Thank you so much for that question, MP Carr, and I thank you for your congratulations on my impending retirement from House of Commons and politics.
Yes, you were very young when I started, because in 2025 it'll be 30 years since I first represented Saint Boniface—Saint Vital as a city councillor, and since 2015, of course, I've represented it as a member of Parliament. It's been fantastic. It's all positive. I'm leaving with nothing but great memories, and I'm really.... Support for the Prime Minister and the party, of course, is front and centre in my exit.
With regard to the question, I'll start with the recent announcement. About a month ago—six weeks ago—we were both in Winnipeg to announce a $10-million investment in the redevelopment of Portage Place, which is a very big mall on Portage Avenue in the middle of downtown Winnipeg, across from the MTS centre. It represents a significant opportunity for downtown revitalization. The project is being undertaken by True North, which is the owner of the NHL Winnipeg Jets, by the Southern Chiefs' Organization and with funding from the Government of Manitoba, the Government of Canada, of course, and the City of Winnipeg.
When the project is complete, there will be a brand new health centre in downtown Winnipeg, which is funded largely by the $600-million transfer that our government made to the Province of Manitoba for the health accord, something that was a long time coming. There will be a health care centre. There will be a couple of hundred units of affordable housing, which are going to be managed and owned by the Southern Chiefs' Organization, and there also will be some pretty interesting and inclusive public space, which PrairiesCan is paying for in part as part of the overall redevelopment.
That project, Portage Place, is connected to the old Hudson's Bay building, for which there is another partnership ongoing between the Government of Canada and the Southern Chiefs' Organization. There will be day care spaces in there. There will be hundreds of units of affordable housing. There will be a museum that's going to be owned and managed by Southern Chiefs' Organization, and there's going to be space for their government administrative offices.
Really, it's one of these old Bay buildings in downtown Winnipeg. I think it's upwards of 600,000 square feet in the downtown that's currently vacant, and we're really looking forward to that partnership. Our government, through the Department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, through CMHC, has invested over $100 million in that partnership. I know it will create hundreds of indigenous jobs, which will benefit not only indigenous communities but also the province as a whole.
If you take another hop, skip and jump further east, you're going to see the the Manitoba Métis Federation, which is, of course, the governing body of the Red River Métis. It's constructing a Métis national heritage centre at Portage and Main, where Bobby Hull signed a million-dollar contract in 1972. That's going to be featuring Métis heritage, Métis culture and the very bright future that the Métis have in Manitoba and Canada. We're working closely with the Manitoba Métis Federation on that project, and that strip of Portage Avenue in downtown Winnipeg will be transformed through our partnership.