Good morning, everyone. It’s such a pleasure to be here at York University with some great news for students, commuters, and families. I want to begin by thanking Premier Wynne and Mayor Tory for having me this morning and for all the great things they do for the people of Ontario. It’s great to be here with you both.

Great to be here with many MPs, MPPs, councillors, mayors. Everyone really came together on this project over the past years and it’s wonderful to be finally announcing the opening here.

For quite some time now the City of Toronto and its suburbs have been steadily growing. More and more people have chosen to study, work, and raise their families in Canada’s largest city and with good reason. With its top universities, great job opportunities and exciting community events, Toronto’s metropolitan area has a lot to offer. But as Torontonians know all too well, the growing population has resulted in more cars on the road, more people on the bus, and more time spent waiting for the subway, which means less time at home. Simply put, transit services have had trouble keeping up with the growing demand.

That is why, from the start of our government, one of our biggest priorities has been investing in infrastructure, especially in public transit. In Budget 2016, we took the initial step in our plan to ensure that public transit systems get students to class on time in the morning and take them home again after a long day at school.

Last year in Ontario, we announced nearly $1.49 billion in contributions to the public transit repair and modernization project through the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund.

Today we are proud to join with our provincial and municipal partners to celebrate the long-awaited opening of the new subway line, a line that will improve the quality of life of hard-working people and their families across the GTA. Indeed, the new line spans over 8.6 kilometres and adds six new stations to the existing network. This is the first rapid transit line to cross the City of Toronto boundary. This means that folks who live in the suburbs will benefit from unprecedented accessibility to key downtown areas at a lower cost. The new line will effectively improve the lives of millions of Ontarians by making sure that students make it on time to their first job interview, that parents make it home early to help their kids with their homework, and that families enjoy what their community has to offer whenever they want.

The subway extension is an example of the kinds of things we can accomplish when we work together to make a real difference in the lives of Canadians.

And on that note, I want again to thank Premier Wynne and Mayor Tory for their sustained leadership on this project and on the many other transit and infrastructure projects that have marked the past years.

This project and all the projects they’ve been working hard on in collaboration with the federal government that’s happy to be there as an engaged and active partner is going to go a long way to making this city an even better place to call home. Toronto-York Spadina subway extension will mean a faster commute, less time in traffic and more money in people’s pockets as they trade their cars for a subway ticket.