For the Record

Justin Trudeau, for the record: ‘We beat fear with hope’

Read a transcript of Justin Trudeau’s victory speech after leading the Liberals to a majority

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau waves to the crowd after his speech at Liberal election headquarters in Montreal, Que. on Monday, October 20, 2015. (Sean Kilpatrick/CP)

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau waves to the crowd after his speech at Liberal election headquarters in Montreal, Que. on Monday, October 20, 2015. (Sean Kilpatrick/CP)

After leading his Liberals to a majority government, Justin Trudeau gave the following speech in Montreal. French is in italics.


Merci. Merci. Thank you. Thank you, my friends. Merci. Merci, mes amis. Thank you. Thank you, my friends. Yes.

Il y a – il y a plus de 100 ans, un grand Premier ministre, Wilfrid Laurier, a parlé des voies ensoleillées. Il savait que la politique peut être une force positive, et c’est le message que les Canadiens ont envoyé aujourd’hui. Les Canadiens ont choisi le changement, un vrai changement.

Sunny ways, my friends, sunny ways. This is what positive politics can do. This is what a causative, hopeful – a hopeful vision and a platform and a team together can make happen. Canadians – Canadians from all across this great country sent a clear message tonight. It’s time for a change in this country, my friends, a real change.

Il y a tellement de gens à remercier ce soir et je vais passer beaucoup de temps dans les jours à venir à les remercier, mais je veux commencer par ma famille. J’aimerais, d’abord, remercier ma famille — Sophie, Xavier, Ella-Grace et Hadrien. Merci de m’avoir permis de servir. Merci, Sophie, pour ta force, pour ta compassion, pour ta grandeur d’âme et pour ta générosité profonde. Et à Xavier, Ella-Grace et Hadrien qui font dodo maintenant mais qui seront avec nous demain matin, mes enfants, on embarque dans une nouvelle aventure ensemble et je peux vous dire maintenant qu’il va avoir des moments difficiles pour vous en tant qu’enfants de Premier ministre, mais papa sera là pour vous, comme vous savez bien.

Je veux aussi remercier les gens qui me font confiance depuis 2008 — les gens de Papineau. Merci encore une fois de votre appui. Merci de votre confiance. Je serais, d’abord et avant tout, fier de vous représenter à la Chambre des communes. Vous, mes chers concitoyens de Papineau, vous m’aviez parlé des enjeux qui sont importants pour vous. Je vous ai entendus et cela m’a aidé à devenir un meilleur député, à devenir un meilleur chef, et cela va m’aider à devenir un meilleur Premier ministre. Merci.

I also want to specifically thank my good friends Katie Telford and Gerald Butts. Katie and Gerry are two of the smartest, toughest, hardest working people you will find anywhere. They share with me the conviction that politics doesn’t have to be negative and personal to be successful, that – that you can appeal to the better angels of our nature, and you can win while doing it.

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Tonight, my very good friends, we proved that. I hope it is an inspiration to like-minded people to step up and pitch in, to get involved in the public life of this country and to know that a positive, optimistic, hopeful vision of public life isn’t a naive dream; it can be a powerful force for change.

And I also want to thank the incredible volunteers that made tonight happen. Over 80,000 Canadians got involved in the core of this campaign. They knocked on their neighbours’ doors. They made phone calls. They sent emails. Hundreds of thousands more supported us actively with their friends and online. They convinced their neighbours and their families. And all of these people had one thing in common: they care deeply about their families, their communities and their country. They believe that better is possible and that active citizens can play a real part in making it happen.

Now this movement we’ve built was fuelled by these amazing volunteers, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

Related transcripts:
Stephen Harper: ‘It has been an unbelievable honour’
Tom Mulcair: ‘The next chapter begins’
Elizabeth May: ‘I have a smile on my face’
Gilles Duceppe: ‘Le Québec que j’aime, c’est vous.’

Now I want to take a moment to speak about my colleagues across the aisle. Tonight, I received phone calls from all of them, including from Mr. Harper. Stephen Harper has served this country for a decade, and as with anyone who has devoted their life to this country, we thank him for his service.

Now over the course of this campaign, I had the opportunity to have a couple of brief personal conversations with him about our families. It reminded me of the extraordinary and unique sacrifices that are made by anybody who serves this country at the highest levels, and I want to remind everyone, as I’ve said many times over the course of this campaign: Conservatives are not our enemies, they’re our neighbours. Leadership is about bringing people of all different perspectives together.

Je veux aussi rendre hommage à Thomas Mulcair qui a mené une campagne vigoureuse. Il s’est battu jusqu’à la fin. Aux militants de son parti, je comprends votre déception ce soir. Notre parti a vécu des moments difficiles il y a pas si longtemps. Alors ne vous découragez pas. Notre pays a besoin de citoyens engagés comme vous. Notre pays en sera plus fort. Merci.

Related: Orange crash: How the NDP fell back to third

Now you’re all going to hear a lot tonight and tomorrow about me and about our campaign. Lots of people are going to have lots of opinions about why we were successful. Well, for three years, we had a very old-fashioned strategy. We met with and talked with as many Canadians as we could, and we listened. We won this election because we listened. We did the hard work of slogging it across the country. We met with hundreds of people in the dead of winter in the Arctic and with thousands of people in Brampton in the middle of this campaign.

You built this platform. You built this movement. You told us what you need to be successful. You told us what kind of government you want, and we built the plan to make it happen. In coffee shops and in town halls, in church basements and in gurdwaras you gathered. You spent time together with us, and you told us about the kind of country you want to build and leave to your children.

