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Thank you Bryan for that great introduction. It means so much to me that you are here today all the way from Vancouver Island. You are the next generation of our party, and with the dedication and tenacity of hard working Liberals like yourself, our future is in good hands.

And thank you also to Bob Rae.

Rarely has a political party had such a qualified interim leader. Bob, your humour and your determination have steered our party through a difficult period, and kept us relevant and strong. You are a true Canadian statesman, and we all owe you a debt of gratitude.

I have gained a new appreciation for just how all-consuming this life can be. Last June, I declared my intention to seek the Liberal leadership. It has been an amazing journey. Nine months, and over 20,000 kilometers of driving later, here we are at the end.

I have dodged buffalo while driving the Alaska Highway across northern British Columbia in a snow storm. Survived the treacherous Highway 63 on my way to Fort McMurray. Crossed the Confederation Bridge onto Prince Edward Island in fog and high winds. Visited communities from Whitehorse to Gander. I have consumed more early morning oatmeals and coffees in more Tim Hortons than I care to remember, and I have thrived on the excitement of innumerable rerouting battles with my GPS.

I owe enormous thanks to my all-volunteer team for running an unprecedentedly frugal national campaign. We proved that a campaign about vision, principles and ideas can survive, even in a time when we are told again and again that Canadians just don’t care. Look at this room, and tell me Canadians don’t care!

If my leadership journey has taught me anything, it is that Canadians do care. About our families. Our neighbours. Our communities. Our provinces. Our nation. And about our global village.

Yet just at the moment when we more than ever need to renew our sense of national purpose, collaborate to overcome economic uncertainty and repair our broken social contract, our federal government is letting us drift apart, shirking the mantle of leadership.

From health care, to science, to the environment, to infrastructure, to our relationship with Aboriginal Canadians, our federal government is disengaging to an unprecedented degree that could become irreversible.

We are more and more disconnected in a Canada that is just a fragmented collection of provinces and territories – a nation in name only – and a fading presence in the global community.

This has to change. And I am convinced that Canadians want it to change.

We’re tired of a dysfunctional political process, polarized politics and the winner-take-all mentality of the left and the right.

We are tired of national government that is only about short-term partisan gains and the next election, instead of inspiring us to work together in the national interest, for the long term.

We can and must do much better. We have to get back to the fundamentals of governing for all Canadians – for the people, not the politicians.

We have to get back to building a Canada that matches our highest aspirations for ourselves and our nation.

I entered this race to engage Canadians in a conversation about national politics and to make the argument for One Canada – One Canada for all Canadians.

What does this One Canada look like?

• It’s a Canada where we have the same quality of health care in St. John’s as in Toronto.

• It’s a Canada where our abundant minerals, gas and oil are developed sustainably based on the best science and most advanced environmental standards.

• It’s a Canada where we fully address the infrastructure needs of our towns and cities without leaving impossible debt to future generations.

• It’s a Canada where skilled citizens can go where the jobs are and always take their certifications with them.

• And it’s a Canada where everyone looking for new work gets transitional support and training, because the best social and economic policy is a good job with fair pay.

I am convinced that together, we can build this Canada – One Canada for all Canadians.

We need bold national leadership to focus on strengthening Canada and our responsibilities to one another as citizens of this great country. We need bold national leadership so that we are coherent and respected in all the international forums addressing the growing number of challenges that require global cooperation.

Bold national leadership is not about imposing blueprints or micromanaging matters better left to other levels of government.

It is about articulating a clear vision and principles that bring citizens and governments together in the national interest.

Bold national leadership in our 21^st century world of instant communications means the federal government – the one government elected by and accountable to all Canadians – leads collaboration across all jurisdictions – not just provincial and territorial, but also municipal and Aboriginal.

Canadians know all too well that the critical challenges we face today involve every level of government – we cannot neatly allocate this or that responsibility to this or that jurisdiction.

We need to modernize our federation with new national forums, so that government actually helps Canadians meet the real challenges we all face on a daily basis: finding and keeping a decent job with decent pay, raising children in a safe and clean environment, caring for elderly parents and disabled relatives, and ensuring enough food is on the table.

I have proposed the creation of a new national forum to address these challenges: a Council of Canadian Governments, chaired by the prime minister, to bring all levels of government together to ensure action on selected national priorities each year. These priorities could be health care and environmental standards, a national price on carbon, a national energy grid, lower drug prices, and an Infrastructure Financing Authority.

The Council of Canadian Governments will lead the effort to finally implement a Canadian economic union, removing the barriers to productive economic activity across provincial borders that currently hinder so many business and employment opportunities for Canadians.

In the past, whenever Canadians have accomplished great projects – such as medicare and public pensions – it took national leadership and constructive collaboration across jurisdictions and levels of governments.

When the challenge has demanded it, we have always been able to rise above any disagreements to commit to common national objectives that strengthen Canada, and our place in the world.

We have such enormous potential to be one of the great nations of the 21^st century. Canadians from all corners of the world are building one of history’s most fascinating, diverse and cosmopolitan societies. A society dedicated to equality of opportunity and the pursuit of social and economic justice, grounded in the entrenched Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

With our incredible human and geographic diversity, we have every right to be proud and assertive on the global stage, leading the way to renewing our global institutions and conventions for the 21^st century.

