 Good morning everyone. My name is Katrina Chan. I'm BC's Minister of State for Child Care and just really, really honored to be with you all here today on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish and the Musqueam First Nations. And I know the weather is really cold outside, kind of snowing a little bit, but after doing the sing-along with kids and seeing them dancing, all of our hearts are warm. We feel warm in this room because we are really coming here today together to celebrate children and family who deserve inclusive, quality, affordable child care services. And of course, we have our Chief Wayne Sparrow who is going to bring the traditional welcome from the unceded traditional territory very soon. But I do have a long list of guests here. I'm going to do a quick introduction. And some of them don't really need introductions because we have, for example, the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. And we have our Premier, Debbie Evey. Well, you can clap. And of course, I'm so honored to be able to work with Minister Karina Gold on the child care plan over the years. And I've learned so much from her and we've learned together to see how we can support families and children in BC. And of course, thanks to the Prime Minister and Minister Gold for the support across Canada. And we also have principal from the Richmond Jewish Day School and Child Care Center, Sabrina Bojani here. Thank you. And because we're here, of course, for families and children, we definitely need to hear from a parent who is a parent of three right here at this amazing inclusive child care re-yout Dahan who will also share her story. But I see a lot of friends here. Thank you. I also see a lot of friends here in the crowd and I'm going to do my best to quickly introduce them. We have federal MPs, Parm Bains, Wilson Miao, if you want to just quickly wave. And our provincial colleagues, Kelly Green, Amon Singh, Henry Yao. We have Mayor Malcolm Brody and his counselors, Carol Day and Andy Hobbs. And we're also really honored to have First Nations dignitaries, including Robert Phillips from FNLC and some of our friends from the Métis Nation of BC as well. And also, of course, the Coalition of Child Care Advocates, ECBC and all the friends and early childhood educators. Ken, if you can raise your hand and we just want to really thank all the early childhood educators and professionals for your important work. Thank you. And of course, of course, we need to thank our host today, the Richmond Jewish Day School for hosting today's event. All of your friends and supporters, I know there's a lot of representatives from your community here today as well. We really thank you for your warm welcome. And without further ado, I would like to welcome the Chief from Musqueam Indian Ben, Chief Wensperl, to say a few words. Thank you. My name is Wainsperl. I'm the elected Chief of the Musqueam First Nation. My traditional name is Yokelak. It gives me a privilege and honor to welcome each and every one of you here to the unceded territory of the Musqueam First Nation. Coming out and when I got the invite, I want to acknowledge all leadership that's in this room and very important, you know, as First Nations people with children, our children, our future, everything we can do to support the parents and the children so we can be successful, you know, in First Nations, the children are so important to us to carry our culture and our teachings. And if we don't have the daycares and the schools to help out in that, we'll never be successful. So I just wanted to acknowledge each and every one of you and you all come here. You know, I don't consider myself a politician. I represent our community. I look at everybody in front. I consider my family. Our family is here. We're all here to work for the betterment of our province and our country. So on behalf of our community again, I want to welcome each and every one of you here. Thank you. Thank you so much, Chief. So of course, we would like to now welcome the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, to share a few words and about a good celebration here today. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chief Sparrow, for your welcome. Thank you for all your leadership through what has been difficult times to be an elected leader. If you're an elected leader, you're a politician, but, you know, being there to serve your community is something that has been at the center of everything that you have done in your leadership in our conversation just a few weeks ago. We talked about all the things that we get to continue to work on together and I really want to lift you up for your leadership and the partnership that you've been bringing forward. Principal Bojani, thank you very much for having us here at the Richmond Jewish Day School. I know Mayor Brodie is here as well. Thank you, Malcolm, for being here, for being part of this. I really look forward to working with you and the community of Richmond as we build a stronger future for the families that are impacted by this announcement, but families who are facing difficult times, but also pulling together as we know we must to get through them. Happy, of course, to be here with our two great local MPs, Param and Wilson, and also with Minister Karina Gould, with whom I got to make a great dental care announcement yesterday and today we're talking about childcare. Just two examples of the things that we continue to step up to make sure we're there to support Canadians right across the country. We're facing challenging times, but who are time and time again demonstrating that we know all of us the way to get through difficult times to pull together and dig in and lean on each other and be there for each other. And that is what's going to carry us through. Of course, a huge part of that is being able to be here with David, with Premier Eby and Minister Chen. Today is a reminder of what happens when different orders