Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on making life more affordable in Manitoba

July 10, 2023

Thank you very much.

I first want to acknowledge that we are gathered on Treaty One territory, in the heartland of the Métis.

I am delighted to be back in Winnipeg at Building Blocks on Balmoral. This is truly a beautiful, beautiful place that is providing such wonderful care and such wonderful learning for some young Winnipeggers.

I really want to thank the hard-working and devoted early child care educators who work here. I had a chance to speak to quite a few of them.

One of them told me that she has been working in early learning and child care for more than 20 years—and she said she does it because she loves it, and because she knows how important it is and it’s really a foundation in the lives of the young people that she works with.

I am a mother myself. I have three kids and that’s exactly the kind of person that we all want in the lives of our children. So I really want to pay tribute, especially to the child care educators who work here—incredibly hard-working, incredibly dedicated, and incredibly thoughtful about the care and the learning that happens here.

When we first announced our plan to build a Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and child care in our 2021 budget, a lot of people welcomed that plan. People said it was a great idea.

But it was also met with a lot of skepticism.

And that skepticism was understandable because for five decades—for more than five decades—Canadian politicians had been promising—but never delivering—on a national system of early learning and child care.

And so today, I am so happy to be here, with the amazing team at Building Blocks on Balmoral, to say that we are delivering.

As of this past April, child care fees in Manitoba have already been reduced to an average of just $10-a-day, saving families here in Winnipeg and right across this amazing province up to $2,600 this year—per child.

Affordable child care is also helping more women choose both a great career and a family.

In June, Canada had a near-record high labour force participation rate of 85.4 per cent for women in their prime working years.

That is a feminist economic policy in action, and it’s making a huge difference in the lives of families here in Winnipeg—and a huge difference to our economy.

It’s something I’m really looking forward to speaking about later today with some of the incredible women at the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology—women who are preparing for great careers in the skilled trades, where they will build Canada every single day—and where they can be confident that if they have children or if they choose to have children in the future, they will be able to afford high quality early learning and child care for their kids. So important for every single parent.

This is not just social policy. This is also economic policy—absolutely essential economic policy, too.

And as the Prime Minister announced earlier this month, our government is also providing an additional $625 million to support provinces and territories to invest in child care infrastructure in underserved communities—including in rural and remote communities and high-cost or low-income neighbourhoods throughout Manitoba.

This includes funding the efforts of provinces and territories to create spaces in communities that just do not have enough of them.

$10-a-day child care is lifechanging for so many families and for so many children, and this new Infrastructure Fund will help ensure that more families here in Manitoba have access to the high quality and affordable child care they need—and that more women are able to have a family and a great career here in Manitoba.

For those who might have missed it last week, I also want to highlight some more good news for people in Manitoba.

Last Wednesday, I announced that the new Grocery Rebate had started to arrive in the bank accounts and mailboxes of 11 million Canadians and Canadian families.

For an eligible couple with two children here in Winnipeg, the Grocery Rebate is providing up to an extra $467.

For an average eligible senior in Portage la Prairie, it means an extra $225.

And for an eligible single person without children, in Brandon, the Grocery Rebate is providing up to an extra $234.

I know that this support is not going to make up for all of the impact that inflation has had on people here in Manitoba and across the country.

But for those who really need it—for the most vulnerable people in Winnipeg and across Manitoba—the Grocery Rebate is providing some much-needed breathing space.

And I want to offer a few final thoughts for people here in Manitoba.

Canada had the strongest economic growth in the G7 over the course of 2022, and our real GDP expanded by 3.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2023.

950,000 more Canadians are working today than when COVID first hit, and we have now recovered 130 per cent of the jobs that were lost to COVID—compared to just 117 per cent in the United States.

This remarkable economic recovery is good for working people here in Manitoba—and it is good news for families right across Canada.

Inflation in Canada fell to 3.4 per cent in May—down from 4.4 per cent in April, and down from a high of 8.1 per cent last June.

Inflation in Canada is lower than in the United States at 4 per cent, lower than France at 5.1 per cent, lower than Germany at 6.1 per cent, lower than Italy at 7.6 per cent, and lower than the United Kingdom at 8.7 per cent.

And while we are not there yet, at 3.4 per cent, we are close to the Bank of Canada’s inflation target range.

Our economic plan is fiscally responsible—and it is working.

We are getting closer to the end of what has been a really difficult past couple of years.

Inflation in Canada is the lowest it has been in nearly two years.

And we are building an economy that is creating great careers for people here in Winnipeg and right across this amazing province.

We have the incredible good fortune to live in the greatest country in the world—and I have never been more optimistic about what the future will hold for Canada and Canadians than I am today.

And part of that optimism comes from the great young Winnipeggers I had a chance to spend some time with just now.

Thank you very much.