Today the Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs, PrairiesCan and CanNor, was in Iqaluit, where he met with the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce to highlight Budget 2023: A Made-in-Canada Plan: Strong Middle Class, Affordable Economy, Healthy Future and investments in clean energy.
Canada has bounced back remarkably since the pandemic. Canada's economic growth was the strongest in the G7 over the last year, and today, 830,000 more Canadians have jobs than before the pandemic. Inflation has fallen for eight months in a row, our unemployment rate is near its record low, and, supported by our Canada-wide $10-a-day child care system, the labour force participation rate for women reached a record high.
Budget 2023 builds on this important progress.
To build Canada's clean economy, the budget makes crucial investments to fight climate change and create new opportunities for businesses and workers in Canada. This includes measures that will deliver cleaner and more affordable energy, support investment in our communities, and create good-paying jobs for Nunavummiut.
Building Canada's clean economy will require significant and sustained private sector investment in clean electricity, critical minerals, and other major projects. Ensuring the timely completion of these projects is essential. In Budget 2023, the government is proposing further steps to meet our clean growth objectives while continuing to uphold the highest standards for environmental impacts and our duty to consult with Indigenous communities and leaders.
To strengthen Canada's universal public health care system, the Budget delivers $306 million here in Nunavut to reduce backlogs, expand access to family health services, and ensure the territory can provide the high-quality and timely health care people in Canada expect and deserve. Indigenous Peoples face unique challenges when it comes to receiving the health care they deserve, so we are also investing an additional $2 billion over 10 years to help ensure access to quality and culturally safe health care services, in line with the priorities of Indigenous partners.
With a responsible fiscal plan that will see Canada maintain the lowest deficit and the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, Budget 2023 will help to build a Canada that is more secure, more sustainable, and more affordable for people from coast to coast to coast.
