Prime Minister announces six highway projects in New Brunswick

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Thank you for that warm welcome, and thank you Minister Thompson, Greg, for that kind introduction.

Premier Graham,

Minister Landry,

Members of the Legislative Assembly,

Fellow Members of Parliament, mayors and municipal councillors,

Members of the Road Builders' Association of New Brunswick.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for joining us today for this important announcement.

Last Friday Budget 2007 was finally passed by the Senate and given Royal assent. It was a historic moment for a couple of reasons.

In the first place, it has been 40 years since a minority federal government passed two consecutive budgets.

Second, and probably more importantly, it allows Canada's New Government to get on with renewing and strengthening our national economic infrastructure. In our first two federal budgets, we earmarked a total of $33 billion for investment in infrastructure over the next seven years. It is the largest infrastructure development program our country has seen in over half a century.

This investment in our infrastructure represents a national renewal of the foundations of Canada’s economy.

We're investing in our future by upgrading our national highway system, unblocking our border crossings and improving our gateway facilities on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Our goal is to ensure that every part of the country has the chance to benefit from the enormous economic opportunities that lie before Canada. Our main partners in this great enterprise are the provincial governments.

The provincial governments know the unique strengths of their respective economies, and they know what must be done to take advantage of these natural strengths and to optimize their competitive advantages.

Our new national government is committed to open federalism. That means we respect provincial jurisdiction and acknowledge that provincial governments have primary responsibility for hospitals, schools, roads and many other important priorities. Our job is to make sure we coordinate our resources with them to get things done for all Canadians.

That's what brings us here today. I am pleased to announce that the Governments of Canada and New Brunswick have finalized our agreement to upgrade highways across the province and that preliminary work on three of the projects will start this summer.

This agreement builds on the preliminary arrangements we struck last year by expanding the range of projects to be funded. All this means that Route 8, the key provincial artery linking Fredericton to Miramichi, will now see major improvements. This includes construction of the long-overdue 36-kilometre Nashwaak-Marysville bypass to be completed over the next eight years. I want, if you don't mind, to recognize the work of Member of Parliament Mike Allen, for Tobique-Mactaquac, who has been a tireless advocate for this important project.

This summer we will begin work on the eight-kilometre expansion of the Route 11 bypass from Tracadie-Sheila to the Six Roads area. During phase two of the agreement, we will share the costs of a bypass on Route 11 at Caraquet and improvements to Route 17 near Black Brook.

The remainder of the funding will support much needed improvements to Route 1 and Route 7. On Route 1 we will build the One Mile House interchange near St. John, complete the 24-kilometre bypass in Southwestern New Brunswick, and create a four-lane divided highway from Penfield to Lepreau.

This agreement will also see construction of a new ten-kilometre bypass on route 7 at Welsford.

Together, these improvements to New Brunswick's transportation infrastructure will smooth traffic flow, increase the efficient movement of goods and people and stimulate jobs and opportunities in the road construction sector.

This large-scale enterprise represents only a part of the national infrastructure renewal, and we owe today’s announcement to the cooperation that exists between our new national government and the Government of New Brunswick. We want to work together on the true priorities that count for the citizens of this province.

And I want to thank Premier Graham and his government for the role they played in making this announcement a reality. Indeed, today's announcement is a testament to what can be achieved when Ottawa and the provinces embrace a true spirit of the federalism of openness and work together to make Canada stronger, safer and better.

So thank you, and I look forward to your questions.