of government get to work together. And you know there's always different perspectives and challenges from those different perspectives, but ultimately Canadians, the families here at this school are served by Malcolm, are served by David, are served by me, and the great people who work with us, and we're all working our hardest to make sure we're delivering. And the more we can do that in an aligned, coordinated, focused way, the better we're able to actually deliver on the things that people need. So anytime I get a chance to stand beside a Premier and make a big announcement that's impacting the lives of Canadians, it's not just the announcement itself that is good news for citizens, but it's the fact of the announcement. It's the fact that governments get to work together to deliver on people's priorities that gives people confidence in our collective capacity to make it through the difficult times we're facing and get real results for Canadians. Karina and I and our whole team, we speak with Canadians every day. We hear you when you say that it's getting hard to pay the bills because of inflation. We hear you and we're here to support you through this global challenge. We doubled the GST credit for six months and enhanced the Canada workers' benefit. We're delivering payments of an extra $500 for people who are struggling with the cost of rent. Yesterday, as I mentioned, we launched the Canada Dental Benefit that'll help eligible parents send their kids to the dentist with up to $1,300 over two years. Now, a lot of people will ask me, okay, it's great that you're sending kids to the dentist, but how does that counter inflation? Well, the fact is, an awful lot of families who need to send their kids to the dentist choose to send their kids to the dentist even if they're out of pocket for it. His parents know that making sure their kids are healthy starts with oral health. But now, with money from the government to make sure that they can do that, they'll have more room for the extra expenses that we know all families are going through. All families are going through it. This is tangible help for vulnerable families that need it right now. Of course, what brings us here today is that we're continuing to make childcare more affordable right across the country, including and starting with here in BC. As of yesterday, BC has met its joint goal with the federal government to reduce average childcare fees by half. This is good news for families who are now saving up to an additional $6,600 per year per child because of our government's investments. And of course, we're very much on track to delivering that commitment to $10 a day childcare by 2026. This is all part of our plan to make life more affordable for the middle class and people working hard to join it. It's part of our plan to build an economy that works for all Canadians. The parents, and in particular the mothers, shouldn't have to choose between their families and their careers. When the gardeners are more affordable, it's good for families and it's also good for the economy, because it allows more parents to be part of the work market. Reut is the mom who's here with us today who I got to meet a little earlier. She has two kids in childcare and one in elementary school here at the Richmond Jewish Day School. She'll be speaking in a few minutes and she'll tell us more about her situation. But the one thing that's important to know is that her family is now saving over $1,000 a month on childcare. And more, now that they've secured childcare, Reut has been able to start working full time again. That's what we mean when we point out that social policies like affordable childcare are also economic policies. Back in July of 2021, BC became the very first signatory to our Canada-wide plan for $10 a day childcare. But as you know, we've since signed agreements with all provinces and territories. We're seeing results here in BC. We're also seeing them right across the country. In Nunavut, $10 a day licensed childcare is now a reality. In Nova Scotia and in many other provinces and territories, fees are now reduced by half. We said we'd make childcare more affordable for families, and we're keeping that promise. Now, conservative politicians think we should do less for families and less for the middle class. They campaigned against our childcare agreements and threatened to cancel the progress we've made. They voted against the Canada dental benefit that'll help parents send their kids to the dentist. But our government will continue to stand up for families. Thank you all for being here. I'm now very pleased to pass it over to my friend and yours, David E. B. Thank you very much, Prime Minister. It's an honor to be here with everybody today on the territory of Coast Salish people, the Musqueam people. Thank you so much, Chief Sparrow, for starting us off in a good way. And nice to see you. And thank you again for hosting the swearing in on Musqueam land. It was a very moving and special day for me. It's nice to see you here again today. At a time when global inflation is driving up costs for families in British Columbia, childcare fees are going down. That's because we are choosing to invest in our kids and in our families. When we launched our childcare B.C. plan way back in 2018, there were too few spaces and the fees were too high. They had been for a long time. Childcare is one of the most expensive bills facing many families, especially those just getting started in life. That's if you could find a space. As working parents with two young kids, the struggle to find high quality affordable care is one that my wife Kaylee and I understand. Well, I still remember the moment when she told me that she was pregnant. It was a very special and important moment for our family and we reflected on how it was going to change our lives and how exciting it was. And literally the next sentence we said is we got to get on childcare weightless. We know that access