 What a pleasure to be here today. This is a nice moment for us to celebrate a one year anniversary of forming government, but also a time to reflect on what we've done so far and how we're continuing to work for the future. And for me, whenever I think about how we're working for the future, what we're thinking about in the months and the years and beyond coming up, it's really important to connect that and to be reminded of the long term by connecting with all of you. So having young people here today to ask questions, to talk about where we're going as a government and where we've been is for me one of those really, really key ways of staying connected with what matters for today, for tomorrow and for the long term future of this country. So I want to say thank you to all of you for being here because this is not just important to sort of mark this anniversary, but it's an important moment for me and for all of us to hear from you, to hear the things that you and your peers are worried about to respond to some of those questions and to involve you in how we are shaping the future of this country altogether. But as you know, it's not something we do on our own. We've chosen to work as a team. We've chosen to do a government by cabinet, but to have a cabinet at the height of the expectations of Canadians, we had to choose a team that reflects the reality and the diversity of Canada. And that's exactly what we were able to do here with an extraordinary team that has a lot of diversity within this team. And you have to understand that it's not just a question of wanting to make sure that all Canadians can see people who reflect their identity, or who could understand the challenges that we could live through the country. But it's also important to have a diversity of perspectives. One of the amazing things that we have with a group as diverse as this cabinet is even though, like Canadians ourselves, we're bound together on a broad range of values and principles that we all agree on, we come at it from very different places, from very different stories, from different linguistic, religious, cultural, geographic backgrounds. And having a group of people with a broad range of perspectives work together on a project that unites us all that is serving this country allows for an extraordinarily beneficial level of complex discussions and perspectives. We get better outcomes when we are highlighting gender balance, when we're highlighting the broad range of diverse perspectives and backgrounds that are there. So for me, this is the kind of cabinet we need if we're going to be able to fold in all the various perspectives, but all the various solutions that Canadians themselves expect to see from their government. But one of the other things is it's not just about picking a great group of people, it's about actually empowering them to be decision makers. Now any one person doesn't have all the answers and can't know everything, no matter how smart they are or think they are. But together we can, making sure that we're able to fold in and give responsibilities to ministers who actually have decision making powers, who actually choose and shape and are responsible for the decision. So these ministers are not spokespeople for their departments or for what the Prime Minister wants them to say. They are very much driving the agenda, driving the solutions responsible for the decisions they're making. And quite frankly, that's pretty much the question that each and every one of them asked me when I was encouraging them to step forward into government. They wanted to know that they would be able to actually take responsibility and drive and impact change themselves. And quite frankly as a country, we're amazingly lucky that these people are doing just that because the breadth of strength and decision making that they have shown over the past year makes all of us looks good, makes me look good. And quite frankly sets this country on the right path. So I want to take a few moments right now to introduce to you our cabinet, these great folks, and then I'm looking forward to getting around to some of your questions afterwards. But I think it's important to understand the depth and the strengths of the folks behind us in this room. Now not every cabinet minister could be with us here today, so I just want to shout out to a few of the folks who won't be able to be here. Jody Wilson-Raybouldt is our Attorney General, Minister of Justice, and she's in Australia right now speaking about a really important issue both to us and to Australia, which is reconciliation with Indigenous populations. Mark Garno, our Transport Minister right now is in Montreal to share a vision for what transportation could and should look like in 2030. And our Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities is in Vancouver talking of thousands of kids just like you guys for We Day. Bill Morneau, our Minister of Finance, is out talking about the fall economic statement we just released and how it will help families like yours have a brighter, more secure future. And there are six other fantastic Ministers who couldn't be here today because they're out working hard to deliver on the things that Canadians elected us to do. That said, we're lucky to have 19 of our Ministers here with us, and I'd like to introduce them to you now. Now, what I'm going to ask each one of them as we go through is to tell us either what their favourite moment, the thing they're most proud of from the past year is, or else what they're looking forward to, what you guys should keep an eye out for in the coming year that they're going to be doing that I think is going to make a particular impact. I'm very happy to introduce you to our cabinet now because I'm an old teacher. I'm going to do it in alphabetical order because I'm an old teacher and because that's how my files are placed. First, I'll start with Marie-Claude Bibaud. Marie-Claude lived in Morocco and Benin when she worked for the former International Development Office in Canada. That's what makes her a great choice for the post of the International Development Office and the Francophonie. This year, she contributed to the organization of the Reconstitution of World Fund Resources Conference. The deal with Bono and Bill Gates that we did in Montreal a few weeks ago. We met with several friends. We collected nearly $13 billion to counter the paludism, tuberculosis and AIDS, and to end Bono in 2030. Marie-Claude was at the heart of that and I'm very, very happy to see you here, Marie-Claude. Tell us about your highlights and what's coming. Thank you. I'm the Minister of the International Development Office and the Francophonie. The mandate that the Prime Minister entrusted me was to review all the international aid policy. It's a privilege for me to do that because to review a policy as deep as we do it now, we do it every 10, maybe 15 years. It's really a privilege. During the whole year, we do a great consultation with Canadians and our foreign partners. The unanimous decision that has been made is that we will put women and girls at the heart of our priorities. On the one hand, because in these countries, they are often the most vulnerable, facing poverty, violence among others, and even climate change, but also because we know that they are extraordinary engine of change, of development and of peace. Thank you very much, Marie-Claude. And thank you very much for being brief. As I do in the office, if you talk too long, I'll cut you off. The next person I'd love to hear from is Bardish Chagher. Now, Bardish is not only our Minister of Small Business and Tourism. She's also the leader of the government in the House of Commons, the first woman in Canadian history to hold that position. As house leader, she's responsible for managing the government's day-to-day in the house, which means that when