PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU DELIVERS ADDRESS TO EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JUSTIN TRUDEAU (Prime Minister of Canada / premier ministre du Canada): Thank you President Metsola, Chairman McAllister of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Présidente Yon-Courtin de la Délégation des relations avec le Canada, distinguished parliamentarians, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a privilege to be here in Brussels with you all.

Avant de commencer, j’aimerais d’abord exprimer mes condoléances suite du décès en début d’année du président Sassoli. C’est une grande perte pour votre parlement et pour l’Europe.

J’aimerais également prendre un moment pour adresser mes condoléances aux proches des victimes de la tragédie de Louvière ainsi qu’à tous ceux dont la vie a été bouleversée par ces évènements. Nos pensées et notre amitié sont avec la Belgique en ces moments difficiles.

I first addressed the EU Parliament in Strasbourg in 2017. It was the first time a Canadian prime minister addressed your parliament. Back then, this parliament saw me as someone new on the world stage. We got to work, tackling progressive issues, building the things that we thought mattered. We could see that something was lurking off on the horizon, something shadowy, something that was threatening; we didn’t look close enough.

When I spoke to this parliament five years ago, I spoke about making multilateralism work for the middle-class and those working hard to join it so that economic frustrations don’t become fertile ground for populism, nativism, protectionism, and the polarization towards more extreme political views. Well today, we’re staring these forces in the face as they threaten the peace, justice, truth, democracy, and stability of our world; and we have a choice about what we do next.

Since 2017, the world has changed a lot. A global pandemic has taken the lives of over six million people and disrupted the lives of everyone else, a global recession saw millions lose their jobs, with many economies still struggling to bounce back. A world that is not just now forecasting, but living the dangers of climate change, a growing distrust of governments and facts, a weakening of democratic institutions. We saw one of our staunchest guarantors of the rules-based order choosing for four years to step away from NATO, away from multilateralism. And now, Putin’s criminal invasion of a sovereign, independent, democratic Ukraine.

People have a real and deep sense of uncertainty about what the future holds. These are anxious times and people are looking for leadership and solutions. Unfortunately, we’re seeing a rise in cynical populists who are trying to exploit these anxieties. They pretend to have easy solutions, but play on people’s fears. Even in Canada, where 90% of people are vaccinated and our motto as a country is, « peace, order and good government, » we saw anti-vaccine and anti-government protests devolve into illegal occupations of our communities and blockades of our borders. The leaders of those convoys were effective in turning citizens with real anxieties against the system best suited to allay those concerns.

But democracy isn’t a game, and there just aren’t easy solutions to the big, complex problems we are all facing. But that doesn’t mean that the way forward isn’t clear. There is no greater clarity than the will of the people who want better for themselves and their children at home, and no stronger defense against destructive forces from the outside… from outside our democracies than the unwavering unity of like-minded partners.

Au cours des 80 dernières années, nous avons collectivement établi et renforcé une série de règles et d’institutions afin d’accroître la stabilité et la prévisibilité dans les affaires internationales. Nous l’avons fait pour protéger les gens, pour leur offrir les meilleures perspectives de paix, pour défendre leur dignité et leurs droits inaliénables, et pour faire en sorte qu’ils soient libres de choisir leur propre avenir.

Aujourd’hui, ces règles et institutions sont ouvertement menacées. Vladimir Poutine a enfreint les préceptes les plus fondamentaux du droit international, et il tue maintenant les civils innocents en bombardant les hôpitaux et les immeubles résidentiels. Ce mépris flagrant des lois et de la vie humaine constitue une menace immense pour l’Europe et pour le monde entier.

Canada, the EU, and all of our partners and allies are facing a defining moment.

We cannot fail. We must meet this moment.

So, I speak to you today, no longer as someone quite so new; in fact, I may now be one of the longest serving… longer serving progressive leaders around, and I’m certainly not going to pretend to have all the answers, but what I do know is that there is work that lies before us — as thoughtful leaders, as people focused on the short- and long-term wellbeing of all of our citizens, as people committed to democracy and the values that underpin them — and that work is more important than ever.

Putin thought democracy was weak. He saw our disagreements and debates as weakness. But what he has never understood, is that the rigours of debate; that forceful civic engagement is what makes us strong, and that democracy, at its best, will always be stronger than authoritarianism.

But if we’re going to be honest – and we need to be honest in this place – we haven’t always been at our best these past years. Putin thought we were divided. He thought he could weaken the EU and NATO. He miscalculated and he is seeing it backfire. NATO and the EU are now more resolved and united than ever. Because all of us in this room, who are committed to democracy, know in our bones that democracy didn’t happen by accident, and it will not continue without deliberate, mindful effort.

Mes amis, je veux être bien clair. Les Européens, y compris nos alliés en Europe de l’Est, peuvent compter sur l’amitié et le soutien total du Canada. Le Canada dirige le Groupement tactique de la présence avancée renforcée de l’OTAN en Lettonie, une mission qui regroupe 10 pays de l’OTAN. Depuis cinq ans des centaines de militaires canadiens sont déployés à des milliers de kilomètres de chez eux pour se positionner à 200 kilomètres de la frontière russe.

Ils sont déployés en Lettonie parce que ce qui est important pour la sécurité de l’Europe l’est aussi pour la sécurité du Canada. Récemment nous avons annoncé que nous doublons notre déploiement à l’OTAN pour les années à venir, et ces militaires ne défendent pas seulement la Lettonie et l’Europe de l’Est; ils défendent notre liberté, notre sécurité, et toutes nos démocraties.