Vous nous avez fait part de vos défis dans votre vie de tous les jours. Vous nous avez dit que ça devenait de plus en plus difficile de joindre les deux bouts et de payer les factures à la fin du mois. Vous nous avez dit que vous étiez inquiets pour votre retraite. Vous nous avez dit que vos communautés avaient besoin d’investissement. Vous nous avez dit que les bons emplois se faisaient de plus en plus rares. Vous êtes l’inspiration derrière notre programme. Vous êtes la raison pour laquelle nous avons travaillé si fort pour nous rendre là où nous sommes ce soir. Et vous serez toujours au coeur du gouvernement que nous allons former.

Over the past three years, you told us what you’re going through. You told us that it’s getting harder and harder to make ends meet, let alone to get ahead. You told us you’re worried about whether you’ll be able to afford a dignified retirement. You told us that your communities need investment. You told us you need a fair shot at better jobs. You are the inspiration for our efforts. You are the reason why we worked so hard to be here tonight, and you will be at the heart of this new government.

So my message to you tonight, my fellow citizens, is simple: have faith in yourselves and in your country. Know that we can make anything happen if we set our minds to it and work hard.

Ce n’est pas moi qui a fait l’histoire ce soir, c’est vous. Ne laissez pas les gens vous dire le contraire. Je sais que je suis ici ce soir pour une seule raison : parce que vous m’avez choisi.

Related: How the Liberals won Ontario

I didn’t make history tonight; you did. And don’t let anyone tell you any differently. I know that I am on stage tonight for one reason and one reason only: because you put me here. And you gave me clear marching orders. You want a government that works as hard as you do, one that is focussed every minute of every day on growing the economy, creating jobs and strengthening the middle class, one that is devoted to helping less fortunate Canadian families work their way into the middle class.

You want a Prime Minister who knows Canada is a country strong, not in spite of our differences, but because of them, a PM who never seeks to divide Canadians, but takes every single opportunity to bring us together. You want a Prime Minister who knows that if Canadians are to trust their government, their government needs to trust Canadians, a PM who understands that openness and transparency means better, smarter decisions. You want a Prime Minister that knows that a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples that respects rights and honours treaties must be the basis for how we work to close the gap and walk forward together.

À mes compatriotes québécois, ce soir, ensemble, nous avons choisi la voie de l’engagement. Nous avons choisi de se réengager dans une politique plus rassembleuse, plus positive. Nous avons choisi de se réengager dans la gouverne d’un pays pour qui reflète nos valeurs et nos ambitions. Nous avons choisi de faire confiance et d’investir ensemble dans notre avenir.

Au cours des trois dernières années, j’ai passé beaucoup de temps à aller à votre rencontre et à vous écouter. Vous m’aviez dit que vous vouliez un gouvernement ouvert et transparent, un gouvernement qui fait confiance en ses citoyens, un gouvernement au service de tous les Canadiens et les Canadiennes. Ce soir, c’est l’engagement que je prends devant vous : je serai le Premier ministre de tous les Canadiens. Nous formerons un gouvernement intègre qui respectera les institutions et qui fera de la collaboration avec les provinces le principe premier de ses actions.

Chers amis québécois, merci. Ce soir, le Canada retrouve un peu de lui-même. Ce soir, le Québec fait un véritable retour au gouvernement du Canada.

Canadians – Canadians have spoken. You want a government with a vision and an agenda for this country that is positive and ambitious and hopeful. Well, my friends, I promise you tonight that I will lead that government. I will make that vision a reality. I will be that Prime Minister.

In this election, 1,792 Canadians stepped up, put their names on ballots and on lawn signs and ran for office. Three hundred and thirty-eight of them were chosen by you to be their voices in Ottawa, and I pledge tonight that I will listen to all of them.

There are a thousand stories I could share with you about this remarkable campaign, but I want you to think about one in particular. Last week, I met a young mom in St. Catharines, Ontario. She practises the Muslim faith and was wearing a hijab. She made her way through the crowd and handed me her infant daughter, and as she leaned forward, she said something that I will never forget. She said she’s voting for us because she wants to make sure that her little girl has the right to make her own choices in life and that our government will protect those rights.

To her I say this: you and your fellow citizens have chosen a new government, a government that believes deeply in the diversity of our country. We know in our bones that Canada was built by people from all corners of the world who worship every faith, who belong to every culture, who speak every language.

We believe in our hearts that this country’s unique diversity is a blessing bestowed upon us by previous generations of Canadians, Canadians who stared down prejudice and fought discrimination in all its forms. We know that our enviable, inclusive society didn’t happen by accident and won’t continue without effort. I have always known this; Canadians know it too. If not, I might have spoken earlier this evening and given a very different speech.

Have faith in your fellow citizens, my friends. They are kind and generous. They are open-minded and optimistic. And they know in their heart of hearts that a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.

Mes amis, nous avons battu la peur avec l’espoir. Nous avons battu le cynisme avec le travail acharné. Nous avons battu la politique négative avec une vision rassembleuse et positive.

My friends, we beat fear with hope. We beat cynicism with hard work. We beat negative, divisive politics with a positive vision that brings Canadians together. Most of all, we defeated the idea that Canadians should be satisfied with less, that good enough is good enough and that better just isn’t possible. Well, my friends, this is Canada, and in Canada better is always possible.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Merci. Merci. Merci.

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