we are in the house, technically, she's my boss. And she reminds me of that as we sit together all the time. So Bardish, tell us. Thank you, Prime Minister. Welcome, everyone. It is indeed an honour and privilege to be amongst yourselves. I have to say the thing that I'm most proud of is that our government has been able to bring people of all walks of life together. So I got involved in the political process when I was 13 years old. I didn't have a vote, but I did have a say, and it is so important that you be involved in shaping the kind of country that you want to live in. And that's why I'm so happy to be here serving Canadians each and every single day. Something I'm looking forward to is the women's entrepreneurship strategy to get more women, more young people, more underrepresented groups, representing small business owners, creating the job opportunities of the future, and also the tourism vision because our country is amazing. Everyone needs to visit, and I challenge each and every single one of you to visit ten provinces, three great territories, and to experience everything that Canada has to offer. Thank you so much. Outstanding British. Thank you. Next, I would like to pass on to our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Dion. One of my favourite anecdotes for Stéphane is when he was young and still learning English, when he met tourists, he asked for directions. His answer was always to go straight ahead. No matter what. I think it's a metaphor for how Stéphane always worked in life. But obviously, Stéphane has a very good sense of orientation and combined with his years of experience in politics, he is a great Minister of Foreign Affairs where he contributes to restore a strong presence of Canada across the world. Thank you, Stéphane, for joining us. Thank you for sharing this morning. Yes, Prime Minister, I would like to tell you about the worst event that I experienced in the last year as Minister of Foreign Affairs and the most beautiful event. So the worst one, it was when I was in Sri Lanka, a country that had the awful civil war, and the mother brought herself on her knees facing me and asking me, desperately, to bring her son back, her son disappeared during the war. And I tried to lift her up and she came back on her knees again. It was awful for me, and I thought in my mind, I cannot bring her son back. But we need to do everything we can under the leadership of the Prime Minister to help countries like Sri Lanka to get out of civil war and to have a future and to have reconciliation altogether. The best moment is when I was in Guatemala and I met a young girl from Vatraj who is called Nancy and who decided to take leadership so that in her country there is no more forced marriage. And with the help of Canada and other countries, she made such an effective campaign that she obtained that Guatemala is like law, that boys and girls do not marry at the age of 18. She wants to do this elsewhere for other countries. That's what Marie-Claude Bibo wants to do. That's what we all want to do. So Canada is a role to play in the world. We have a role to play in the world and we must be very proud of it and to do it with a lot of determination. Canada must be a determined peace-builder, a resolute architect of peace. Thank you. Thank you, Stéphane. So next, I want to introduce Jean-Yves Duclos. Before becoming Minister of the Family, Children and Social Development, he was Director of the Economy Department of the Laval University and before that, he was a employee of the month at McDonald's. So we all know where this can lead. Jean-Yves is in charge of managing a lot of things that directly affect your families. For example, he is the one who put on foot the new Canadian Children's Allocation, which was launched this summer. Thanks to this allocation, nine families out of ten have more money each month to help take the necessary costs to raise children. And this allocation will bring out hundreds of thousands of young people from poverty across the country. We are very proud of it. Jean-Yves. Thank you, Justin. So as Justin, I was a professor for a few years. My father always told me that if there is something that we don't know how to do, the best way to learn it is to teach it. So I did it during 25 years, and after 25 years, I started to say that I started to stay pretty good in my field. But what unites me today is this. It's the question of duty. Me too, I am very nervous when I receive duties. I look at what there is to do, and I look at when I have to do it. And what made me more nervous and proud during the last few months was when Mr. Trudeau met last December and told me, Jean-Yves, there is an allocation for children that you have to do, 25 billion dollars, and you have to do it for the month of July. And it must bring out 40% of children from the country outside of poverty. So with the work of the team that we have done together, we have managed to do that, and I am, of course, very proud. Thank you. Thank you, Jean-Yves. Next, I'd like to turn to our cabinet minister, who hails from the Burin Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, Judy Foote, who is the minister of public services and procurement, which means she is responsible for managing all the contracts the government needs to actually run, from defense to Canada Post to the buildings that our government staff work in every day. And if that wasn't enough, Judy also has the difficult challenge of having to sit next to the biggest geek in the House of Commons. That'd be me. Go ahead, Judy. Thank you, Prime Minister. First of all, let me say how exciting it is to be here with all of you. When I walked into the room, I thought, here are the leaders of today, not just the leaders of tomorrow. So whenever I get an opportunity to do this, I do it, and I encourage all of you to really consider getting involved in the political process, getting involved in politics as a career, or in our incredible, incredible public service. Because there are wonderful opportunities there for each and every one of you. Public services and procurement, as the Prime Minister said, is a large department of government and it's an operational department. We work with all of departments in government, and that's what's really exciting for me is that we get to have an impact working with all of my colleagues here on the stage and those who couldn't be with us today. And one of the things I'm really proud of that we have done and we've done a lot that we're very pleased about, but it would be working with the Minister of Immigration, with the Honourable John McCollum, in terms of bringing the Syrian refugees here to Canada. And you know how hard we worked and how hard John worked to do that. We all did as a cabinet and thank you to the Prime Minister for making that possible. But what was really exciting for me was when I saw the Prime Minister welcoming Syrian refugees at the airport, it was knowing that the department that I lead was really responsible for getting them here in terms of arranging their flights, making sure they had winter jackets, making sure they had places to stay. Those are the types of things that public services and procurement is involved in, in addition to all of the other challenges that the Prime Minister mentioned. So it's so good to see all of you here. It's a wonderful opportunity for all of us who get to serve in cabinet and that could be your future if you consider politics as a career. Thank you. Thank you. The next member of cabinet I'd like to introduce is Christia Freeland. She's our Minister of International Trade who's had a very busy past few weeks. Not that that's unusual, but she was making sure over the past few weeks that we actually concluded a really important trade agreement, the Canada-Europe trade agreement known as CETA, the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement