Thank you, Ben Carr.

Premier Kinew, Mayor Gillingham and Martinez Ferrada, Mark Chipman, David Thomson, Grand Chief Daniels, Minister Goodon.

I also want to recognise the many Winnipeggers here today who serve this community by caring for those in need. Outreach workers, shelter staff, nurses, and counsellors.

Volunteers who show up, day after day, night after night, to help their fellow citizens.

Yesterday, we tabled Budget 2026, so that we can more fully live those values.

In an increasingly turbulent world, Canada is determining our future. We have the strength to build. The discipline to deliver. And the values to take care of each other.

Budget 2026 is the next step of our ambitious, pragmatic, generational plan to make Canadians masters of their destiny, building our sovereignty and giving us the freedom to live our lives as we choose.

That means investments that build our sovereignty. Entrepreneurs who are empowered to grow. Ideas that become companies. Artists who can tell our stories. Energy we generate and control. More choice and lower costs for you.

And a home for every Canadian.

Sovereignty begins in your home.

It is reflected in the choices Canadians make every day: how they heat their homes, how they commute to work, how much they pay for banking and internet services, and how they manage their grocery budget and basic expenses.

That is why this Budget takes additional steps to make life more affordable.

We are increasing the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit to put more money back in the pockets of Canadian families.

We are fostering greater competition by making it easier for people to switch banks or telecommunications service providers without penalty, helping to lower prices on a lasting basis.

We are also making the Canada Caregiver Credit fully refundable, so that everyone who cares for a loved one receives the support to which they are entitled.

But we need to do more.

Being masters of our destiny means little to people who have no place to call home.

The homelessness crisis, which has worsened since the pandemic, runs counter to the Canadian values of fairness, solidarity, and human dignity.

Here in Winnipeg, as in many cities across Canada, the homelessness crisis is acute.

It starts with people who are just getting by. Then something goes wrong. A lost job. A family breakdown. An illness. An addiction. More often, several blows come all at once.

And when the systems meant to help can’t cope, people fall through.

For too many, it does not end quickly. Most people experiencing homelessness in Winnipeg have been without a home for six months or more. Some have lived this way for years. Some for decades.

The basics that most of us take for granted – a shower, a bed, a door that locks – become a daily struggle. Maggie Helwig describes homelessness as “more than anything else, a life of constant displacement.”

It is dangerous. Extreme temperatures. Violence. No easy access to a doctor, a meal, or a bed.

Every year, at Hope Alley, just off Main Street, this community holds a memorial for those who died on the streets. Two weeks ago, nearly 200 names were read aloud: people lost to homelessness and to toxic drugs. Some are known only as John or Jane Doe.

There are similar memorials across our country.

Torontonians gather at the Church of the Holy Trinity. Edmontonians at the Memorial Plaza. Montréalers at Cabot Square.

When people have nowhere to go, the whole community feels it. In our emergency rooms, on our transit systems, and in our downtowns.

Today, across Canada, an estimated 65,000 people are without a home – staying in emergency shelters and transitional housing, or sleeping in cars, encampments, and doorways.

Canada’s strength and compassion must be put to work for those who need it most.

Because Canada Strong starts in a warm home.

Just as there is no single way into homelessness, there is no single way out. No simple answer.

This is a hard problem.

Hard problems demand the humility to learn from previous well-intentioned efforts that have fallen short. And the resolve to build on what has succeeded.

For decades, governments and communities have tried to address this crisis. Too often these efforts have been inadequately resourced, poorly coordinated, and not sustained.

We have learned from those experiences. And we have learned, above all, from the people working on the front lines – many of whom are here with us today.

What works comes down to a combination of three things.

First, help works.

Help can start before someone ever loses their home. Covering the rent when a paycheque falls short. A call to a landlord. Support when a family is in crisis.

For someone already on the street, help is an outreach worker who knows their name – and gets them to a warm bed at night.

Help is a way forward. Replacing a lost ID. Getting income support. Finding a job and a permanent home.

That is what Reaching Home helps do. Through this program, the Canadian government backs local organisations that do this work every day, on the ground, across Canada.

Here in Winnipeg, that support flows through organisations such as:

• End Homelessness Winnipeg, an Indigenous-led group that lifts people out of homelessness and maintains vital real-time data. Four out of every five homeless Winnipeggers are Indigenous; their work helps reach them. 
• Chalmers Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation, which helps families keep their homes by sitting down with a landlord, covering back rent, and providing one-on-one support. 
• And the North End Women’s Centre, where women and gender-diverse people can find a safe place to stay while they get back on their feet.

Second, housing works.

That means transitional homes as a safe bridge out of crisis, and deeply affordable homes so that bridge leads somewhere permanent to live. And it means that the help continues as needed.

Today, we are standing at the construction site for Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn, formerly the Hudson’s Bay building.

