Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto

Toronto, Ontario — March 7, 2024

I am delighted to be here today with the Prime Minister, with Minister Ien, and with Heather (McPherson, President & CEO, Women’s College Hospital) and the amazing team here at Women’s College Hospital.

The work you do here is so important, and I just want to start by recognizing that and thanking all the health care professionals across Canada, and a personal thank you to all the amazing people here at Women’s College Hospital.

This is really a special, personal place for me, because I gave birth to my first child at Women’s College Hospital. And like so many women in Toronto, that means whenever I come here, I think of that moment when I became a mother here with the help of all of you.

And so, I want to really recognize the role that Women’s College Hospital plays, and that all our health care workers play.

They are at the centre of so many of the stories that are the most precious in the lives of Canadians.

And of course, the work you do here is quite literally lifesaving.  

Women’s College Hospital is where the simplified Pap test was developed, leading to more women getting screened for early signs of cervical cancer.

It was the first hospital in Ontario to use mammography to detect breast cancer—literally saving lives every single day here.

And Ontario’s first Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Care Centre was opened here.

So you are true trailblazers when it comes to women’s health in Canada, and thank you very much to all of you! You are champions of women’s freedom of choice over their bodies and their lives, which is so essential. Our government recognizes that and is there to support you in your work, and to support all women in Canada.

As a proudly feminist government, we take freedom of choice very seriously.

That’s why we launched our Canada-wide system of early learning and child care in 2021. Because affordable child care also means that women in Canada don’t have to choose between having a career and having a family.

And today, less than three years after we got started, child care fees are down by at least 50 per cent across Canada. In seven provinces and territories, child care costs just $10-a-day already. Here in Ontario this year, families are saving up to $8,500—per child. And that means a lot in terms of affordability for families who are struggling with the cost of living.

It's helping our whole country in the fight against inflation by bringing costs down.

And thanks to our early learning and child care system, Canada’s labour force participation rate for working aged women in their prime years hit 85.7 per cent, in September 2023. That is a record, and it compares to just 77.4 per cent in the United States.

So, early learning and child care—it is great social policy which means so much in the lives of so many families, but speaking as Finance Minister, I want to say to you—it is also an excellent economic policy which is adding to Canada’s labour force and helping our economy to grow.

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day, and so before I close, I want to pay tribute to Canada’s pioneering feminists.

To Judy LaMarsh, Laura Sabia, and Monique Bégin, who convinced the government to establish the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada in 1967.

The feminists of Ontario—Morna Ballantyne, Martha Friendly, and Gordon Cleveland—they spent decades fighting for a universal, national system of early learning and child care, and their work, as well as the pioneering work of Quebec feminists, is what made it possible for our government to take the leap and establish a national system of early learning and child care.

I want to pay tribute to Dr. Emily Stowe, the first female physician in Canada, and the founder of Women’s College Hospital—what an amazing woman—and to her supporters, who started the transformative work of this hospital over 140 years ago.

And to all our mothers, our grandmothers, our great-grandmothers, whether they’re alive or not, whose courage and confidence inspire us every single day. I want to say to them—to our foremothers—thank you very much. We stand on your shoulders.

Thanks again to the amazing team at Women’s College Hospital. Thanks to all of you who are here with us. Thank you for fighting night and day for women and their health.

It is now my pleasure to turn it over to our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.