Hello, everyone. It is so good to see you all this morning.

It is great to be here for a childcare event that features families from across the country. I’m really looking forward to hearing from you on your experiences and your hopes for the future. It’s so great to see so many kids on the line right now. I'm looking forward to chatting with you, but I want to highlight that we’re here with Ahmed Hussen who is the Minister of Families who has been driving this over the past number of years, and of course Chrystia Freeland, who just put forward as Canada’s first woman Finance Minister an extraordinary budget that is featuring about $30 billion of investment over the coming five years in childcare, which is extraordinarily exciting.

I want to say first of all, thank you to all of you, not just for being here today, but for everything you’ve done over the past very difficult year. And I want to start with the kids. You guys have been amazing. I know it’s been really, really tough. There’s been a lot of challenges. You haven’t been able to go on play dates the same way; you haven’t been able to see your friends. It’s been a very difficult year, although I know a lot of you are pretty happy that Mom and Dad may have been home a lot more often than usual. But it’s been tough, and it’s been different. I just want to say thank you, all of you, for everything that you did during this year because it’s always been tough, but I know you’ve also been there to help out around the house, to do your homework at the kitchen table, and to contribute in all sorts of ways that really made a difference.

And to parents, obviously, thank you. Thank you for hanging in there. Thank you for staying focused on keeping yourselves, your loved ones, your families safe. Thank you for all the sacrifices you’ve made. Thank you for figuring out how to get that balance going between... in many cases working at home and caring for the kids. I can tell you from personal experience, we all know, not always the easiest thing, but you’ve done an amazing job.

But of course, one of the things that this past year has highlighted is the challenge about what happens when there isn’t accessible, affordable childcare out there for families. And we’ve known for a long time that it was the right thing to do, but as we’ve seen during this pandemic it’s also the smart thing to do, and the business community and people across the political spectrum have now understood that, and that’s why this government is really excited about moving forward in partnership with the provinces on affordable childcare, accessible childcare, quality childcare right across the country. We’re talking about an average of $10 a day in five years but immediate work is going to start with the provinces who want to.

We’re really excited about it.