that is going to make a huge difference for Canadians in terms of having access to European markets for our producers and lowering trade barriers and creating opportunities for everyone. One of the interesting things is one of the ways she got it done was by backyard diplomacy. And if you don't know what backyard diplomacy is, Christia can tell you she invited important diplomats over to her backyard for a barbecue and talked about how they were going to work things out in a very connected real and human way and that leadership that she showed, that drive and the strength of personality and intellect that has guided us through this trade deal every step of the way really is what allowed us to be celebrating an incredible achievement this past week. So Christia, go ahead. Well thank you very much Prime Minister that story is actually true. I am a mother. I have a 15 year old and 11 year old and a 7 year old and when I told them we were having these Europeans come over for a barbecue they said can we go to our rooms and I said no actually you have to barbecue and be charming. So feel sorry for them please. Look, I thought about what I was the proudest of and what I'm the proudest of this year is to have served in Canada's first gender balanced cabinet. I thought it was a great idea when the Prime Minister put it in our election program but I didn't appreciate the power it would have until he did it. I travel around the world a lot and the thing that we've done that I hear from the most about is women in cabinet and especially women in countries where women's rights are more in jeopardy than in Canada like the younger women in the delegations they come up to me they hug me they say because it's 2015 and that is so powerful and as the mother of a young woman who's the age of a lot of you here a 15 year old I see the impact that's had so that's what's meant the most to me as a mother and a woman. Thank you, Christia. Next I'd like to introduce our Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Ralph Goodell. Ralph is a person we turn to when things go wrong and he's the guy who makes sure that we're all kept safe. He also oversees the national security file which includes Canada's intelligence service and spies so that's something I'm actually kind of jealous of that he gets to play in there. It's an important job because while he's driving to make sure that Canadians are kept safe he's also having to make sure every step of the way that we're respecting the law and the values and the things that are important to Canadians because we know we have to protect our rights and protect our safeties at the same time and Ralph does a very good job at it. He's also the only caucus member who have served under two Prime Ministers named Trudeau so thank you Ralph for being here. Thank you and it's a great privilege to participate in this event today with all of my colleagues but most especially all of these fascinating young people who are leaders today and will be leaders tomorrow. Thank you for being with us this morning. It's hard to pick out one or two things from this fascinating first year of the second Trudeau government but one of the things that really stands out for me is the emergency preparedness side of my portfolio and representing the government of Canada in dealing with that awful fire that affected Fort McMurray in Northern Alberta in May of this year 80,000 people had to be relocated half a million hectares of land and forest and community were burned out. It was the biggest natural fire disaster in Canadian history and from my perspective I got to see some fascinating things the strength and resilience of the people of Fort McMurray the raw courage that got them through that situation the amazing first responders firefighters and all of the others who came to the rescue the real leadership and determination of the local officials and the provincial officials in Alberta the wonderful way that federal government agencies came together to help and the amazing generosity of Canadians right across this country who said in moral terms but also in cold hard cash hey Fort Mac we've got your back because that's what we do as Canadians when there's trouble anywhere we all pull together and rescue each other and defend each other and get through it it was a tough moment in dealing with that awful fire the beast as everybody called it but it was a wonderful moment to see the heart and the strength and the courage of Canadians respond it's a great highlight a great demonstration of what Canada is all about thank you Ralph I'd like to pass now on to Minister Paddy Haidu now Paddy was actually the first person in her family to complete post-secondary education also the first member of her family to be Cabinet Minister now back home in Thunder Bay Paddy ran the city's largest homeless shelter and has dedicated her career to working with marginalised communities and I can tell you that as Minister for the Status of Women as an advocate for marginalised peoples and an extraordinarily strong voice who keeps us on our toes and thinking about people who don't often have their voices heard around Cabinet Table she is an extraordinary member of our team and I'm happy to also point out that today is her birthday happy birthday Paddy she turns 50 today bonfaite Paddy thank you so much Prime Minister for the birthday wishes and really it's my 50th birthday so I couldn't ask for a better party I would have to say that I am so proud of a government that recognises that we are stronger because of our diversity and not in spite of it and not just the diversity that we automatically think about in terms of religion or culture or gender even but in fact the diversity that allows people like me someone who grew up in poverty raised by a single mother who raised my two children alone to actually gain an education and now contribute to my community and now contribute to my country and I am so proud to say that there is opportunity for all of you and I'd also like to acknowledge the Prime Minister's leadership on gender equity because I see a lot of young women in the audience today and I can guarantee you that this is probably something you will reflect back on seeing a Cabinet that has just as many women as men and seeing a place for yourself and government and many buildings in this city thank you so much for your interest and thanks for being here today Thanks Patty I'd now like to introduce Kent Hare who is our Minister of Veterans Affairs and the Associate Minister of National Defense Kent's also a big hockey fan he played in the Alberta Junior Hockey League for a number of years and as part of his memorabilia conduction he has a hockey stick signed by Wayne Greski which he won't let me touch this year he helped reopen two of the nine Veterans Affairs offices that were previously closed these are the frontline offices that offer help to our veterans and are a really important part of keeping our promises to those who have served and Kent and his department are on track to reopening seven more offices by next May because those who serve their country and the military deserve to make sure to understand that we are taking care of them when they come home and their families so Kent tell us about Well thank you Prime Minister in 2.3 million Canadians have served this nation and our armed forces 118,000 of them have paid the ultimate sacrifice and I think what I'm most proud of is our government understands not only recognizing their contributions but understanding that when they come back they often have physical emotional scars that our department is trying to work with them to better their outcomes for them and their families full stop and we're looking at this in a whole government approach and my work you don't just work with your department you work with an entire team here and