Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance at a press conference following the meeting of federal, provincial, and territorial Finance Ministers

Toronto, Ontario - December 15, 2023

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Good afternoon.

Before I begin, I am delighted to share some good news from Ottawa, where the Affordable Housing and Groceries Act has just received Royal Assent.

This is an important step forward in our government’s economic plan—it will help build more homes, faster, and introduce greater competition in the grocery sector.

Today, I hosted a federal-provincial-territorial Finance Ministers’ meeting.

We had some productive conversations about how we can continue to work together to build an economy that works for everyone.

The work we are doing together is built upon the strength of the Canadian economy today—as well as the progress we have made together to support Canadians over these past few years.

Inflation is down, wage growth has now outpaced inflation for 10 months in a row, and private sector economists now expect Canada to avoid the post-pandemic recession that many had predicted.

But we all know that many Canadians are still struggling to make ends meet, to juggle all of their bills at the end of the month, and to feel confident about their future.

That’s why we know we have work to do to unlock a brighter future for everyone in this amazing country.

In the first half of this year, Canada received the third-most foreign direct investment of any country in the whole world—and more investment per capita than any of our G7 allies.

Most importantly, compared to before the pandemic, over a million more Canadians are employed today.

Child care fees are down by at least 50 per cent across the country, and because of our Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and child care, seven provinces and territories have reduced fees to just $10-a-day.

We are strengthening Canada’s universal public health care system through the historic $198 billion investment our government made earlier this year, and we are negotiating bilateral agreements which will help provide Canadians with the high quality care they deserve.

And as I said at the beginning of our meeting this morning,  in 2024-25, our government will deliver a record $99.4 billion in major federal transfers to provinces and territories.

This is an increase of $4.8 billion from last year. Over half of this money—$52.1 billion—will be delivered through the Canada Health Transfer.

Today’s meeting was about building on this progress—and finding new ways for us all to work together.

We had a very full agenda.

We heard from the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem, and discussed the economic outlook, including inflation and interest rates, for Canada and the world.

Inflation is down, but we all know that interest rates are a real challenge for millions of Canadians, so it was important for us to speak about the economic outlook today.

We also discussed housing, which is the central priority for so many Canadians.

Our government has made significant progress on housing this fall, including with the measure that received Royal Assent today—I am very happy about that.

We have unlocked billions of dollars in new financing to build over 100,000 new homes.

We are helping 300,000 Canadians—and counting—save up for their first down payment through the new tax-free First Home Savings Account. And with the new Canadian Mortgage Charter, we are protecting Canadians who are struggling to renew their mortgages.

Our government is leading this national effort, but we know that making housing more affordable requires all orders of government working together.

That is why we spoke about the importance of provinces and territories doing everything they can to help build more homes, faster, as well as supporting our work to crack down on short-term rentals, which are keeping too many homes off the market.

We discussed how provinces and territories can help to break down barriers to labour mobility across Canada, as well as improving foreign credential recognition—both of which would help address labour shortages in housing construction and health care.

And, of course, we spoke about the Canada Pension Plan.

Protecting the pensions of every single Canadian is a priority for our government—and we will always stand up for the Canada Pension Plan and for the secure and dignified retirement it provides for all Canadians.

These were just some of the many topics that we spoke about as Finance Ministers today.

I do want to say that it was a very collaborative and productive meeting.

In a country as big and diverse as ours, we are never going to agree about every single thing.

But we do all want to build a better country for all Canadians—and that was very much the spirit of our conversations today. Looking for areas that we do agree, and where we can work together.

I was very glad to host my colleagues here in Toronto today—in my own riding of University–Rosedale—and I’m looking forward to continuing to work together in the days to come.

Thank you very much.