We cannot let Ukraine down.

They are counting on us. So, let’s use all the tools we have at our disposal. President Zelenskyy and I have been talking often about the strong ties between our countries. Canada, as mentioned, is home to the second-largest Ukrainian community in the world after Russia. So, we must all collectively step up to provide humanitarian aid to support families affected by this war, and already start thinking about investing to rebuild Ukraine afterwards.

We must all continue to send military equipment and lethal aid to help Ukrainians in their heroic defense, not just of their lands, but of all of the principles that defend ours. And we must continue to impose unprecedented sanctions on Putin and his enablers in Russia and Belarus, increasing the pressure as much as we can.

We must ensure that the decision to invade a sovereign independent country is understood to be a strategic failure that carries with it ruinous costs for Putin and Russia.

Putin’s attack on Ukraine is an attack on the values that form the pillars of all democracies. We have a responsibility to make the case to people about why these values matter so much, not just to Ukrainians, but to us all. We must recommit ourselves to the work of strengthening our democracies and demonstrate the principled leadership citizens everywhere are looking for. That leadership means reinforcing the things our citizens have in common, rather than playing to their differences. The task before us is not small, but given the right tools, we can do it. And we should all be reassured of how much of this work is already underway in this place and in parliaments like it across Europe and around the world.

Au Canada, notre gouvernement élabore actuellement une nouvelle mesure législative pour lutter contre les méfaits en ligne. Cette année le Canada assume la présidence de la Coalition pour la liberté en ligne, et nous comptons mettre l’accent sur la protection des droits de la personne, l’inclusion et la diversité dans l’espace numérique. Ici à l’Union européenne, votre devise est « une dans la diversité » … « unis dans la diversité. »

Au Canada, la diversité est aussi au cœur de qui nous sommes.

Bien sûr, nous savons qu’il y a toujours plus de travail à faire, mais sur les plans de la réconciliation avec les peuples autochtones, de la lutte contre le racisme systémique, de l’inégalité des sexes, de la défense des communautés LGBTQ2, nous faisons énormément de progrès.

Que ce soit en assurant la mise en œuvre de la Déclaration des Nations Unies sur les droits des peuples autochtones, ou en investissant pour soutenir les entrepreneurs des communautés noires, nous donnons les outils pour la croissance économique à ceux qui, trop souvent, ont été laissés-pour-compte.

Governments can and should play a positive role in people’s lives. In Canada, like in many European countries, we made massive investments to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the right thing to do to protect our people, and it was the necessary thing to do to ensure a strong and robust economic recovery, because we know that when we invest in people, including in the most vulnerable, and when we grow the middle class and make life more affordable for everyone, not only do individuals benefit, but our entire country and the foundations of our democracy also benefit.

Que ce soit des conséquences immédiates de l’insécurité alimentaire, de l’inflation et des prix élevés de l’essence, ou que ce soit les conséquences à long terme des changements climatiques ou de la pandémie, les démocraties doivent être à leur meilleur pour pouvoir tenir les conversations difficiles et nécessaires avec leurs citoyens pour trouver les solutions.

Et à propos de la lutte contre les changements climatiques, la collaboration entre le Canada et l’union européenne continue d’être essentiel. Notre travail se poursuit pour accélérer la transition vers une énergie verte et renouvelable, pour respecter nos engagements de la COP26, et pour sécuriser nos chaînes d’approvisionnement, incluant nos chaînes d’approvisionnement pour les minéraux critiques. Il faut continuer d’agir ensemble pour bâtir un avenir plus propre et une économie plus résiliente.

Canada and European countries also share the goals of reducing poverty and inequality while growing the middle class. We share aspirations for a better, safer and cleaner future. Progressive trade agreements like CETA are helping our economies grow and creating good jobs while protecting high standards for workers, consumers, and the environment. Our ability to pull together, despite differences, and deliver for people really mattered, and I thank you all for that.

With the longest coastline in the world, Canada’s shores reach out into the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans, and our connections with the whole of the Americas is strong. We’re one of the most globally connected partners at the UN, with memberships in NATO, the G7, the G20, the Arctic Council, APEC, the OAS, the Commonwealth and la Francophonie.

We all have a lot of work to do, and collaboration will be key to success towards building a better future for our kids and our grandkids. It will require constant efforts, but I’m confident that we are up to the task. I’m confident in all of us here today, I’m confident in the resilience of our institutions, and mostly, I’m confident in our citizens.

And I can say that, because of what I’ve witnessed over the past four weeks. The resolve of our united response to this unacceptable invasion has been stronger than anything Putin expected; and not just from governments, but from citizens in all our countries. It’s in that spirit and resolve that we must take forward with us. The European Union has mobilized to defend democracy, and as always, you can count on the friendship and full support of Canada every step of the way.

Ensemble, nous devons soutenir des démocraties partout à travers le monde, incluant les plus fragiles, et lutter contre l’autoritarisme grâce à plus d’investissements et à plus de leadership engagé. Nous devons appuyer les gens courageux comme le président Zelenskyy et les Ukrainiens qui luttent pour leurs droits. Et nous devons poursuivre notre travail, chacun de nous, afin d’améliorer nos démocraties dans nos propres pays.

Five years ago, we saw the storm clouds on the horizon, but today we are clear eyed.

Continuons à combattre les mensonges par la vérité, la peur par les faits, la division par l’unité. As long as we don’t take our democracy for granted, as long as we keep working every day to make it better, as long as our partnerships are strong, we can be confident in the future.

In the words of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, « light will win over darkness. »

Merci beaucoup, mes amis.