my work with ministers say Jan on how we're going to better outcomes for our men and women who serve in our military and how they're going to have better employment opportunities better education opportunities better access to mental and physical supports where and when they need them is what I'm so proud of because you don't just do it in one department here in our government we work all very closely together to make sure our partnerships and our linkages have better outcomes for our citizens of this great nation and just working with each and every one of you on a day to day basis has truly been a joy and an honor and a privilege Thank you Kent. I'm now going to Melanie Jolie who is the only person among us today who has really founded a political party the real change for Montreal when she participated at the Montreal Mayor's in 2013. As the minister of the Canadian heritage she is in charge of making sure that we recognize our unique Canadian identity and that in the near future she will have the formidable task to shake all the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. I'm waiting for each one of you to participate. It's going to be a big party next year, 150 years since the Confederation. It's Melanie who is in charge. Melanie. Thank you Mr Prime Minister. If I may, I would like to ask who has an Instagram account? Who has a Snapchat account? Who has a Twitter account maybe? Okay. That's great. Now what my team and I are doing is making sure that every thing we do at Heritage and all our laws and regulations take into account how you communicate. For us it's fundamental because everything that is done right now doesn't take into account your reality and our reality. So this is a big challenge I'm tackling. And also, but Prime Minister told you, for us we will have a big anniversary next year. So who will be celebrating Canada 150? You better all raise your hands. So I hope that you will really be able to celebrate because we're counting on you to be the generation 2017. Thank you. I now want to pass to Dominic Leblanc who's our Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, but you have to understand Dominic and I go way back. He used to babysit me when I was a kid. So if I'm a little squirrely from time to time, I blame it on him. But before, because our father was a friend, but before Dominic's father he was Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard during the mandate of my father. So for me to have been able to name Dominic to this same Minister has been very touching about our family history. But above all, he does an extraordinary job, among other things, to have opened the base of the Kitsilano in Vancouver, because it's important to be ready to ensure the security of Canadians in the marine environment. And we must remember that in addition to our lakes and rivers, Canada must also have three Oceans with provincial and Indigenous partners. It's an exigent job and I'm really happy to be able to count on Dominic to work very hard on this. Thank you, Prime Minister. He thought, Prime Minister, when you and I had the time to invite us here we would be riding our bicycles around New Edinburgh ringing doorbells and running away. What a difference 35 years can make. One of the things I'm most proud of and the Prime Minister mentioned it is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for me should and can be a very, very big part of our government's environmental agenda. And the Prime Minister has asked me to work on protecting more of Canada's Oceans, protecting Oceans from obviously pollution, from overfishing and ensuring that the fish and the marine mammals that live in our three Oceans will be there for generations and generations to come. So what I'm very excited about is our department has hired scientists already this year to help us make the best decisions we can. I hope some of you may be interested in marine biology and come and work for us to help us protect Canada's Oceans and make the best decisions we can for generations and generations to come on how to build a sustainable economy in parts of the country that are very dear to me. I come from New Brunswick on the East Coast so you can imagine how excited I am when the Prime Minister gave me this job. I would like to present to you Diane Le Boutillier. You know the first time I spoke to Diane when she was a candidate she was in auto and I spent the first three or four minutes trying to convince her that it was me who called her. She didn't believe me but I am very, very happy that she made an extraordinary campaign that she became a deputy and above all our Minister of National Revenue. She is charged with collecting the money from the taxes that we can then reinvest as a government. It is a key role in the Cabinet and I am very happy that she is still responding to my calls but above all after such a moving department. It is really, really someone extraordinary that we are very, very happy to have among us in the Cabinet. I am very proud to be with you today. It has been an extraordinary year and indeed for those who know me I come from the Gaspésie and from the island of La Madeleine. Gaspé in Micmac means the end of the world. It is to tell you how far I come and to have been called Minister of the Cabinet also made sure that all people from the Gaspésie and La Madeleine are excessively proud and it also makes us that everything is possible. So as the Prime Minister said to us to the Minister of Revenue it is really because I have a contact with all your parents once a year where we will collect the taxes to then be able to put back to the population to be able to have health services infrastructure services to do research and development and to be able to receive refugees to work with communities Indigenous communities and to make sure that Canada will always be it's not a good French but it will be the most beautiful best country in the world. Thank you. Thank you, Dionne. I will now speak to John McCallum. John is our Minister of Immigration Refugees and Citizenship and to say that he's had a busy year is something of an understatement. Thanks to his hard work in our first year we were able to welcome more than 30,000 refugees fleeing the ongoing conflict in Syria and here's a little known fact most people know John because of his years of political services or his time spent in the private sector as a Chief Economist for one of Canada's biggest banks I know him because he was my Dean of Arts when I was a student at McGill. John. Thank you Prime Minister and as you once said the fact that you never met me when I was in that capacity may have been a good sign but I've got to know you since then as you have suggested as others have suggested over the last year was that over the space of four months we managed to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees from a terrible civil war across the country, across the ocean to welcome them here in Canada so I think that was a great achievement Canadians were so welcoming and that has made me very proud if I look to the future there are many things we want to do we want to make it a lot easier for international students to become Canadians but the most important thing for me is that when we came to office it took typically two years for a family to reunite itself some of you may know that if you've come from overseas I think it is unacceptable that the heavy hand of the Canadian state would keep families apart for such a long time so what I am really looking forward to in the not too distant future is that we can reduce that processing time very substantially and otherwise equip our department to grow this nation going forward thank you very much thank you John next is Catherine McKenna she's a local MP she represents the riding of Ottawa centre and you might well recognize her from your own front door because she