Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Louis-Saint-Laurent.
It is wonderful to rise today. I am quite interested to speak to today's Conservative opposition day motion, brought forward by the Leader of the Opposition. It speaks to many of the issues that we are dealing with in society and how best to tackle them in today's economy, in today's Canada and the world context that we are situated in.
I am pleased to take part in today's debate to speak about the economic situation in Canada and the rest of the world, and some of the measures we, as a government, are taking to make life more affordable from coast to coast to coast in this beautiful country.
We know that interest rates are high, and that is weighing heavily on Canadians. We know rates have become what I would call normalized after the 2008-09 financial crisis, and we are seeing this both here in Canada and in the United States. Liquidity measures have been reversed, there is quantitative easing and so forth. We are seeing a return to normalized rates. However, we know that this is, in part, being driven by global inflation and the battle against it, as well as the normalization of the economy post-COVID.
Global inflation has driven up the cost of necessities, and people are worried about their family finances. Canadian consumer prices rose by 4% last month. That is why our government is focused on building an economy with strong and consistent growth, as well as abundant, well-paying middle-class jobs. We are committed to helping Canadians get through this difficult time.
We are seeing some positive results from all our hard work. The OECD projects that Canada will have the strongest economic growth in the G7 next year. DBRS Morningstar also recently confirmed our AAA credit rating earlier this month. I would note that I actually worked at DBRS for a number of years before going into the bond markets here in Canada. I would like to say hello to many of my colleagues who are still at that entity.
There are 980,000 more Canadians employed now than before the pandemic. Most notably, the labour force participation rate for Canadians in their prime working years reached a new record of 85.7% in June.
Studies have been published about our early learning and child care system.
Studies show that every dollar invested in early childhood education generates between $1.50 and $2.80 in economic activity for the broader economy. Affordable early learning and child care is important to our economy and to our country. It is one of the most important ways we are helping middle-class families across Canada with real, meaningful support every single month. All provinces and territories have signed agreements with the federal government, reducing the average cost by over 50%, and we are on track to reach the $10-a-day child care that we committed to by 2026. That is something I think all members of this House should proud of and applaud.
The government will provide an additional $625 million to support provinces and territories in investing in infrastructure that would make child care more accessible and would target underserved communities.
I would like to say that, with my almost two-year-old in day care these days, we have seen an over 50% reduction in our day care fees, saving us approximately $800 a month in after-tax money. Our family is blessed in many ways. If we put that to before-tax money, it is saving our family over $1,000 a month, or $12,000 a year.