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In case you didn’t hear him the first time

The text of Michael Ignatieff’s speech to a Liberal rally tonight in Sudbury, including confirmation of a coming motion of non-confidence.

Bonsoir Sudbury!

C’est bon d’être de retour dans le nord de l’Ontario.

Êtes-vous prêt à peindre cette ville en rouge lors des prochaines élections?

Are you ready to paint the North red?

Are you ready to send Carol Hartman to Ottawa?

We’ve got the whole caucus here tonight—talk about a Liberal all-star team.

We’ve had people out like this right across the country all summer.

I’ve been to 8 provinces and the Northwest Territories—all at whirlwind pace. If I’d gone any slower, the press might have found me.

And everywhere I went, I found Liberals energized and set to work hard to put Stephen Harper out of a job.

Earlier today, I met with my caucus and told them what I’ll tell you now:

Après quatre ans de dérapage, de déni, de division et de discorde… le temps de Stephen Harper est terminé.

Le Parti libéral du Canada ne peut plus soutenir ce gouvernement incompétent.

Stephen Harper’s time is up.

At the first opportunity, we will move a motion of non-confidence in this government.

A la première occasion, nous déposerons une motion de non-confiance en vers le gouvernement Harper.

We’re here tonight because our country is in trouble.

1.6 million Canadians out of work.

We’ve lost half a million full-time jobs so far this year.

And more young people than ever before are starting their working lives in the unemployment line.

This is Stephen Harper’s Canada. C’est ça le Canada de Stephen Harper:

The worst unemployment record in two decades

The worst deficit in our history

And last quarter, the worst performing economy in the G7.

Le pire taux de chômage en vingt ans.

Le pire déficit de notre histoire.

Et, au dernier trimestre, la pire performance économique de tout le G7.

Nous pouvons faire mieux.  We can do better.

Stephen Harper didn’t see a recession coming last fall.

Now he’s missing something bigger: what we’re going through is more than a recession—it’s a fundamental restructuring of the global economy.

Stephen Harper doesn’t get that.

He doesn’t get that Canada’s in a race—that we’ve got to position our country to compete in the twenty-first century.

Stephen Harper has been prime minister for four years, and he’s never visited China – the country that’s on track to being the largest economy on the planet.

I’m planning to go to China because of what I heard on the wharf in Clark’s Harbour, Nova Scotia, a few weeks ago. The fisherman there will tell you—if they’re going to make a living, they’ve got to be selling lobster tails to Macao, not just the United States.

And down the road, at Tri-Star Industries in Yarmouth, I met the Health Minister of Kuwait—buying Canadian ambulances for his country.

That’s where we need to be as a country—if we want to secure markets for the next generation of our exports—if we want to compete with the best in the world—if we want to get out of the trade deficit the Conservatives have created, the first in thirty years.

Right here in Sudbury, we know that jobs are connected to trade.  And if we don’t get our trade relationships right, it can be costly.

Yesterday, I met with workers from Vale-Inco.  Workers who have watched their company change hands and now have their careers in question.

Workers who know – first hand – that Stephen Harper hasn’t stood up for them.

He hasn’t stood up for Canadian jobs in Sudbury, Canadian technology in Waterloo, or Canadian exports under threat from Buy America policies across the border.

Stephen Harper hasn’t just failed to stand up for Canada—he’s also failed to stand up for Canadians.

Suaad Mohamud. Omar Khadr. Makhtal. Bahari. Mohamed. Abdelrazik.

Avoir un passeport canadien, ça doit vouloir dire une chose : votre gouvernement va vous protéger où que vous soyez. Vous êtes Canadien, vous êtes donc ce que le Canada a de plus précieux.

Being a Canadian must mean the Canadian government will stand up for you – no matter where, no matter when.

This is at the heart of what every Liberal believes:  a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.

Ne vous y trompez pas, c’est la conviction profonde de tous les libéraux : Un Canadien est un Canadien est un Canadien.

A Liberal government would stand by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

We would stand by our citizens.

And we would enact legislation to protect Canadians abroad—to make it illegal for the government to pick and choose which citizens it protects.

In June, we set out four simple benchmarks for Stephen Harper.

On creating jobs.

On helping the vulnerable.

On defending our health care.

And on delivering a plan to restore fiscal balance to our bottom line.

We wanted straight answers.

Pas de manigances politiques.

But you can’t get a straight answer out of Stephen Harper.

The only thing you get from Stephen Harper is broken promises.

Who can forget his promise not to run a deficit?

Or his promise not to tax income trusts?

Or his promise not to appoint Senators?

In nine months, Stephen Harper has appointed more senators than any prime minister in Canadian History.  He’s got the record!

And what a record –

He’s failed to protect the most vulnerable. Failed to create jobs. Failed to defend our health care. Failed to restore our public finances.

Canadians deserve better.  After months of refusing to work cooperatively with opposition parties, today Mr. Harper is trying to scare Canadians into believing that only his government can offer stability.

That now isn’t the time for Canadians to have a say in the future direction of our economy and our country.

Well Mr. Harper is wrong.

Now is the time to put Canada on the right path to recovery.

Canadians are ready for change—and we’re ready to give Canadians a choice.

Un choix entre deux partis. Entre deux ensembles de valeurs. Deux visions de notre pays.

We can choose a small Canada—a diminished, mean, and petty country. A Canada that lets down its citizens at home and fails them abroad. A Canada that’s absent on the world stage.

That’s Stephen Harper’s Canada.

Or we can choose a big Canada. A Canada that is generous and open. A Canada that inspires. That leads the world by example. That makes us all proud.

That’s our Canada.

A Canada ready to embrace our 150th birthday in 2017.

We can be the smartest, healthiest, greenest, most open-minded country there is—but only if we choose to be.

We can build a Knowledge Society, from pre-school to post-secondary, with quality early learning and childcare for every Canadian child.

We can ensure that every Aboriginal Canadian gets a world-class, not a second-class education.

And we can create 21st century opportunities for all Canadians—not just in big cities, but in rural Canada and every region of the country.

Nous pouvons créer les emplois de demain en investissant plus, pas moins, dans la science et l’innovation.

Nous pouvons investir dans l’environnement et inventer les technologies vertes qui vont changer le monde.

That’s our Canada. A Liberal Canada.

So let’s get started.

Allons-y. Notre pays nous attend.

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