Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise in this chamber on behalf of the people I represent in Winnipeg South Centre.
To govern is to choose, and what we have chosen to do is build, protect and empower this country. I would like to take the opportunity over the course of the next minutes I am afforded here in the chamber to talk about some of the ways that those I represent would be most positively impacted by the decisions the government has undertaken in this budget.
A couple of days ago, the finance minister was in Winnipeg and I had the privilege of offering some remarks at the end of his speech to the audience from The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. I took an opportunity then, which I will take again now, to speak very briefly about the democratic process.
Democracy, to me, is about much more than simply our participation on election day or the weekly affairs we undertake as members in this chamber. It is also about the important work that happens in the exchange of ideas, conversation and dialogue between elected representatives like us and those we represent.
This budget, I am very proud to say, reflects Winnipeg South Centre, Winnipeg and Manitoba in big ways. We have decided in this budget to ensure that the programs the people in my riding continue to rely on every day are sustained. These include social programs such as the Canada child benefit program, child care, the national school food program, pharmacare and dental care.
The budget includes many Manitoba-specific initiatives, some of which I will talk about more today. It includes things like the Canada Water Agency, for which I have to give significant credit to my colleague from Winnipeg South. Without his leadership and initiative, this agency would not be what it is today. Not only that, it would not have been located in my hometown of Winnipeg. It is a critical piece of government infrastructure that helps protect the health and well-being of our water systems, including the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Winnipeg, located in Manitoba.
To get into some of the core aspects of the budget, I want to talk about community centres, which are at the heart of our neighbourhoods. I am very proud to represent 10 community centres in Winnipeg South Centre serving the 100,000 people who call our riding home. This budget sets aside $51 billion for the build communities strong fund. This would help realize substantial potential at the local, grassroots level, ensuring that we are there to support the needs of the people in our communities.
An example of this is the Riverview Community Centre. I was very proud to announce just under $1 million for it a few short months ago. What will that $1 million do? It will help to ensure that new spaces are renovated using incredibly sustainable materials and environmentally friendly processes. In addition to that, it will ensure that there is more space that will allow for the generation of revenue at the local level. This means that there will be more places for parents to use, whether it be for dance initiatives, different clubs, sporting events or musical activities. It also means that the community centre can earn some revenue, which it can in turn invest back into the community.
This building communities strong fund is going to help support dozens of centres like Riverview Community Centre across this country, and I am proud that it has been included in this budget.
I am going to shift for a moment to health care. I always think of my mother, who I am incredibly proud of. At 70 years old, she is still working full-time as an addictions doctor in the province of Manitoba, helping some of the most vulnerable and needy in our society. Like many of my colleagues in this place who have talked openly about the challenges that their family members, friends and colleagues have faced, I too have had experiences with close relatives and family members suffering from mental health and addiction challenges. I am very proud that in this budget, we would undertake a number of initiatives to help address those needs.
The most important initiative to highlight is the $5-billion health infrastructure fund. This fund would be in addition to the historic high provincial health care transfers that the federal government has invested in over the course of the past number of years. What would this fund do? It would do a couple of really important things. The first would be the construction of hospitals, emergency rooms, urgent care centres and medical schools.
In my city of Winnipeg, there is a significant crisis unfolding right now related to fentanyl and meth. The investments we make in our health care systems are critical to ensuring that we meet the needs of these people and that we meet them where they are. Another thing we would do, in addition to these health care measures, is make sure that the public safety component of that challenge is met, and I will speak more to that in a few moments.
Related to the challenges that people are facing, particularly around mental health and addiction, is housing. There are a number of important initiatives in this budget related to housing. For example, there is the removal of GST on homes valued up to $1 million being purchased by individuals buying a home for the first time.
There are a variety of other examples. Being from Winnipeg South Centre, I would love to take the opportunity to talk specifically about initiatives in my riding. One of those is a project referred to as Naawi-Oodena. Members who have been around for some time may know this as the former site of the Kapyong Barracks in Winnipeg. A very long process was undertaken whereby the Government of Canada worked with first nations communities that had the rights to the land in order to move forward on development. Fortunately, after a very lengthy process, we have arrived at this point, and we have already started to see significant development on the site. Part of the site is owned by Canada Lands, which, as a result of the direction our government gave it, is making sure that there will be 320 units as part of this redeveloped site, with 40% of them being affordable. They will eventually be part of a total of 2,100 housing units across the full site.
What is really important about this is not just the housing infrastructure or the wraparound services and supports we need to make sure that people who are struggling right now are able to get the help they need to continue to make progress on their journey to recovery. It is also about how we are honouring the significant historical ties that exist in these communities. There are a few examples of this in my riding of Winnipeg South Centre, including the historical Rubin Block, which will be redeveloped, and the Elswood, which is going to be an energy-efficient, 147-unit facility in Winnipeg South Centre.
In the time I have remaining, I want to talk about the Port of Churchill Plus project. The Golden Boy, which sits atop the Manitoba legislature, faces north to symbolize the power and the future of the north, whether that be Canada or, specifically, northern Canada. In this instance, I am talking about northern Manitoba. The port of Churchill serves as a key economic hub, but it is one that can be enhanced significantly. We are working tirelessly, as a Manitoba caucus, as a Prairies and north caucus and as a government wholesale, alongside first nations partners in Manitoba and the provincial government, to make sure that we can get this to the next phase. This is going to allow for significant critical mineral development, among other things.
Because my time is wrapping up, I will talk very quickly about something my father used to share with me when he was in politics. He would talk about two particular moments in Manitoba's political history that he always kept at the front of his memory.
One is referred to as “Duff's Ditch”. This is the floodway in Manitoba that was built to protect Winnipeg and surrounding communities from the flooding of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. It was not a popular decision for the Progressive Conservative premier at the time, but thank goodness he did it, because it has saved the city and tens of billions of dollars. The second example that I will highlight very quickly is Assiniboine Park, which is located in my riding. Every single city councillor who voted in favour of it lost their seat in the subsequent election, but today it serves as a marvel and a gem of our community.
The point is to invest—