knocked on over 100,000 doors in the last campaign when she was a candidate but she's now minister of environment and climate change and she really does ride her bike to work she's responsible for making sure that the climate plan we're putting together this fall with the provinces and territories will ensure that you have clean air and water through your whole lives and good jobs that come with a smart forward thinking economy that we know we need so Catherine thank you Mr. Prime Minister I'm honored to be Minister of Environment and Climate Change it's a huge honor to have this job because I have three kids they're 7, 10 and 12 and the biggest challenge of our generation is tackling climate change my greatest honor was going with the Prime Minister to Paris for the COP 21 negotiations but we didn't just go, it wasn't just the Prime Minister myself, we went with Premiers we went with Mayors we met with Indigenous leaders we went with members of the opposition we met with environmentalists and we went with youth and that's so important and when we were there we said Canada knows climate change is real and Canada is here to work together with the world to find solutions and that made such a difference and we worked extremely hard and it was my huge honor when the gavel went down and we achieved this ambitious agreement with 194 other countries now I'm going to ask you one thing I do pinky promises with kids who are younger than you the pinky promise is that you will work with me to help tackle climate change so I'm not going to make you do a pinky promise you're a little too cool for that but I will ask that you think about what you can do what we can do together that's the biggest challenge of our generation climate change thank you Catherine I'd like now to turn it to Mariam Montsef Mariam is the minister of democratic institutions and is in fact the youngest member of our cabinet she turns 32 on Monday it's actually worth noting because one of the things that she's hard at work at figuring out is how to get more young people how to get more young people involved and voting it's important not just to get everyone's voices heard but because the more young people get involved in politics the more politicians need to respond to the long term issues that are always forefront of your mind as well as dealing with immediate support for young people so you can be realizing your potential throughout your life so Mariam well thank you Prime Minister it's a great privilege to be here with all of you on this traditional Algonquin territory how many of you have a mentor someone you look up to someone who inspires you someone who's doing what you want to be doing who opens doors for you who picks you up when you're down raise your hand if you have a mentor and look around this is impressive most rooms only about 10% of young people raise their hands for you who'll share just an hour of their time with you because it's because of mentors that I'm here today and my mentors told me that if you're going to enter politics make sure that you start your day and you end your day thinking about people and working for people it's not about you whether they love or hate you it's what you're doing for them, for their kids and their grandkids and it's been an amazing year I just got to travel the whole country and talk to people from all walks of life about how to make democracy better and everywhere I went they all thought of you and they all want you to be more involved in democracy something else I'm really proud of is we opened up the senate appointment process for the first time in the history of this country any Canadian who meets the criteria can apply to become a senator and serve their communities in this country what I'm most proud of though is that despite all the ups and downs that exist in any job, especially a job that only a handful of people have had is every day I wake up and I think about the people of Peterborough, Coortha who sent me here every day I come to work and I have the privilege of working with people who are giving up their time with their loved ones with their families with their communities to serve you and your kids and your grandkids and I'm so proud that I have brought around me a really exceptional team of people who care about the things that I care about and what I'm most excited about moving forward is tonight at 7 o'clock I'm doing a Facebook live with the Huffington Post and the topic is young people don't care about politics well I beg to differ so I hope that you will join me at 7 o'clock with Althea Raj thank you thank you Miriam now I'd like to pass it on to Jane Philpott Jane is our Minister of Health but I know that at her core no matter what job title she has she's a family doctor she spent a long time living and working in West Africa and even after she moved back home to Canada her ties to Africa helping to open Ethiopia's first training program in family medicine she cares very deeply about mental health as well and that's why I've asked her to work on a mental health strategy for the government so we can better take care of one another in Canada she knows as I do that we need to do more to help the wounds that we can't see Jane a show of hands again I want to know how many of you are considering the possibility of a career in health sciences quite a number awesome great career choice so I have the health scientist dream job to be able to make the kinds of decisions and to be able to advance the country's agenda on health is a tremendous privilege there are so many things that the Prime Minister has asked me to do but the one that I wanted to highlight to you today is that in the letter that the Prime Minister wrote to me about a year ago now and he wrote a very similar letter to all of my colleagues he started off at the beginning of the letter and he said there is no relationship that's more important to me or to Canadians in a relationship with indigenous peoples and so that has really been one of the shaping influential factors in my agenda and within my portfolio falls responsibility for First Nations and Inuit health and so I have been working very hard along with my colleagues across the country to be able to address the very serious health gaps that exist in this country the fact that in fact if you are indigenous in this country you have a life expectancy that is almost a decade shorter than non-indigenous Canadians so we have some very serious work to do one of the specific highlights for me within that portfolio was the fact was a day that I spent in late July on the northern shores of Quebec on the Angava Bay the windswept beautiful coast there in a little town called Cougouac and I went to that place because I was there to stand alongside our partners the leaders of the Inuit communities across this country when they announced the rollout of a national Inuit suicide prevention strategy as the Prime Minister has said mental health issues are some of the most serious issues that we're facing in health in this country and it's seen no greater than indigenous populations and I suspect that you like me have been very moved by the tragedies that you hear that are occurring across this country in July day as the wind blew and I was surrounded by colleagues particularly Inuit leaders and they rolled out this strategy it was a strategy that was written by Inuit for Inuit would be delivered by Inuit leaders across this country and health care providers we were there as partners we were there to deliver the resources that were needed to say that we want to be partners it was a very proud moment for me despite the difficult circumstances when we work together we'll be able to overcome the challenges that this country faces and I hope that I get to work with many of you in the years to come. Thank you Thank you Jane Next is Harjeet Singh Sajan Harj is a former