to high quality affordable childcare unlocks opportunity for families. And it's not just good news for families with young kids. It's good news for everybody because it helps us respond to the labor shortages we're seeing our economy. It helps people get to work to build our economy. It helps stress out families and it helps build our entire province. And as you heard from the prime minister, our entire country. So our government got to work on our goal, which is to make accessible, affordable, high quality, inclusive childcare a core service that every family in our province can rely on. Richmond Day School where we are today is a great example of the multiple pieces of our childcare plan all working together to deliver for families. We've been working hard to expand access to licensed childcare through the new spaces fund that we set up. Like many centers in BC, this one where we are here today, receive funding to create more urgently needed childcare spaces. Now spaces mean nothing unless they're early childhood educators who are there supporting the kids that need those services. So early childhood educators working in this center have also seen their wages enhanced by up to $4 an hour. Our investments in early childhood educator wage enhancements have helped bring the median wage in BC for these vital workers to $26 an hour. This is essential to recruiting and retaining the skilled workforce we need to support kids and families in childcare. Because we can't open new spaces without professionals to staff them. And we've been directly funding this and many other centers across the province to lower fees for families. As of yesterday in British Columbia, families are seeing their childcare bills reduced once again with support much appreciated from the federal government. This time families will save up to $550 more a month per child. This is on top of the fee cut we introduced in 2018. Savings of hundreds of dollars every month on childcare is a game changer for families. And we do have, you've heard much anticipated. Reu Dehan is here to tell us about her family's experience. And thanks to this latest fee cut, she's going to save $1,000 a month on her childcare bills. It makes a real difference for a family that's just getting started. And for Reu, access to childcare means you can reenter the workforce and practice as an engineer. We all benefit when families can afford to access safe, high quality childcare. Right now businesses in every sector of our economy are struggling to find the skilled workers they need to keep running at full capacity. Providing parents with affordable, high quality childcare means that those parents can continue working and relieves a little bit of stress in their lives. That's good news for moms like Reut who can continue building their careers. It's good news for dads who can continue building their careers. It's good for our entire economy. I believe BC should be a place where everybody can build a good life. For young families, access to affordable childcare is an essential element of that. We still have so much more to do, but I'm proud of the progress we've made. And of course, we didn't do it alone as you see on the stage. And as you heard from the Prime Minister, governments need to work together to deliver for families in our country. Every parent that sees their fees go down should thank their childcare providers as well. We couldn't do it without providers. We can't do it without a strong federal partner. With that, I'd like to ask the Honourable Carina Gould, Federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, to come up and say a few words. I'm going to move this down a little bit. But look, thank you so much, Premier, for your partnership. And thank you so much, Minister Chen. We have a great working relationship and a great opportunity to do this. And I want to say a big thank you to our Prime Minister. Because of his visionary leadership, we made this historic investment that families are experiencing right now. I don't have a lot much more to add. I think the Prime Minister and the Premier said it so well, except that we're here to celebrate. Just 18 months ago, we signed the first childcare agreement with British Columbia. And here we are today, celebrating the fact that childcare fees have been reduced by 50% for British Columbia families. I think we should applaud for that. And what's so exciting about this is the fact that it's benefitting our families, it's benefitting our children. I had the opportunity to speak with Sarah, who's the Executive Director here, who was talking about how excited the families who attend the childcare center are. What a meaningful difference this is making in their day-to-day lives. The Prime Minister and the Premier spoke about the fact that everything is expensive right now. It costs a lot to raise children. And the fact that families in this province are going to be saving up to $6,000 a year is real money in real pockets of real Canadians. That's going to help them pay for food, for winter clothing, as apparently you now need in British Columbia, for other activities and things that are essential to supporting healthy, active, successful development of our children. There is a huge opportunity for us to get women into the workforce. And I like to say that child care is a home run. It's good for our children, it's good for our families, and it's really good for our economy. And of course, we can't have our early learning and child care system without the dedicated, talented, and caring workforce that cares for our children. And we had the opportunity to meet some of those amazing early childhood workers here today who you can see the passion and you can see the commitment. And I do want to take a moment to applaud British Columbia for the wage top-ups that they have provided for early childhood workers, because we can't grow the system. We can't expand and ensure that as many children and families as possible