I’m very pleased to be here today with you, with Dominic…Minister LeBlanc, with Minister Karine Gould. I’d also like to recognize the exceptional work done by our MPs for New Brunswick, Jenica Atwin, Serge Cormier, René Arseneault and Wayne Long.

Also, very good to be joined by Premier Blaine Higgs and Minister Cardy as well.

Parents, and moms especially, across New Brunswick know why affordable childcare matters. The cost of living is going up on many fronts, and we know that a large portion of the costs for families with young children goes to daycare, childcare. Without childcare, people have to make impossible choices. Mothers have to choose between their career or being there for their children. We need to make sure that there is high-quality, affordable childcare for all families in Canada, and that’s exactly what we’re doing today to change things.

I am pleased to announce today that we have signed a deal with the Government of New Brunswick. By this time next year, childcare fees for families across New Brunswick will be cut in half, and within 10 years the average price for childcare in New Brunswick will be $10-a-day. Families in places like Moncton and Fredericton will save around $7500 a year on average. And in addition, we’ll be creating around 3400 brand new spaces.

We're going to support workers and early childhood education with a wage grid, and we’ll boost the number of trained educators as well. The bottom line is we're going to make life more affordable, we're going to grow the economy by allowing more parents, particularly moms, to rejoin the workforce, and we’re going to give kids the best possible start as they begin their schooling.

This is part of a commitment we made to grow the economy to support Canadians. As of today, nine provinces and one territory have now signed on to early learning and childhood education with $10-a-day childcare within 10 years. We are close to our goal of creating around 250,000 new spaces in Canada.

We're ready for $10-a-day childcare in every province and territory because that's a key part of our focus on delivering for the middle class and people working hard to join it. We're going to keep working until every family in Canada has affordable high-quality early learning and childcare because that's the right way forward for families, for our economy, and for kids.

I’d also like to talk about COVID-19. We’re facing a difficult situation with the arrival of Omicron, with cases surging again in many provinces. And so, I have to stress to you that we need to continue to be careful. I know it’s been a very long time that we’ve been living with it, that we have had to be careful. Obviously, it’s very, very good news that Canada is among the countries with the best double‑vaccination rates in the world, but we must continue to be vigilant and careful.

Boosters are now there for people across the country, so please, when it's your turn, get your booster shot, get your third dose. It is going to make a difference in keeping us safe and keeping Canadians out of hospitals into the coming year.

It's also time to have our kids get vaccinated. My seven-year-old got vaccinated just a week and a half ago and it's a huge weight off of our shoulders. We need to make sure that our kids are kept safe. So, if your kids are five to 11; it's time to get them vaccinated as well. That's the best way we can keep them safe, we can keep all our families safe.

Obviously with the holidays coming up, people are going to have to make choices and decisions around how to keep their loved ones safe. It's important to continue to follow public health guidelines and rules, but know that, as always, the federal government will be there to support you, to see us through this. We made a promise to have people's backs. That's exactly what we will do.

And that's yet another example that we're showing today with this historic deal with New Brunswick on early learning and childcare.