police officer in Vancouver and a Canadian Armed Forces veteran the comics the comic books call him the minister of badass but I call him the minister of national defense Harj had three deployments to Afghanistan and because of that he really gets what our soldiers need on the ground and what we need to do to keep us all safe so this year he's been talking to a lot of folks about modernizing our Armed Forces and he's been taking a look at how we can recruit people for the forces that better reflect the diversity and the makeup of Canada including more women. Harj Well thank you very much Prime Minister it's an absolute privilege to be in this cabinet the Canadian Armed Forces has a role to play and if you look at I've pretty much been in a lot of conflict zones and through those what I get to see is the absolute travesty that it has in a population and when I look at all of you and you look at what's around in Canada you see opportunity and you inspire me because of the opportunity and what you have for the future but you don't see that same sense of opportunity for other folks so what I'm really proud of is actually when the Prime Minister some time ago had the courage to say that we need to look at the root cause of conflict because that's very important to do the right thing it's not just about going out and fighting and trying to solve conflict we need to start looking at the root cause and preventing it in the first place because at the end of the day the Canadian Armed Forces the people who got recruited in are asked to do some tremendous work that has an impact but has also tremendous toll on them as well so what really excites me is the peace operations that we're going to be rolling out I can't say anything more about it just yet is going to be looking at the root cause of a problem and not just from a national defense perspective it's going to be looking at a whole government perspective of having an impact for the youth that are out there in Africa right now 60% of the population in most of the countries are 24 years and less instead of them being radicalized and going into other groups why don't we use them as an empowerment and our approach potentially can do that I'm very proud to be part of a solution that's going to be looking at the root cause of conflict and how we're going to help the Canadian Armed Forces to be a tremendous asset around the world thank you thank you Harj and finally I'd like to introduce you Amarjeet Sohi Amarjeet works with the provinces and municipalities so that we can build new roads improve our sewers I know that doesn't sound important but trust me if it breaks it's important and helping build public transit systems which means more buses, subways and light rail here in Ottawa he used to drive a bus in Edmonton so he definitely understands the importance of public transit and because life can't be all about work I actually found out he once wrote an entire play in Punjabi so he's more than just a minister Amarjeet tell us about yourself well thank you Prime Minister and thank you to you for being here I'll tell you before I go into what I'm really proud of let me tell you a little bit of myself I came to Canada from India when I was little bit older than you are and I landed at the Edmonton International Airport on November 21st the coldest day of my life ever that I had ever imagined never saw snow before in my life but I came and I did not speak English I had a very little understanding about the Canadian culture Canadian values and Canadian society and so I struggled a lot during school I faced my share of racism and discrimination but I was surrounded by wonderful people in the school and wonderful Canadians who gave me the right support to get out of that and succeed then a few years later I went back to India to work with the social justice group to help farmers organize and spend almost 22 months in prison and 19 months of that was in solitary confinement and I stand here today because there were wonderful people like you who fought for me at that time people who organized to write letters people who put pressure on the Canadian government to bring me back so through your efforts the Canadian government brought me back to Canada so if I stand here in front of today to be part of this wonderful wonderful team under the leadership of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the one thing that I'm proud of is being a Canadian the one thing I'm proud of is serving you to make our country even a better place so that's my pride I'm so honored to be part of this thank you Prime Minister an amazing group of people and quite frankly the country deserves nothing less than an amazing diverse group of people working hard every single day to serve you but the fact is it is a challenge sometimes when you're in Ottawa in the Parliament Hill bubble which isn't really even Ottawa it's easy to get wrapped up in what seems important on the floor of the House of Commons or in committee rooms and sometimes lose touch with Canadians and that's why each and every one of us spend as much time as we can out across the country in question and answer sessions listening to stakeholders and ordinary Canadians and hearing from them what their questions are what their concerns are how we can do better to help to serve right now that we get to turn it over to all of you, the eight different schools will get questions and I'm looking forward to hearing your questions I think we're starting over on this end somewhere so introduce yourself and tell us what school you're from and finally in the countries developed both in Europe and in North America we're really in question the well-being of immigration and last week the report suggests an increase of immigrants from Canada of 300,000 in order to avoid the economic growth of the country and here's my question is your government planning a measure so that there is a better social and economic assimilation for the new arrivals? Yes, absolutely first of all, immigration is something that has made Canada what we are today the fact that we have been able to welcome people from all over the world to contribute a lot to the economic but also to our social success our communities are strong and resilient not because they are homogenous but because we recognize that diversity of perspectives of history of approach is a great strength and this thing that we have developed over the years in Canada to see diversity as a source of strength and not as a source of weakness is essential and when we look at the challenges of globalization and what is happening everywhere in the world with immigration with countries that need to understand how to act with more diversity the Canadian example of a unique religious, cultural, historical, ethnic but of shared values that we define as Canadians with these values it is a lesson that we have to share with the world so yes, immigration becomes essential and we know that immigration will be a source of opportunity for people who come to Canada for our communities, our economies and we also recognize that the challenges of immigration are significant we have to assure that people will be able to succeed in our modern economy that requires more education that requires linguistic knowledge of one of our official languages that must be able to integrate in the communities and that is why immigration is not just an issue of the government a very beautiful example it is the welcome of Syrian refugees yes, the government has facilitated making it possible but it has only worked because we have to work hard because communities, provinces municipalities Canadians, groups of Canadians have gathered to help them to integrate to work on the next steps and that is what is essential in our immigration system to accept people but also to assure that they will be able to succeed and that is at the heart