have access to child care without an important recruitment and retention initiative. Just this Wednesday, child care workers across the country had to campaign dots for spots, so that we value and appreciate the role that they play. We know that it's not just taking care of our children, but it's setting them up for success. We have so much more work to do as we continue making sure that child care is available for all families here in British Columbia, but right across the country. But I'm really excited to be doing that work. As the Prime Minister mentioned, we were in Nova Scotia on Monday. They reduced fees by 50%. We're on track to have fees reduced by 50% from coast to coast to coast in this country that is transformative, that is historic, and it is thanks to the unbelievable work and partnership that we have with early childhood educators, with long-time advocates, with families, and great provincial partners like we have with the province of British Columbia. So thank you all for being here. Thank you for your support. And today is a celebration day. Thank you. Thank you so much as always, Minister Gold and of course the Prime Minister and also the leadership of our premier, Davey, to work together to be able to bring services for families. But this really takes partnership. It always, you know, people say that it takes a whole village to raise a child and it is very true. And we are unable to do this work without the providers and early childhood educators who are working on the front line every single day. And when I see some of our municipal representatives here, we also really want to thank your partnerships such as City of Richmond and municipalities across BC and also many Indigenous First Nations rights holders and also communities that have really partnered with us to bring this work together. So now I would also, of course, to thank our childcare providers such as the Jewish Daycare that's right here and the day school that has been providing inclusive quality services for BC families. We now have over providers that covers over 97% of spaces joining our program, which is historic and it is a great achievement. So the Jewish Day School and Child Care Center, of course, is an important partner. So that's welcome. The principal, Sabrina Bojani, to say a few words. Thank you. Shalom and Bo Kato. Good morning, everyone. And welcome to Richmond Jewish Day School. Our school is extremely proud to be a part of the multicultural fabric that's Richmond. Here we have more than 20 different cultural institutions on what is known as the Highway to Heaven. This three-kilometer stretch holds over 20 places of worship and truly reflects the diversity of our city, our province, and our country. Richmond Jewish Day School opened its doors to our early child care program, which includes child care for infants, for toddlers, for preschool, and for school-aged children. We just opened this facility last September and now can provide families with high quality, affordable childcare in an inclusive licensed facility that truly honors Jewish heritage and traditions. This culturally relevant programming enables our students to be authentic in who they truly are and it promotes the self-efficacy they need in order to be successful. We are extremely grateful to the Government of Canada and to the Government of BC who have truly prioritized early learning and child care. I want to thank them for their support in helping us to create new early learning spaces as well as reducing child care fees for our families. We have a very closely knit school community comprised of working families and some who are even new to Canada, all of them who have really felt the pinch with the high cost of living. So I want to once again thank you for your investments in child care which will have long-lasting positive effects on the well-being of children and families for years to come. Thank you so much. Thanks again Sabrina for your incredible work and thanks to your early childhood educators and child care professionals for their work as well. And of course we're here for families and it was interesting I was looking around the room that I noticed that there's a lot of politicians here with young family including right here all of us and also our colleagues from Richmond as well that I think as parents we all know that child care struggle and we all have different stories so it is very important that we hear from parents about how our child care investment is critical for not just the well-being of their children but the well-being of their family and their ability to be able to contribute to our economy. So that's welcome Ryut Dahen a parent of three children right here at this quality center thank you. Thank you so much. I'm very honored and also very nervous to be here and I'm very happy to be given the stage to speak in front of members of the government of DC and the government of Canada about how child care fear reduction initiative impacts our lives. My name is Ryut my husband and I have three kids an 18-month-old toddler a four-year-old preschooler and a seven-year-old elementary school student. I think I speak on behalf of myself as well as for my fellow parents and guardians as I say this program is absolutely life-changing for us in many aspects of our lives. First and foremost the program makes licensed high quality and safe education available to all no more having to compromise on temporary or ad hoc child care solutions for our children knowing that you can afford the child care center of your choice is the type of thing that helps you sleep better at night. The fear reduction in the financial climate these days is so helpful in relieving the financial stress associated with child care. With this amazing initiative my family will now be saving over a thousand dollars a month yeah and I cannot wait for the full deployment of the $10 a day program across the province and the country. This program makes it much easier for