Thank you, Nancy. Thank you, Jan, for your wonderful words of welcome. Hello, everyone!

Minister Champagne, François-Philippe, it seems like every time we're in Ontario, we have more big, good news for the economy. Keep it up, my friend. I know we see Vic regularly on this as well for these announcements. Thank you for all the work you've done in demonstrating the strong partnership that different orders of government can have - working together and delivering for our citizens from coast to coast to coast.

And I want to particularly recognize Mathias from Umicore for his confidence and faith in Canada. The investment today, as we'll talk about, is really a vote of confidence in Canadians, in our ability to step up and provide solutions, not just for ourselves but for the world, and this is a recognition, yes, of government stepping up to partner, but it's also a recognition of the extraordinary ability of Canadians to be part of solving global solutions -- and thank you, Mathias, for recognizing that. I also want to obviously give a shout out to the local representatives here, our MP, Mark Gerretsen. Great to see you here, Mark. Also, Mayor Paterson, Acting Mayor Hegadorn, and MP Bresee. Thank you very much, all of you for being here.

Being here at Queen's today reminds us all that the engine of our economy has always been Canadians drive and talent. Their desire and their abilities to work hard to solve extraordinary challenges and to build a better future is what gathers them here today in this extraordinary institution, but indeed motivates Canadians from coast to coast to coast. I'm here today to harness that power of Canadian innovation and hard work by announcing that we've reached a deal with Umicore to build a new battery facility in Loyalist Township. This plant will supply materials for a million electric vehicles a year. Canada isn't just going to be a global player in EVs, with this and other announcements we've made, we demonstrate that we get to be global leaders in electric vehicles.

This is big news.

What does it actually mean for people here in the area and across the country?

To begin with, a thousand jobs during construction and hundreds of good long-term positions at the Loyalist plant once it's up and running.

And for all of us, today’s announcement means cleaner air thanks to cleaner vehicles, as well as a globally competitive industry and economy.

Today's deal is just one of many as we mentioned we've reached this year. The numbers speak for themselves -- nearly 17,000 good jobs for Canadian workers to make hybrids, EVs and EV batteries. Around $15 billion in investments between industry and governments in the Canadian economy making that big bet that we can be the solution around electric vehicles and electric supply chains that the world is relying on.

Positioning Canada as a leader in electric vehicles is good for our economy and it’s good for the environment. It shows us that by taking action on the climate, we’re building new Canadian industries. That’s why we’re investing from the beginning to the end of the electric vehicle manufacturing cycle.

We're investing to build EVs with our Critical Minerals Strategy and manufacturing deals. We're investing to buy EVs. On Monday, we launched a new incentive to help businesses buy an electric van or other big vehicles and to charge EVs. This week alone, we're announcing funding for over 6,000 chargers across the country.

Canadians have always been people who innovate. Today, we're reminded that that remains our path forward. With Canadian know-how, we can grow our economy and make life more affordable while leaving a bright future for our kids.

This is the Canada we’re continuing to build in positive and ambitious ways, every day, together. I’m very happy to be here with you for this.