of our approach thank you for the question next question you this is my cousin we are from high school we were Syrian refugees and arrived in Canada two years ago on behalf of our families I want to personally thank you and thank people of Canada for welcoming us with so much kindness and opportunity and our question to you is although we are safe and secure in Canada many of our friends and family are certain in Syria where it is very dangerous for them can our government do more to protect the people that are still living in Syria and give them out of danger absolutely, we can do more and we must do more right now around the world there are about 60 million displaced persons people who have fled for their homes because of conflict, war any number of issues and that is something that we all have to take care of and I think there are three ways we need to think about doing it first of all, as you are wonderful examples of Canada can do more to bring people who are living in refugee camps and precarious situations to set up and succeed and build a life here in Canada yes, we can do more and we can encourage other countries to do more around welcoming families fleeing to their countries and give them pathways to success secondly, we need to do more to help the immediate proximity countries the countries that people run to when they are escaping a conflict in the question of Syria they go north to Turkey they went west to Lebanon they went south to Jordan we can do more to support those countries that giving opportunities and a future to young kids and families fleeing for their lives but the third area we can and must do more is actually in the country that is the source of those refugees we need to work more to establish stability in conflict zones establish security and eventually prosperity so people won't have to flee for their lives and we'll be able to manage it I think Canada has an important role to play in all three of those elements and that's certainly something that we're doing thank you for your question thank you for being here gentlemen next Hi, I'm William Mazer and I go to an opinion high school the question for you today is do you think that the proportional representation is realistic and advantageous for the country very good question one of the issues that we had that we had addressed in our electoral campaign that we continue to be concerned is the fact that we need to reform our electoral system we need to make sure that the perspectives that Canadians see are always well represented in the government and in our parliament and that people in parliament hear all the diversity of point of view, of concern of all Canadians and after decades or centuries of our current system I think it's quite normal that we look at how we can improve and reform our electoral system in this system in this question there are a lot of people who have a lot of different perspectives on how to improve our electoral system and for me, instead of talking about the format or the element of specific change that we would like to do I always try to talk about values what are the subjective values that we want what are the choices that we make to have the best governance and a better government and a better process for the citizens there are questions and choices that we have to make do we want the diversity in the parliament between the different political parties or do we want this diversity to be inside the political parties do we want that people represent just those who voted for them or do we want that the deputies represent both those who voted for them and those who voted for them those kinds of questions that don't go directly to what is the kind of model that we have to reform our electoral process but what are the values that will serve Canada for decades to come there are a lot of discussions around electoral reform who will be more by this or by that the last electoral cycle in the next electoral cycle but we can't think in the short term when we want to reform our electoral system we have to think in the long term what will be the impact in 20 or 30 years and this responsibility this reflection which is at the heart of the work that the committee has done that our Minister of Democratic Reform has done and we continue to consult directly with the Canadians Thank you for your question Hello Prime Minister My name is Chloé Lafleur I'm a student of the Catholic Secondary School Biathesis de l'Age My question is the following The older generations often compare you to your father Mr. Pierre Eliott Trudeau I would like to know your opinion on the next point How do your ideas resemble each other and how do they differ in terms of your ability to leadership Very, very good question First of all I must admit that one of the things that helped me a lot in my life was and especially in my career as a politician it was to have had a Prime Minister as a father but not in the sense that you think because in my life there were people who knew who was my father who already had an opinion on me He liked me because he liked my father or he didn't like me because he didn't like my father and he was looking at me with this aspect and I had to develop a very firm sense of who I am of what my strengths and weaknesses are and not influenced by the expectations of others So for me I learned how to put aside those who criticized me without any basis without knowing me just because they expected what I was in a certain way but I also had to put aside people's opinions that I had to be fantastic So I developed a very concrete sense of who I am and how I am like my father and different from my father I'm like my father in the sense that I have extremely strong values and principles and the way I make choices when we work in politics is created in these values and I'm ready to learn very few popular positions if it's a game that suits me in the last elections I defended the fact that someone a Canadian who was condemned for terrorism shouldn't lose his Canadian citizenship it's not very popular as a position but on a level of intellectual rigor of value it's essential to emphasize that we don't have two different categories a Canadian to whom we could remove their citizenship because they have a parent who was born elsewhere or a Canadian to whom we can't remove their citizenship because they have been here for several generations so me being included in my strong and precise values helps me a lot to choose my path as a chef to respect other's opinions but not always led by or unpopular but on the other hand I'm different from my father in the sense that I spent a lot more time to be a deputy of Terrain I had to win a nomination to invest in my Papino account I had to learn to work with people to listen to people my father came into politics as an intellectual with ideas already about bilingualism right-wing multiculturalism and he brought these priorities I spend a lot more time as a teacher to listen to to work collaboratively and to respect this beautiful reality that everyone can have good answers and not just the Prime Minister Thank you very much for your question Sophie I'm Sophie I am a student at Feminite White High School my question is what is the government planning on doing to help support people leaving where the challenges gain meaningful employment Thank you very much for your question Thank you Jade The fact is it's really important for a country like Canada that prides itself on being an open country in which everyone has a real and fair chance to succeed to look at all the barriers that exist to different people succeeding and that's why one of the things that I'm very proud of is that we have a minister for sport and for persons with disabilities who are not here today but Carla Qualtro who was a Paralympian who won medals in the Paralympics in years past and is now tasked with creating