PHILADELPHIA, May 21, 2024
/CNW/ - The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today concluded a
successful visit to Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, as part of Team Canada's work to promote the
Canada-U.S. relationship, advance opportunities to grow
cross-border trade, and deliver fairness for every generation.
In Philadelphia, the Prime
Minister participated in the Service Employees International Union
(SEIU) Quadrennial North American Convention, where he delivered
remarks highlighting the strong partnership between Canada and the U.S. as well as the crucial
work of labour unions – including in the health care sector – to
protect workers' rights, create stability, defend good middle-class
jobs, and build dynamic economies on both sides of the border.
At the Convention, Prime Minister Trudeau joined the
Vice-President of the United States of
America, Kamala Harris, to
meet with union representatives and discuss the important
contributions of organized labour, exemplified by our cross-border
unions.
The two leaders discussed how Canada and the U.S. can further strengthen our
close relationship and work together in areas of mutual interest.
This includes increasing trade and investment, scaling up our
cross-border supply chains, supporting our
manufacturing sectors, and accelerating the transition to
net-zero. This is part of our shared commitment to build a better,
fairer, and more prosperous future for Canadians and Americans
alike.
The Prime Minister also met with the Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh
Shapiro, to discuss the importance of the Canada-Pennsylvania relationship. The leaders
highlighted Canada and
Pennsylvania's rich ties:
Pennsylvania is home to a large
number of Canadians, and in 2023, Canadian-owned companies employed
30,300 workers in the state. Canada also has an extensive footprint in
Pennsylvania, with US$13.6 billion in exports to the state
every year.
Additionally, Prime Minister Trudeau participated in a
roundtable with U.S. business leaders to showcase Canada as an important partner and excellent
investment destination and to discuss opportunities for future
commercial, investment, and trade collaboration.
While in Philadelphia, the
Prime Minister, alongside other world leaders and representatives
from industry, academia, and civil society, took part virtually in
the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Seoul Summit. During the Summit,
Prime Minister Trudeau highlighted Canada's leadership and investments in AI,
including through a $2.4 billion
package of measures announced in Budget 2024. He also joined a
joint Leaders' declaration on AI governance – the Seoul Declaration
for Safe, Innovative and Inclusive AI – that will serve as a
roadmap to advance AI safety around the world, including through an
international network of AI Safety Institutes. As part of the
Budget 2024 measures on AI, the federal government announced an
investment of $50 million to create a
Canadian AI Safety Institute to further the safe development and
deployment of AI, joining the United
Kingdom, the U.S., and Japan that have set up similar institutes.
Leading up to the Summit, Canada
and the United Kingdom also
negotiated a joint ministerial statement on AI safety to deepen
their collaboration in that field.
Quotes
"Canada and
the U.S. have the world's most successful partnership. Team
Canada is working with our
American partners to deepen these ties, grow our economies, keep
our air clean, create good-paying jobs, and build a better, fairer
future. Together, we're putting our people on both sides of the
border at the forefront of opportunity."
— The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau,
Prime Minister of Canada
"Canada continues to play a
leading role on the global governance and responsible use of AI.
From our role championing the creation of the Global Partnership on
AI (GPAI), to pioneering a national AI strategy, to being among the
first to propose a legislative framework to regulate AI, we will
continue engaging with the global community to shape the
international discourse to build trust around this transformational
technology."
— The Hon. François-Philippe
Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
Quick Facts
- While in Philadelphia, the
Prime Minister also met with leaders of the Service Employees
International Union (SEIU).
- The SEIU is a labour union that represents some 2 million
individuals. It includes SEIU-Healthcare, which represents roughly
60,000 health care workers in Ontario.
- Announced by the Prime Minister last January, the government's
renewed Team Canada engagement strategy with the U.S. brings
together experts and leaders in business, labour, and academia,
along with provincial and territorial partners, to deepen
Canada's relationship with our
closest ally. Modelled off of the successful U.S. engagement
strategy Canada led just a few
years ago, this new engagement strategy is helping to advance
opportunities for Canadian workers, businesses, entrepreneurs, and
communities across the country.
