Bonjour tout le monde. Hello everyone.
I want to start by congratulating all of the new, non-permanent members of the UN Security Council. And although Canada isn’t one of them, I want to take a moment to talk about our work on the file.
As Canadians know, we embarked on this journey four years ago now.
We decided to throw our hat in the ring because we saw unique opportunity to engage with our partners across the UN, build sustainable peace, and make real progress on issues that matter.
And that’s what we’ve gotten to do during this campaign.
We forged new partnerships, we strengthened existing friendships, and we laid a solid foundation for even greater collaboration in the future.
And that’s never been more critical.
Now more than ever, global cooperation is crucial not only to defeat this virus, but to address the great challenges of our time – challenges that transcend borders.
Growing our economies, mitigating the impacts of climate change, building a lasting peace, advancing gender equality, protecting our citizens – we have to engage with partners to achieve these goals.
Getting this seat was never an end in itself, but rather a means to an end. A means to ensure that our voice is heard and that our values are upheld on the world stage.
The bid was one way to achieve this, but it’s far from the only way.
Moving forward, Canadians can count on us to keep working with our partners to make progress on issues that matter to them.
Across the country, we’re starting to reopen parts of the economy and that’s welcome news for everyone.
But as we start loosening some restrictions, we also have to strengthen other measures so that we don’t lose the progress we’ve made.
As some people start heading back to work, testing and contact tracing is critical.
That’s why we’ve been working with the provinces and territories to ensure that they have everything they need to keep people safe and healthy.
And today, we’re taking an important step forward toward containing the virus and safely restarting the economy.
Led by the Canadian Digital Service, and with the help of Shopify, Blackberry, and the Government of Ontario, we’ve been working on a nation-wide mobile app that will notify users if they’ve been exposed to COVID-19.
We will soon begin testing this app in Ontario. There are already a number of provinces, including B.C, who are working with us on this, but it will be available to everyone in the coming weeks.
Premier Ford will have more to say on how the app will work in Ontario later today, but I want to thank him and his government for their leadership and partnership.
Now, I want to stress that this will be completely voluntary.
It will be up to individual Canadians to decide whether to download the app or not.
But the app will be most effective when as many people as possible have it.
Here’s how it’s going to work.
If you test positive for COVID-19, a healthcare professional will help you upload your status anonymously to a national network.
Other users who have the app and have been in proximity to you will then be alerted that they’ve been exposed to someone who has tested positive.
The notification will encourage them to reach out to their local public health authorities.
At no time will personal information be collected or shared, and no location services will be used.
The privacy of Canadians will be fully respected.
Since the beginning of the crisis, our government has been closely monitoring the spread of the virus, its impacts on our economy, and making the right adjustments along the way.
We’re going to keep listening to Canadians and look for other ways to support them as the situation evolves.
I’m now happy to take your questions.