Today, Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance, the Honourable Mona Fortier, continued her cross-country virtual Budget 2021 tour by meeting with members of the Richmond, British Columbia community.
April 23, 2021 – Ottawa, Ontario – Department of Finance Canada
Today, Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance, the Honourable Mona Fortier, continued her cross-country virtual Budget 2021 tour by meeting with members of the Richmond, British Columbia community.
Her visit included a Richmond Chamber of Commerce speech with Parliamentary Secretary Terry Beech, an address to the ICONNBC Business Association with Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan, and she hosted a virtual meeting with seniors along with Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Carla Qualtrough.
Budget 2021 is an historic investment to address the specific wounds of the COVID-19 recession, put people first, create jobs, grow the middle class, set businesses on a track for long-term growth, and ensure that Canada’s future will be healthier, more equitable, greener, and more prosperous.
The Government of Canada’s top priority remains protecting Canadians’ health and safety, particularly during this third, aggressive wave of the virus and its variants. Vaccine rollout is underway across Canada, with federal government support in every province and territory and Canada is on track to meet the commitment that every Canadian who wants to will be fully vaccinated by September. To date, more than 1,834,430 vaccine doses have been shipped to British Columbia. On March 25, 2021, the federal government tabled legislation in order to provide a one-time payment of up to $1 billion to the provinces and territories, on an equal per capita basis, to help administer vaccines as quickly as possible.
COVID-19 has been devastating for Canada’s seniors. It is essential that we protect the health and well-being of seniors, and the personal support workers who care for them, through this difficult time and into the future. Budget 2021 proposes to provide $3 billion over five years to support provinces and territories in ensuring standards for long-term care are applied and permanent changes are made. And as announced in March 2021, the federal government is proposing to provide provinces and territories with $4 billion through a one-time top-up to the Canada Health Transfer.
The federal government is making these investments to shore up public health systems so that they can continue to provide world-class care to Canadians throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The best way to keep the economy strong is to keep Canadians healthy, and Budget 2021 is as much about jumpstarting our economy as it is about investing in measures that will increase the quality of life for our citizens – things like health care, child care, arts and culture, the environment and public infrastructure.”
Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance, the Honourable Mona Fortier
Isabella Brisson
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance
isabella.brisson@canada.ca