Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ministers, welcome.
Minister Anandasangaree, I'm going to direct my questions to you.
I had the opportunity to engage with Minister Hajdu very recently in the same committee on the topic that we're here to discuss, which is indigenous economic development.
A couple of the things that I know you and I have worked closely on and that the government has been tuned in to over the course of the past nine years or so in my home province of Manitoba have been very sufficiently positive and have made a substantial difference in terms of advancing that collective goal and ambition of economic reconciliation. I think of the downtown Winnipeg project that we're currently dealing with at Portage Place to convert it into a state-of-the-art health care facility. Of course, that doesn't happen without federal contributions.
There's the Bay project, on which, as you know, we're working closely with the Southern Chiefs' Organization to turn that into a very important source of housing and other cultural and historical services in an iconic building in downtown Winnipeg.
There's the national school food program. I know that the Leader of the Opposition and my colleagues across the way have referred to this as bureaucracy. They've said that no food has been served. That's, in fact, incorrect. I've been in classrooms in Manitoba with former teacher colleagues of mine, serving the food that has in fact been subsidized and funded by the federal government.
Beyond that, I think of incredibly important successes like Freedom Road, which helped to benefit the people of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation on the Manitoba-Ontario border. That has contributed to their and the surrounding area's economic development.
I think of some recent announcements that were made by you, by Minister Hajdu and by others in terms of several million dollars' worth of contributions in Manitoba that are going to help lead to the construction of new schools.
All of this being said, Minister, perhaps you can offer your own reflections about the great work we've been able to accomplish in Manitoba and how you feel those initiatives are working toward our collective goal of ensuring economic reconciliation and economic development in Manitoba.
Thank you.