Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister highlighting 108 new affordable homes at Sault Ste. Marie’s Royal Canadian Legion

November 1, 2024 – Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

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It's really a pleasure for me to be here in “the Soo”. What a wonderful city, what a wonderful community. You really are a city that builds Canada and builds the world. I had a chance to talk to some people from Algoma and Tenaris. And I just want to say thank you so much. Thank you so much for the contribution of this great city to our great country. I believe in you, I believe in so much of what you do here, and I do want you to know I really believe in Canada’s steel industry, which is your steel industry.

I also really want to thank you for inviting me to be here with you this morning. It’s a very, very touching ceremony, event, and I really appreciate what you all do. And for me, it’s really an important moment to share with you. I recognize the courage and sacrifice of veterans, and I think it is truly appropriate for us to honour them. 

I am the Finance Minister so I’m going to say a couple of things about the economy. And I want to recognize things have been hard for a lot of people here. But I do also want to say we’ve had some good news recently. There is some relief. It is such good news that inflation for nine months now has been within the Bank of Canada’s target range. In September, it was below 2 per cent, real relief for everyone, whether you’re buying your groceries or filling up your car or your truck with gas. As a result of that, the Bank of Canada has been bringing down interest rates. Interest rates have now moved down four times in a row and that’s more real relief for the people who are here. 

I just want to say thank you to all Canadians for hanging together through what has been a really challenging economic time. And I want people to take some comfort from and have some optimism around the fact that our economy seems to be achieving this soft landing. That’s going to make everyone’s life that little bit easier.

Now, I want to talk about today’s announcement. Every single person here owes such a great debt to Canada’s men and women in uniform and to Canada’s veterans. I worked in Ukraine at the beginning of my career as a journalist, and I lived in the Soviet Union before it collapsed. 

Having that experience, it makes you really recognize how lucky we are to be Canadian, how lucky we are to live in a democracy, how lucky we are to live in a place where each person’s voice matters and where the freedom of each person matters. And the reason that we have that great privilege is our men and women in uniform, and it comes down to our veterans who served, who stood up for our freedom, who stood up for our democracy and who stood up for the freedom and democracy of our allies and partners. 

Now, our veterans, they make great sacrifices for our country. They and their legion home, they deserve a nice place, and they deserve a great place to live. And I really want to say to Legion Branch 25: you are awesome. You really stepped up. You showed energy and creativity and initiative. This development is the first of its kind in Canada, providing a home for the legion and beautiful affordable homes in a great place in a great city for veterans. And it happened first and foremost because of the initiative and the persistence and tenacity and ingenuity that the people at Legion Branch 25 showed. 

The development was first announced in January 2023 and look, here we are. It was also possible because of a $32.1 million investment from the federal government. That comes from a bigger fund that’s available for affordable housing. I really hope that the amazing work you have done here will be an inspiration for legions across Canada to do in their own communities. 

There are 108 new beautiful rental homes here; 33 of them are affordable— that’s below market rent—and 33 are accessible. The full building is remarkably accessible. 

It’s a nice place to live, and that is so important. 

I really think that this project is a perfect example of what Canada can be and what Canada can do when we work together. This is an example first and foremost of community activism, of people who volunteer here at the legion, who work so hard, who give back every single day. That’s the beginning. And then you take a great private sector entrepreneur who loves his community and works with you. Then you have the government providing concessional financing that made it possible to build this place.

And I really think that’s what’s Canada: when we can have that partnership of community, of business, of government, working together to do the thing we all believe in, which is supporting Canadians, supporting our veterans, supporting our friends and neighbours, supporting amazing community members and veterans and seniors. 

So it is such a pleasure to congratulate you for your hard work, to congratulate you for your partnership here in our amazing community and to celebrate with you your success, which is truly a cornerstone for the success of our amazing country.

Thank you.