Today, for too many younger Canadians, the promise of Canada—that you can build a good middle-class life and do at least as well as your parents, or better—is becoming harder and harder to achieve.

While there are many reasons for this, including a struggling economy and inflation coming out of the global pandemic, our government is continuing to address important affordability issues again in this year’s budget; that includes renters, first-time home buyers, seniors, and parents.

Renters deserve protection from steep rent hikes, renovictions, or bad landlords. With our new Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights and our new Tenant Protection Fund, they won’t have to face these challenges alone.

To address increasing rents, we also need to increase housing supply rapidly. Budget 2024 has an additional $15B in loan funding to help build over 30 000 new rental units in Manitoba.

When it comes time to buying a home, renters deserve credit for the money they have put towards rent over the years. Now, they will—we’re asking banks, lenders, and landlords to use your on-time rent payments to help you get credit and qualify for a mortgage.

Further measures we are implementing in Budget 2024 to address housing affordability, on top of providing supports to homeowners struggling with mortgage costs, include increasing the Home Buyers’ Plan limit – making it easier to save for your first down payment, and strengthening the Canadian Mortgage Charter to make buying a new home affordable for young Canadians.

When it comes to childcare, we have already made incredible progress in affordable access to $10 a day childcare, but Manitoba needs more spaces to meet the demand. Our 2024 budget builds more affordable childcare spaces in Manitoba and across Canada.

To do this, we are launching a new Child Care Expansion Loan Program, offering student loan forgiveness for rural and remote early childhood educators, and increasing training to ensure more people are able to work in the childcare field.

Our government is also working with provinces and municipalities to roll out a National School Nutrition Program that will help up to 400, 000 more students access school meals.

This, again, is about fairness. When children can’t get enough food, it impacts their health and their opportunities to learn and grow. With these investments, we’re supporting the success of every child – in the classroom, and beyond.

As Conservative opposition members continue to vote against these important affordability measures, I will continue to advocate for you in the House of Commons.

Canadians need real leadership: that means caring about Canadians and delivering results. That’s what Budget 2024 is all about.