- Canada and the U.S. share one
of the largest trading relationships in the world, which supports
millions of good jobs on both sides of the border. The two
countries also share the longest and most secure border in the
world, over which nearly $3.6 billion worth of goods and services
cross daily.
- With over $1.3 trillion in
bilateral trade in goods and services in 2023, Canada was the U.S.' largest trading partner
that year. Canada-U.S. trade is built on long-standing binational
supply chains, whereby approximately 79 per cent of Canadian goods
exported to the U.S. are incorporated into U.S. supply chains.
- More than 2.2 million jobs in Canada depend on exports to the U.S., and more
than 7.8 million jobs in the U.S. are related to trade with
Canada.
- According to U.S. data, majority-owned Canadian companies
operating in the U.S. employ over 866,000 workers.
- In 2023, Pennsylvania imported
US$13.6 billion in merchandise from
Canada and exported US$14.3 billion in merchandise to Canada. The state's economy depends on imports
of Canadian crude oil, wood pulp, lumber, and various metals. In
2023, Canadian-owned companies employed 30,300 workers in the
state.
- Held over two days, the AI Seoul Summit is co-chaired by the
President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, and
the Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom, Rishi
Sunak.
- At the Summit, Canada's
leadership in AI was represented by:
- Yoshua Bengio, Founder and
Scientific Director, Mila; Scientific Director,
IVADO; and Full Professor, Department of Computer Science and
Operations Research, Université de
Montréal.
- Tony Gaffney, President and Chief Executive Officer,
Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.
- Aidan Gomez, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer,
Cohere.
- In Budget 2024, the federal government announced a $2.4 billion package of measures to secure
Canada's AI advantage. These
investments include:
- $2 billion to build and provide
access to computing capabilities and technological infrastructure
for Canada's world-leading AI
researchers, start-ups, and scale-ups.
- $200 million through Canada's Regional Development Agencies to help
AI start-ups bring new technologies to market and accelerate the
adoption of AI in critical sectors, such as agriculture, clean
technology, health care, and manufacturing.
- $100 million for the National Research Council of Canada Industrial
Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) AI Assist Program to
help small and medium-sized businesses scale up and increase
productivity by building and deploying new AI
solutions.
- $50 million for the Sectoral
Workforce Solutions Program to support skills training for
workers potentially impacted by AI, such as those in creative
industries.
- $50 million to create a new
Canadian AI Safety Institute that will leverage input from
stakeholders and work in coordination with international partners
to further the safe development and deployment of AI.
- $5.1 million to strengthen
enforcement of the proposed Artificial Intelligence and
Data Act, which aims to guide AI innovation in a positive
direction, ensure the responsible adoption of AI by Canadian
businesses, and protect Canadians from AI's potential
risks.
- $3.5 million to advance
Canada's leadership role with the
Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence
(GPAI).
- Since 2016, the federal government has committed over
$4.4 billion to foster growth across
Canada's AI ecosystem and digital
infrastructure. More broadly, the government has committed over
$16 billion to support scientific
discovery, develop Canadian research talent, and attract top
researchers from around the world.
Related Products
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
meets with Vice President of the United States of America Kamala Harris
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
meets with Governor of Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
meets with leaders of the Service Employees International
Union
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
participates in Artificial Intelligence Seoul Summit
- Seoul Declaration for Safe, Innovative and Inclusive AI
- Joint ministerial statement between Canada and the UK on advancing artificial
intelligence safety
Associated Links
- Canada and North America
- Canada-United States relations
- Service Employees International Union
- AI Seoul Summit
- Securing Canada's AI
advantage
- Prime Minister to travel to the
United States to strengthen bilateral ties
This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca
SOURCE Prime Minister's Office