Hello everyone.

This is an important time, and it requires important measures. That’s why Canada has… Canadians have been stepping up here at COP26. It’s a milestone.

Since when we met in Paris, we’re facing big challenges as communities, as countries and as a world, and it’s time for some big solutions. We laid out plans to get to net-zero by 2050 at home, and we’ve made progress with partners to keep 1.5 alive as a goal we need to reach.

In Canada, we have put a price on pollution, which we have defended before the Supreme Court, and even created a consensus among Canadians. We must move forward on carbon pricing. We have made record investments in public transit, in clean energy, we have done a lot in partnership with Indigenous groups and partners across the country such as the provinces to protect our oceans, our land and our biodiversity.

We’re going to keep moving forward at home. On emissions we’ve committed to put a cap and begin to cut emissions from oil and gas production. We’re the first major oil and gas-producing nation to do that. We committed to reduce methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030, and in particular, reduce oil and gas methane emissions by 75% by 2030. On electricity we’ve committed to phasing out coal-fired electricity by 2030, and we’re going to ensure that all new vehicle sales are zero-emission vehicles and that we have a net-zero grid by 2035.

This is something we’ve said a number of times, and people have remarked upon, here at COP, that we’re not just saying, we need to move forward as a world, we ought to do things; Canada is showing that we ARE doing things. We’re making big decisions at home and encouraging people around the world to do more as well, because climate change doesn’t recognize borders. At COP I’ve spoken to dozens and dozens of leaders, driving ambition, deepening cooperation.

Today with partners like the IMF, World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, we’re calling to bringing in carbon pricing, to triple it on emissions up from about 21% of emissions covered by a price on pollution around the world, to get to 60% covered by a price on pollution by 2030.

We’re working with Germany and other partners on reaching that $100 billion-a-year commitment that was made at Paris that is as yet unfulfilled. We’re getting close. There’s still more work to do that Steven and others are going to keep pushing on over the coming days.

Our planet is at a critical juncture. The progress we have seen at the G20 over the last few days, the progress that we have seen here at COP with commitments from different heads of government, it’s a good start, but it’s only a start. People around the world are watching; workers, Indigenous groups, youth, they are demanding more leadership from world leaders, from countries around the world, and that is exactly what Canada is focusing on.

Our future and our children’s future is at stake.

It’s been a… in the past five days, extremely busy for our Canadian delegation. From our first stop in the Netherlands where we talked about trade and shared values, and the work we need to continue to do with strong allies on multilateralism and promoting democracy, to the G20 in Italy where we brought the world together to recognize 1.5 as a target to commit to reaching net-zero by the middle of the century.

These are things that we’re going to have to continue to push on.

It involved working on vaccines and global supply chains and economic growth and strengthening our support for people who are struggling with affordability at the same time as we show leadership on the big issues that the world is facing.

So, from climate action to vaccines to progressive trade, we focused on what matters to Canadians: clean air and good jobs, beating COVID-19, and doing our part to build a stronger, healthier world. It’s been a busy number of days, but Canada has been there to do the hard work and to continue doing the hard work over the coming days to build a better future, not just for Canadians, but for everyone.

That’s the work that needs to be done and that’s the work we’re going to do.

Thank you.