Department of Finance of Canada

04/25/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/25/2024 11:35

Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister on fairness for every generation and building more homes, faster

Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister on fairness for every generation and building more homes, faster

From: Department of Finance Canada

Speech

We're working hard to make life more affordable, with absolutely essential things like dental care, like making diabetes medicine, like making contraceptives free for Canadians. That's going to make life more affordable for so many people.

Mount Pearl, NL - April 24, 2024

Check against delivery

Good afternoon everyone. I am really happy to be here with my friend and colleague, Minister Seamus O'Regan. I'm happy to be here with my friend and colleague, MP Joanne Thompson. It is great to have the mayor here, to have your provincial representative here. I am so happy to be here with the great people from Donovan Homes.

It is so exciting to look behind us and to know that in 18 months, 24 families will have a beautiful home here.

I want to start by paying tribute to the skilled tradespeople from Donovan Homes who are here. I had a chance to chat a bit before we got started. We've all been complaining about the weather. They were out here working and they're going to be out here working every single day. I admire you so much. I'm so grateful to you. It was great to see families all working together.

My dad's a farmer. I remember when I was a little girl, reaching out to hold my dad's hand. You know the kind of hands farmers have, all beaten up. Their nails are wrecked from hammers and stuff, sometimes they're missing the top of a finger. I remember pulling my hand away from my dad because it was such a rough hand.

My dad gently pulled my hand back in and held it. He said: "Feel this hand. It's a working man's hand and never ever pull your hand away from the hand of a man who works hard."

I've always remembered that. The people here with us are hardworking men and women and you are the ones who are going to get these homes built. I'm so grateful to you and so proud you're here with us.

It was inspiring for me to see how working together, the federal government, the provincial government, municipal governments, private sector, and hardworking people are able to get more homes built faster. I am so glad that our move on the HST/GST in the fall has made a difference to the math on this project. That is fantastic. I am thrilled at how quickly CMHC moved on this project.

We heard how quickly you got it approved. I hope and believe the Housing Accelerator Fund giving more support allowed that to happen. This is a great example of what we need to do in our country which is get more homes built faster. We need supply, supply, supply and the great people here with us are providing exactly that. Thank you so much.

This is part of our plan. It's part of the work we are doing to make Canada fairer, to make sure all Canadians have a chance at a good middle-class life and especially to support younger Canadians. Because there are too many young people in Canada right now who feel they can work hard, they can study, they can do an apprenticeship, they can go to school, they can get a good job-but, still, the kind of middle-class life their parents or grandparents had feels out of reach.

That is not okay. Our government is working really hard to change that.

How are we doing that? First step, by supporting you. Getting more homes built faster. We're doing it in Mount Pearl and I can tell you we're doing it from coast to coast to coast because this is our country's most pressing need.

We're working hard to make life more affordable, with absolutely essential things like dental care, like making diabetes medicine, like making contraceptives free for Canadians. That's going to make life more affordable for so many people.

We are investing in the economy. We're investing in economic growth because, at the end of the day, if you have a good job doing something important with people who are a community - that's the foundation of a secure life, of a prosperous middle-class life for yourself and your family.

To do all that, these investments cost money. I'm the Finance Minister. That's the area I have to focus on the most. It's important to me that we make these investments in a fiscally responsible way because if we can make them in a fiscally responsible way, then inflation can stabilize and interest rates can come down.

I know how important that is to everybody in Canada. That's why fiscal responsibility was an important part of this budget. To fund these essential investments, what we did is ask the people who are doing really well in our country to pay a bit more. That's also about fairness. It's about fairness for all Canadians. It's about fairness for working people.

It's about fairness for young Canadians and making it possible for our younger generations, for Millennials and Gen Z to build a good middle-class life.

Thank you very much.