Dear neighbour—

On Tuesday, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne presented the Government’s first budget, Canada Strong.

This year’s budget is a roadmap to economic resilience, growth and vibrancy for our country. It is focused on four main areas of investment: Housing, Infrastructure, Defence & Security, and Productivity & Competitiveness. At the same time, it protects important social programs that we rely on such as healthcare, childcare, and dental care in addition to income supports for seniors, children and the disabled.

We all recognize the challenging economic circumstances in which we find ourselves because of the trade actions from south of the border. This year’s budget is about making the kinds of investment that will shore up our key industries – notably steel and auto manufacturing in our neck of the woods – in order to protect and create good jobs while also becoming more self-reliant for our success as we diversify our trading relationships around the world.

A couple highlights for me are:

• support to the Terry Fox Foundation to continue to do important research in the battle against Cancer,

• funding for the Burlington-Hamilton-Brantford YMCA downtown Hamilton revitalization project for affordable homes, childcare and community centre,

• an additional 8 weeks bereavement leave for parents who lose a child while on EI parental leave,

• new funding for health infrastructure,

• additional support for CBC/Radio Canada to protect and enhance our national broadcaster, and

• funding to attract top international talent for research in Canada as well as modernizing R&D programs for Canadian innovators.

There’s lots more in Budget 2025; I share a few more notable sections below.

There were also a lot of hard choices in this budget. The Prime Minister has committed to reducing overall operational spending while making big investments in infrastructure, housing and defense. That means both an overall reduction in federal employees of about 10% over the coming years as well as reductions across departments to make government more efficient.

As you go through this budget, I will be keen to hear your thoughts and reactions.

The bottom line: we are in an unpredictable economic time. As Canadians, it is up to us to protect ourselves and this budget sets us on a path to chart our own economic course for the years ahead. Let’s choose Canada.

With gratitude,