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Hello, everyone.
It’s great to be here with the Deputy Prime Minister – and our outstanding Finance Minister – Chrystia Freeland.
Yesterday, we released our 2021 federal budget. This is our plan to bridge Canada and Canadians through this crisis, and set everyone on the path to come roaring back.
The Deputy Prime Minister has outlined what our 2021 federal budget lays out – and it covers a lot, because this is a historic plan for a historic moment.
So let me just say a few words about what this all means for you and your family.
Especially with the third wave hitting so many communities hard, job one is keeping you safe.
From continuing to secure vaccines to investing in health care, we will finish this fight against COVID-19.
In fact, on vaccines, we’ve now delivered over 13 million doses to the provinces and territories – doses that are being rolled out in clinics and in pharmacies across the country.
Earlier this morning, the Deputy Prime Minister and I sat down with pharmacists based everywhere from Vancouver to Corner Brook.
They talked about their presence in so many communities across the country and the links that they have with neighbours and community members on trusted health advice. They are incredibly trusted as health professionals and they’ve been delivering vaccinations from coast to coast to coast.
We will continue to work with them and support them as they reassure Canadians, give them confidence, and mostly continue to do the essential work of getting us all through this pandemic.
Everyone’s been stepping up and I really want to say to all front-line health care workers of all different types – thank you for the incredible work you’ve been doing all year, and quite frankly, for this last hard push through these coming weeks and months, as we get through this third wave and hopefully fully beyond COVID-19.
In the last year, we promised to have peoples’ backs through this crisis. That means protecting you and your family.
It also means making the right investments on what comes next.
This budget lays out a plan for good, middle class jobs and a clean, resilient economy that works for everyone.
From creating a million jobs by the end of the year, to ensuring $10-a-day child care in five years, to reaching net-zero emissions in less than 30 years, it all comes down to this – good jobs, a strong and fair economy, and a healthy environment.
Later today, I’ll be speaking to the executive director of Trans-Herbe Inc, a business in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec that specializes in teas.
Our message to entrepreneurs is clear: we are here for you.
From extending the wage subsidy to supporting small and medium-sized businesses in going digital, we’re making sure that they don’t just get through this crisis – they come roaring back stronger than before.
This pandemic has laid bare the gaps that exist for far too many people. I think of workers struggling to make ends meet, mothers balancing work and family, or racialized Canadians and Canadians with disabilities facing unacceptable barriers and inequity.
As we rebuild, no one will be left behind. We will continue to invest in a stronger, fairer Canada for everyone.
Finally, before we open it up to questions, I want to provide a brief update on a few specific developments in the fight against this third wave.
The third wave is hitting a lot of places very hard and that includes our largest province and Canada’s largest city.
The best public health advice tells us the way to roll back this surge right away is to starve the virus by strictly following public health guidelines and restricting interactions with others.
As I said this weekend, while people do that, we’re standing up the help that Ontarians need.
We’re deploying health care staff and equipment from across federal departments to Ontario, and specifically the GTA where the situation is most serious.
We’re also working with provinces and territories that have extra health care capacity, and we will cover the cost and logistics of getting that support to Ontario.
To help stop the spread of this virus, we’re boosting rapid testing, including by working with municipalities to directly deploy tests to local hot spots.
For vaccination, we continue to stand ready to deploy the Canadian Red Cross to help with their mobile vaccination teams, and we’ll keep providing help on everything from isolation sites, to Mobile Health Units, to treatments.
This third wave is tough but together, we will get through it.
Today, I also want to speak about travel.
We’re continuing to do what’s needed to keep people safe, especially with new variants that we know are more dangerous.
Once again, I want to be very clear. This is not the time to travel.
And all travellers arriving by land and air will continue to face very significant measures to keep everyone else safe.
We are extending the enhanced measures that are currently in place for another month, until May 21.
I also want to thank Air Canada and WestJet for their decision to extend their voluntary suspension of fights to sun destinations until the end of May.
Our strict travel, testing, and quarantine measures are extremely important, which is why we’re keeping them in place.
But with international travel directly accounting for less than 2 per cent of all cases in Canada, this is just one tool to fight the pandemic.
That’s why we’re continuing to secure as many vaccines as quickly as possible, supporting provinces and territories on health care resources, and extending programs like the wage subsidy, which have been a lifeline for so many people.
We have a smart, solid plan to see you and your family through this storm to the brighter days ahead.
We’re now happy to take your questions.