an accessibility act legislation that will govern Canada in terms of ensuring that everyone regardless of their challenges has fair opportunities to succeed in participating in work and community and mostly contributing offering what you have to shape the community around you and your world and that for me, for a country of 36 million people faced with a world of 7 billion the fact is we need to get the very best out of every Canadian and I look forward to bringing forward that accessibility act next year because we need to make sure we get it right and we're doing a lot of consultations actually a couple of days ago I was with Carla at Carleton University doing a national youth consultation on the issue of disabilities and challenges and I'm really really happy that we're working hard on that to give you and all Canadians every chance they can to contribute and succeed thank you Sophie Hello Mr Trudeau My name is Raphael Guilherme I'm from Gatineau First of all, I would like to thank you for welcoming us here it's been a privilege Now my question What is the place of the young people who are 15 to 17 years old within our government and what is an envisageable solution to engage in socio-political issues and how do we get involved For me, it's essential to involve young people and in many ways First of all, I was a teacher I spoke in terms of youth all my political career for the Liberal Party to go and look for young people and involve them and make them more interested in politics it's not just because we want more people to vote although we would like to it's also because if a government or politicians are listening to young people about the great issues how will you achieve your career how will you create a family and start in the future how will you be able to have a healthy environment a more peaceful world it's about the great issues that are important to you and if we can bring you more participation in politics politics will respond more to your concerns because one of the great myths around young people is that young people are not interested in what is going on in the world on the contrary, you are part of a more interested generation more involved, more connected than any other generation the challenge is not to make you interested in the world the challenge is to be at the highest as a government as a politician to welcome, to listen to, to involve you in these decisions that's why I put on foot a youth council that brings 16 to 24 years old here in Ottawa to work with me on the great issues that are challenges that students face especially at the level of technology and internet neutrality or whether it's about mental health or the environment I want to engage directly in more young people but in addition to that we have to show in all our ways that the way of young people, the perspective that you bring is essential I'm happy that the Canadian election is how we will be able to work more with young people before they become electors so that they already develop in the school environment the habit of being involved in so many elections because we have moments to bring you closer to that but also to use the different technological means of social media to have conversations that everyone can participate in a political party at the age of 14 I know that for the Liberal Party it's open at the age of 14 and I think it's equivalent for the other parties we encourage you to already be involved like Bardish said she started to be involved in politics before she had the right to vote so to understand that your views that the issues that you bear we wait until you get involved a little more and we know that we have to create opportunities to get involved we'll be on the right track Thank you for your question Good morning My name is Rachel Thomas I represent Korean Wilson Secondary School in Orleans My question is that I understand that you've taken away the tax credit to help families that make less than but how would you make it more affordable for the families that make over 50K a year that make over 50K a year with multiple children and university at the same time That's a great question actually one of the things that we did take away was the idea that tax credits help students make it through university we recognize the cost of tuition difficult barriers that are there for post-secondary education and we know that it is essential not just for you to be able to afford post-secondary education but it's important for your community and for our country that you be able to get the best and the most education that we can if we're going to succeed so what we actually realized was tax credits on post-secondary education didn't necessarily go to the students many cases they go because students don't often pay taxes they go to the parents and we wanted to be much more direct in our support for students and that's why the money that we were using for tax credits we instead put directly towards Canada student grants which means that low-income students getting to university would have a thousand dollars more every year to help pay the costs of everything from rent to tuition to books to everything and middle-income students would also see increased by 50% the direct support we're giving in terms of cash to be able to spend on things that matter when those expenses are coming and not get them back at tax time so that was a priority something we could concretely do to give more money to the families that need it and to students who need it get through university and post-secondary education in a much more efficient way we also guaranteed that you don't have to start paying back any student loans until you're making a job that pays you more than 25,000 dollars a year so there's not that drag on you right away when you come out of post-secondary education and are just finding your first job that you have to also deal with paying off your debt when we want you finding the best possible jobs so those are things we're doing there's a lot more to do and we are certainly working on that as well but thank you very much for your question Franco-Ontarian so the government of Ontario is progressing towards a final decision so our next question is that the federal government is ready to contribute to the provincial effort to finance such a university as well as me and Amélie we would like to ask you if you have the chance to take a selfie with us when you have the chance at the end of the session and I want to see a lot of students with you but in relation to the identity and the pride of the Franco-Ontarians it's something I understand very deeply I am as you know proud of Montreal, proud of Quebec but because technically I was born in Ottawa while my father was prime minister I am Francophone born in Ontario and I am very proud but my children are going to a Francophone public school here in Ottawa so for me this community is extremely important we are always there to the federal government to support the official linguistic minorities across the country it's a very important role for my party but also for the Canadian government to work with the provinces to strengthen and create institutions that will serve the official minority community because it's important for the identity of the culture and the strength of our country so I am very proud to work with my provincial homologues to see what we can do to ensure the strength and the durability of these magnificent official minority linguistic communities thank you very much for your questions so thank you all for being here it was for me a very nice way to highlight our first anniversary as a government but as I said there is a lot of work to be done we have 6 metres and we always have to check with you to hear your questions to be full of partners with you all when the time comes to build a world and a better Canada for all thank you everyone