Bono it was actually… I was a leader of the third party in Ottawa and he came and he met with all party leaders to talk about our engagement with the world, talk about international development, talk about the ONE Campaign, talk about everything he’s been involved in. 

And it was a pleasure to meet him then, and of course he remembered everything I had promised in the third party position when we met again in Davos. 

And he called me on it and he said, okay, you, you know, you’ve said all the right things, let’s see you pull together the world and host a replenishment conference for the Global Fund.  And that’s exactly what we did here and we showed that the world comes together.

A lot of people talk about it as governments showing up and pledging. 

But has been so much more than that with private foundations and private sector leadership, but mostly civil society, activists, citizens making sure that everyone knows just how hard it is, how important it is that we work hard together to solve the great challenges facing this world.  And we couldn’t do it without compelling voices that resonate beyond borders and around the world like Bono’s.  So thank you so much.

It’s been an incredible day with extraordinary people and I’m really, really pleased to be able to highlight that today’s success really wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing work of Marie-Claude Bibeau.

Marie-Claude, our Minister of International Development, has been working for months and months on… on achieving the success that we had here today and… and it’s really very much to her credit that we… we’ve had this great success.

Because today our global family came together in support of the most vulnerable and we showed the world what true strength and solidarity looks like.  This day, my friends, is one for the books.  Thank you for all being such an important part of this journey.  And thank you for your leadership on these important causes.

I want to thank our partners for enabling us to achieve this objective, which seemed impossible to reach. Our donor countries across the world, our partners in the private sector, the IMF leaders and activists, our friends and allies who are fighting these epidemics right there on the ground every day.

Without the hard work of those people, a day like today just wouldn’t have been possible. Thank you for believing that, together, we can make a difference. Those who heard my speech yesterday at the Conference probably already have a good idea of what my position is on the issues affecting women and girls.

As a husband to an incredible, inspiring woman, and a father to a beautiful whip-smart little girl, it should be no surprise that I am a proud, unwavering feminist, and so will be my sons.

And to be honest, it’s absolutely baffling to me that every time I say so in the media or any sort of forum, it really makes news.  But the fact that it does make news tells me that I need to keep saying it and we all do.

Political, social and economic leaders have to be bold. We must not be afraid to stand up and say it loud and clear that we are feminists.

That we will not accept anything less than full equality for the world’s women and girls. Now, I know that I am speaking to people who already share that vision. But let us never forget that we all have the responsibility to promote equality every chance we get.

And I know that there are still tremendous challenges for me, for my government, for Canada. And I am counting on all of you to challenge me to… to demand that we do more.

To remind us that the job is not finished. So whether it’s Bono or any other citizen who’s telling us, “no, no, that’s good, but there’s… you’ve got to do more,” I accept that wholeheartedly, but I am going to ask you to get involved to help me achieve it.

Full equality for women and girls is one of the most important fights of our generation. It’s a fight that we cannot allow ourselves to lose. We know that the success of any society depends of the participation of all its citizens, and especially the women and girls.

When women and girls are supported and their autonomy is encouraged, our communities progress and prosper.  So that means we have to ensure that our words are translated into real and practical action. And the impressive results achieved at the Global Fund Conference are a crucial step in the right direction.

We know that poverty is sexist and we know that the far-reaching impacts of poverty are cyclical.  Women and girls living in poverty are less likely to get an education, more likely to suffer from disease, and almost always lacking basic social, political, and economic rights.

When you don’t have an education, it’s hard to climb out of poverty.  When you’re battling disease, it’s hard to climb out of poverty.  And when you don’t have basic equality rights, it’s hard to climb out of poverty.  It’s time to accept that these barriers to living a full, healthy and happy life are undeniably interconnected and it’s time to do our part in tearing down these barriers.  It’s time to break the cycle of poverty and together we not only can, we will.

Thank you very much for being here from every corner of the country.  Thank you for your activism, your engagement, and boy oh boy I look forward to taking some questions from you now.  Thank you very much.