Canada’s finance minister says private money is needed to make the government’s $1-billion plan to end homelessness in Winnipeg a success.
François-Philippe Champagne wouldn’t say Tuesday how much private investors will chip in, but said there will be additional money from philanthropists.
“It’s really the federal government, the province, the city and also the philanthropic sector, which has said, ‘We want to play a role,'” he told host Marcy Markusa in an interview with CBC Manitoba’s Information Radio.
“It’s really all of us coming together.”
The federal Liberal government’s latest budget, released last Thursday, sets aside $11.2 billion over four years, starting next year, and $17.8 billion over 10 years to end homelessness in Canada.
In Winnipeg, the federal government has pledged to spend more than $1 billion to build a new mental health and addictions centre along with 2,000 units for people in need of housing.
Federal money will build the new units and health-care facility, and the provincial government will contribute $84 million annually toward operations and maintenance.
Champagne didn’t provide details on private-sector involvement, but two of the biggest philanthropists in the Winnipeg community — Winnipeg Jets co-owners Mark Chipman and David Thomson — were standing behind Prime Minister Mark Carney at a news conference last Friday touting the plan to end homelessness.
Winnipeg Jets co-owners and philanthropists Mark Chipman, centre, and David Thomson, right, at a news conference last week where the federal government promised more than $1 billion in funding to help end homelessness in Winnipeg. Champagne said Tuesday philanthropists will contribute financially to the end homelessness plan, but he wouldn’t say who or how much. (John Woods/The Canadian Press)
Chipman wouldn’t confirm any money Tuesday, but a spokesperson with True North Sports and Entertainment said the organization looks forward to assisting all levels of government with the housing units and new health-care facility.
A request for comment from Thomson’s office wasn’t immediately returned.
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Champagne referred to the homelessness plan in his Tuesday interview as the “Winnipeg model,” since the federal effort to end homelessness is starting in the Manitoba capital.
“I think this is going to be a great, great model that we will try to replicate across the nation,” he said.
Later in the morning, Champagne spoke glowingly about the homelessness commitment to a crowd of business leaders at a Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce event.
Other provincial finance ministers have been wanting to learn more about what Ottawa is planning to accomplish in Winnipeg, he said.
“I’m so proud that we have embraced that as a nation, and that the Winnipeg model is … the model that we’re championing across the country,” said Champagne, drawing one of the loudest applause breaks during his fireside chat.
On Monday, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said the federal announcement is the biggest investment the province has seen in his lifetime. The only comparable spend he could think of was in the 1960s, when various housing co-operatives opened in Winnipeg, Kinew said.
Champagne was also questioned at Tuesday’s event on his decision to leave the federal small business income tax unchanged. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business was among organizations lobbying for changes.
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The tax rate, applied to businesses with an income up to $500,000 since 2009, has remained at nine per cent since 2019.
Champagne, however, maintained the government’s initiatives go beyond adjusting a tax rate, pointing to a productivity deduction that allows businesses to expense the total value of many kinds of investments, simplified tax rules impacting businesses, and allowing farm families to pass land down to nephews and nieces tax-free.
In an interview after, Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce president Loren Remillard, who posed questions to Champagne during the chat, said he appreciates those tax changes, but they don’t mean the small business income tax should be left alone.
“You could have done exactly what has been done, as well as address the rate and the threshold,” Remillard said.
He pointed to the threshold as one measure that needs adjusting. As inflation rises, businesses are effectively getting less room to grow before losing access to the lower, preferential tax rate.
“That’s 17 years of inflation that’s been eating away at small business income,” said Remillard.
