Good morning.
I’m very pleased to be here this morning.
This is a very exciting time for our province.
A time of unfolding potential and boundless opportunity.

This morning I want to talk to you about realizing that potential—my government’s vision for The New Nova Scotia.

Many of you have heard me talk about The New Nova Scotia, a path to 2020.
It’s a place where people stay to raise a family and develop a career -- to build a good life.
A place with a vibrant economy and a bright, prosperous future.
In order to create The New Nova Scotia, my government is concentrating on five key priorities:

• better roads and infrastructure
• safer, healthy communities
• educating to compete
• protecting the environment and
• shorter wait times.

This morning, I want to focus on Better Roads and Infrastructure.

Developing Nova Scotia as the Atlantic Gateway is a crucial component of this priority.

The Gateway means taking advantage of our ports, highway system, airport, and rail lines in order to receive goods, mainly in containers, from around the world.

Research has shown that changing trade patterns and global supply trends will work to our advantage.

Our geographic position and our deep, ice-free ports – position us well to handle the world’s growing container traffic.

And although we have many ports in our province, the Port of Halifax, the Strait of Canso Superport, Sydney and Yarmouth are our main gateways for people, goods and containers from around the world. Being the gateway will mean enormous benefits for the entire province.

When the four Atlantic Provinces signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government last fall, we agreed to take two years to define projects for Gateway. But we also agreed that Gateway projects that were ready for announcement would not have to wait.

Our list of Gateway projects comes from the private sector. They have told us what they need. A great many studies and reports have been submitted by gateway interests in Halifax, the Strait of Canso, and Sydney. We’ve also had input from the Greater Halifax Business Partnership, by the Halifax and Nova Scotia chambers of commerce, and others.

We've listened to the experts carefully, and today I am delighted to tell you about our initial list of projects that will lay the foundation for Nova Scotia’s future as Canada’s Gateway on the Atlantic.

Several of these projects have the common theme of making the Port of Halifax more efficient. There is no doubt that the Port of Halifax is the premier container destination on Canada's east coast. But if it isn't functioning to its potential, the Port can't be the engine of the Atlantic Gateway that we know it can be.

The first problem met by shippers to Ocean Terminal is that it can take an hour or more for trucks to get their containers from the Terminal to the Trans Canada Highway system.

Our plan is to convert what is called “the rail cut,” which runs from Ocean Terminal to Fairview, into a Multi-Transportation Corridor.

In other words, our plan creates one or two paved lanes beside the railway tracks.

This level route with no stops will make the truck trip from the Port to the highway system faster and less stressful for truckers who now have to navigate the narrow, hilly, streets, often in rush hour, that make up most of the Halifax peninsula.

The new Multi-Trans Corridor will enable containers to get to their destinations faster – by road and rail, saving money and time. This is the essence of Gateway.

But all motorists – not just truckers – will enjoy the benefits of the Multi-Trans Corridor.
Traffic congestion, as well as wear and tear on city streets, will be reduced.
There will be less noise, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions downtown because fewer trucks will be idling at stop lights.
The risk of a dangerous goods spill downtown will be reduced.
In short, the Multi-Trans Corridor will create a better, safer downtown environment.

But that's not all. The Multi-Trans Corridor will also be available to Commuter Link buses and emergency vehicles.

Shortening commuter travel time to the downtown from Sackville, Bedford, Clayton Park and Timberlea will be an outstanding benefit. It will encourage more people to leave their cars at home - saving more wear on our streets and further limiting greenhouse gasses. This is part of our plan to make our Gateway a green Gateway.

And the new Corridor will allow medical, police and fire officials to reach their destinations more quickly - saving lives and property.

But what happens to those containers when they leave the Port of Halifax by rail or road along the Corridor?

The containers that don't go to final destinations immediately will go by rail or truck to the new Gateway Logistics Park, adjacent to the Burnside Industrial Park.

That's where containers will be broken into smaller shipments, or combined with others to create larger shipments, and sent by rail or truck to final customers.

Large warehouses will enable shippers to offer their customers just-in-time delivery thousands of miles away.

It will be a place for empty containers to be stored.

A new Logistics Centre of Excellence at the Park will enable manpower training, skills development, and research into transportation and logistics - all led by our community colleges and universities.

In order to connect the MultiTrans Corridor to the Gateway Logistics Park, and to our transportation system, we will build the long-awaited Burnside Connector.

This four-lane road will connect highways 102 and 107, as well as the Gateway Logistics Park, and will vastly improve the flow of traffic around Bedford Basin for trucks and cars alike.

To improve the efficiency of goods entering at the Strait, or at Sydney, we want to twin Highway 104 from Antigonish to Port Hawkesbury as a Gateway project. Also on our Gateway list is the dredging of Sydney harbour.

Twinning 104 is vital to our growth. It is vital to the goods and people entering at Sydney and the Strait.

Of course not everything coming to or leaving Nova Scotia will be on trucks, trains or ships. Another important part of our plan includes the Stanfield International Airport. Our gateway vision includes a refrigerated terminal, to help with the storage and movement of perishable goods.

The final Gateway project is an aggressive multi-year international marketing plan that will inform global shippers about the improvements we are making.

This includes putting people on the ground in US and Asian markets. In today's world, there's not much that's more important than a good marketing plan.

In fact, I believe that one of my jobs as Premier is to market Nova Scotia. To tell the world about our great province. This is why I'm in New York and elsewhere doing events and appearing on US media every chance I get.

We are one of the world's best kept secrets - letting people in on our secret is the key to our future.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m very excited about our Gateway plan and the benefits it will bring to Nova Scotians.

I’m anxious to see funding announcements made and work getting started.

We will partner with different levels of government and the private sector on these projects. Private partners will include the Port of Halifax and CN Rail as well as others. Partners will include federal, provincial and municipal governments.

Some projects will be built using traditional financing methods while others will be candidates for Strategic Infrastructure Partnerships.

We are talking about projects that have a total cost of something in excess of three hundred million dollars. We will build in a way that gives Nova Scotians the best value for their money.

And the best shot at a successful, prosperous New Nova Scotia.

Thank you.