Let there be no doubt: we are building a great nation. We must bring citizens and governments together to create a better Canada, a Canada that deserves the admiration of the world for our innovation and competitive spirit, for the respect we show to our environment and our indigenous peoples, and for our commitment to social justice and our support for the disenfranchised.

Canadians need the Liberal Party to rise to this challenge. We must transform our party, and reclaim our role as the distinctive voice for bold national leadership – the party that inspires all Canadians to work together to build a better country and a better world.

Canadians are looking for the national party that best understands and articulates our deep unease about our deteriorating democracy, and the ties that bind us together. The national party that will best overcome our cynicism and concern and provide us with a convincing roadmap and ideas to move us forward together over the long-term.

We must make the Liberal Party the clear voice for the majority of Canadians who oppose the diminished, insignificant Canada of Mr. Harper.

During this campaign, I have heard from many Canadians of their desire for a more civil dialogue and more constructive teamwork in national politics, especially in Parliament.

I share this desire, and I have made a range of proposals to reduce the bloated power of the Prime Minister’s Office, return power to Parliament, and empower individual members of parliament with the freedom to work together in service of the Canadian people.

I stand ready and willing to work with anyone who shares our vision for Canada, whether it is in Parliament, or in our communities, because it is going to take all of us working together to address the challenges our nation is facing. Canadians are sending us a clear message – that we need straight talk, clear goals, and reasonable, principled compromise.

Cooperation on important matters – such as a national climate change policy that includes a national carbon price to meaningfully shift consumption away from fossil fuels – must not be confused with another kind of cooperation – the so-called cooperation of non-compete clauses, joint nominations or other tactical political schemes designed to bend the will of the electorate at election time.

Cooperation must be based on principle – not short-term considerations of power above all else.

As long as Liberals look for shortcuts, we are doomed to wander in the wilderness.

Our support has not eroded in successive elections because the progressive vote is divided. We are the third-place party today because, as we looked for the easy answer, Canadians lost sense of what we, as Liberals, stood for, and of what we bring to the table that is distinct from any other party.

No one should doubt that I want to defeat Stephen Harper. The direction he is taking our nation is fundamentally wrong. But it is not enough simply to oppose Stephen Harper.

We have to remember that most Canadians are neither strongly partisan, nor ideological. Many do not agree with Mr. Harper’s policies and top-down governance, but they are looking for another choice, for an alternate vision.

Liberals must offer Canadians this clear choice and fresh vision.

Canadians do not want to vote against something. We want to vote for something.

The Liberal Party must be the party of One Canada – of bold national leadership. The party of unapologetic federalism – that puts Canada first.

We are the party that rejects the polarization of the left and the right. That offers pragmatic solutions to the challenges our nation is facing. That does not back away from inconvenient questions and difficult choices.

I am convinced that the way to defeat the Conservatives and elect a truly progressive government is to rebuild the Liberal Party of Canada as the distinctive, clear and principled voice of One Canada.

I recognize this is not the easy road. But it is the right one. We cannot afford any more shortcuts.

I have been encouraged by the support for this vision that I have received from Canadians across this great country. One Canada resonates with Canadians. There should be no doubt about our resilience as a nation.

This leadership campaign has been the first step in making the Liberal Party stronger and more inclusive. It has made our party more accessible and more open than ever before, as we reach out for the support of both individual Canadians and communities of like-minded people across the country.

We have an impressive field of candidates. We have shared five national debate stages, and our paths have crossed many times as we have travelled the country. My fellow candidates, you make me confident in the future of the Liberal Party.

Whatever the outcome of the vote, we are all Liberals. Soon, we will all come together with a new leader to build a better Liberal Party, and a better Canada, and I look forward to being part of that Liberal team.

I look forward to serving Canadians and seeking a nomination to run in the next election. Several new ridings are being created in the Toronto area, and I think you will agree with me that we should have strong women candidates contest these ridings.

 

And I will continue to be a voice in our party for the principles and vision I have stood for in this campaign.

• To the Canadians who believe in bold national leadership, you have a champion in me.

• To the Canadians who believe that ideas and principles should trump pandering and parochialism, I will be your voice.

• And to the Canadians who believe both parliament and the Liberal Party must be more open, more inclusive, and more democratic, I will continue to fight by your side.

It is time to come together. The road to 2015 begins now.

We are privileged to live in freedom in one of the greatest countries in the world. But with that privilege comes great responsibility. A responsibility we must all share.

We must look over the horizon, make reasonable compromises, and build a Canada much bigger than the sum of its parts.

A Canada where everyone has equal access to opportunities and is included in our shared prosperity, and where everyone shares in the hard work to make this a reality.

We must demand more from our politicians and from ourselves. We must demand better.

Canada is a land of vast opportunity with a vibrant, globally connected population and extraordinary and expanding human energy and potential.

It is time to fully embrace what we can do as a nation and as a people, to unleash this tremendous energy – the ideas, the talents, and the drive.

Because together, we can build One Canada – a powerhouse of prosperity, sustainable living and social justice.

One Canada for all Canadians.

Thank you.