When it opens, it will provide 373 affordable homes for First Nations families. Safe homes. Permanent homes. In the heart of downtown, led by the community it serves. A landmark of the past becoming homes for the future.

Third, health works.

For those most vulnerable in our society, there is a further requirement. Not everyone without a home needs health care. But most desperately do.

Nine in ten people on Winnipeg’s streets face a health challenge, most often addiction, mental illness, or both.

For them, the emergency room becomes their only respite, but it’s temporary. They are treated, discharged, and they go straight back onto the street. Then, the cycle starts again.

There is a better way. In Toronto, the University Health Network built Dunn House – a four-storey modular building: 51 homes for the people who used the ER the most, with care right on site.

It was built in partnership: the hospital, the City of Toronto, United Way, the charity Fred Victor, the Province of Ontario, and the Government of Canada. All working together.

The early results are striking. ER visits cut in half. Days in hospital down nearly 80%.

And, as a result, the entire community benefits.

When something works and the need is great, we should build more of it.

That’s exactly what we propose to do in Budget 2026 – to set Canada on a path to end homelessness over the next decade.

To get there, we are investing an unprecedented $30 billion in a coordinated national plan.

We understand both how difficult this will be, but equally how imperative it is that we succeed.

In Canada, we know we’re not perfect, but we always strive to be good.

We do things because they’re right, not because they’re easy.

Ending homelessness is hard, good, and right.

It will require more than compassion. It requires ambition, execution, and partnership amongst all levels of government, with contributions from philanthropy and business. 

The federal government will provide the funding needed to build housing and health care facilities.

Provinces and municipalities will run those housing and health care facilities. They will also deliver the health care, skills training, and income support people need.

And philanthropic organisations and businesses will be partners every step of the way.

Our plan is built on what we have learned works: help, housing, and health.

Let me start with help.

Budget 2026 invests $5.5 billion in the Canada Housing Benefit, which every month puts money directly toward the rent of low-income Canadians.

Here in Manitoba, this means families can receive over $300 in monthly payments. For someone on the edge of homelessness, that can be the difference between keeping a home and losing it. Our new automatic tax filings will help people get the benefits they deserve.

Prevention is vital. Keeping people in the homes they already have.

In addition to these measures, we will invest $6.5 billion to renew the Reaching Home program and strengthen our support for veterans experiencing homelessness.

These funds will go directly to the people and organisations that have shown us what works. These organisations do more than prevent homelessness. They also reach out to people already living on the streets, earn their trust, and help them find a place to call home.

And they continue to support them every step of the way, from navigating administrative processes to securing their first apartment and first paycheque, so they can secure stable and sustainable housing.

Next, housing.

Budget 2026 makes an investment of $10 billion through Build Canada Homes (BCH) to build 25,000 transitional and supportive homes across Canada. And as more partners step up, we will ramp that up.

Here in Winnipeg, that means $800 million for more than 2,000 new transitional and supportive homes.

We are working with Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba as they choose sites on public land, which will allow us to start sooner and build cheaper.

The province will operate these homes and provide the supports that come with them, including help with training and finding a job, income support to cover the bills, and mental health and addictions care close at hand.

Finally, health.

Budget 2026 is investing $2 billion more through the Health Infrastructure Fund to build and upgrade mental health and addictions treatment facilities in communities across the country. And we are committing $5 billion to a new Integrated Supports Fund, to build housing and health care together with public, private, and philanthropic partners.

I am proud to announce the first investment from that fund will be over $200 million in federal funding to build the new Winnipeg Centre for Mental Health and Addictions in partnership with the province and philanthropy.

This Centre will bring acute and outpatient mental health and addictions care together with permanent housing and coordinated support services. And it will be fully operational as soon as three years from today.

One pathway to help, housing, and health. That’s how we begin to break the cycle. 

We are starting in Winnipeg today because the Government of Canada, the Province, the City, and private philanthropy have all come together to develop a plan that works. 

With other projects underway in Winnipeg, including through the leadership of BCH, the Government of Canada is working with partners to build up to 2,500 new housing units for those most vulnerable.

We can do this everywhere. The Government of Canada will work with every willing partner.

We are renewing the prevention measures that help people stay housed, and we will continue to support frontline organisations through the Reaching Home program.

We are providing the funding needed to build transitional and supportive housing, as well as facilities that offer both shelter and health care.

And we are ready to work with every province and municipality to develop a comprehensive plan to end homelessness in every community.

A few years ago, Al Wiebe, a man who once lived on these streets, gave that alley off Main Street a name: Hope Alley.

As Al puts it, hope is not only life-changing, but life-sustaining.

But hope needs something to hold on to. The prospect of help, when you need it most. A home of your own. And the health care to keep you well.

We have the strength to build. We have the discipline to deliver. We have the values to take care of each other. Of every single Canadian.

Budget 2026 and today’s partnership are how we can not just provide hope but turn hope into reality.

Thank you.