the both of us to be able to work a full-time job with peace of mind knowing that our kids are well taken care of and are benefiting from affordable yet quality education and there's another benefit in this for us. Naturally many child care centers are either on or close to school grounds that usually offer before and after school care so in addition to all I've mentioned having our daycare center located on school grounds makes us the happy parents of three kids that are all being dropped off and picked up from the same location at the same time. Next year when my middle child goes to kindergarten her before and after school care fees would also be reduced thanks to this initiative so we know that good things are ahead. Finally I'd like to thank you all really for working around the clock to implement the child care fear reduction initiative and for taking it towards the $10 a day plan and most of all I'd like to thank you for putting early childhood education and kids education in general a top priority thank you so much. Thank you so much Ryu and we know that your story is not the only story every single day when we're doing this work we've been hearing about how having access to quality affordable child care makes a huge difference for families and children. Just yesterday I got an email from a mom who said this is the first time in the past few years that she's able to buy proper Christmas gift for her kids thanks to the fee reduction. We're hearing from parents who are able to buy a car pay for better options for housing more food on the table and more options for their families and lots of moms I know Ryu is an engineer we have parents and well I say mom because this has been a gender equity issue for many years but many parents are able to go back to work as professionals and contribute to our economy and I have one last good news to share is that we're all so very well underway to reach our target of more than doubling our 10 a day child care spaces we've just processed another 2000 spaces the past few weeks and thanks to the federal partnership and working with local communities providers early childhood educators were quite confident that we can reach our goal of 12,500 spaces very very soon of the $10 a day dedicated spaces but parents don't forget if you're not in the $10 dedicated site you also have the fee reduction program and for families up to the income of $111,000 you can also apply for the additional affordable child care benefits that can bring your fees down to $10 a day or less or no cost at all because we want to make sure access to inclusive quality child care is no longer a barrier for families it's not a luxury that's nice to have it's a necessity that families can count on it's a core service that all families should be able to have so thank you so much for being here today and we'll now go to questions thanks thank you and I'll start the question period with the first reporter one question one follow-up and we'll be taking questions for 20 minutes on the prime minister thank you so much this is on behalf of two colleagues for global news the first being why hasn't your government designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization yet you have previously stated you would use all the tools at your disposal to hold the Iranian regime to account and isn't that one of your tools we are looking and continuing to look at all ways to ensure that the Iranian regime knows that it's continued reprehensible behavior is absolutely unacceptable we stand with the family of massamini and all those uh Iranian women and allies schoolgirls and grandmothers standing up against this brutal regime we stand with partners around the world who are pushing back and defending and speaking out for the Iranian people against this terrible government we have brought in some of the strongest sanctions in the world against the Iranian regime and we also listed them under some of the strongest provisions available to Canada now these are immigration related restrictions that we've used a few times before but only in the most serious situations we're talking about the perpetrators of the Bosnian war crimes or the Rwandan genocide to ensure that the top 50 percent of the leadership of the Iranian regime including the IRGC is now permanently banned from ever being able to come to Canada and have a safe haven here even if there was a total change over in Iran the people that we have now listed will be forever banned for what they are doing right now these are some of the strongest measures anyone has put forward and we will continue to look at the effective and impactful measures that we can continue to do to both stand up against the Iranian regime but also support the Iranian people demanding and fighting for their freedom following up thank you prime minister as well another veteran has come forward testifying before a parliamentary committee that she was offered medical assistance in dying by a veterans affairs canada employee uh why would your government claim this was an isolated incident publicly downplaying veterans concerns and purely without an appropriate investigation and how can you continue to have confidence in your veteran affairs minister i have said repeatedly that this is absolutely unacceptable and as soon as we heard about this we took action we are following up with investigations we are changing protocols to ensure what should seem obvious to all of us that it is not the place of veterans affairs canada who are there to support those people who stepped up to serve their country to offer them medical assistance in dying as a matter of course the issue of medical assistance in dying is a deeply personal one it is a deeply difficult one for individuals and families to take on at an extraordinarily challenging moment in their lives and it's something that we have to ensure is gotten right yes canada stepped up to recognize people's rights and people's right to choose but we also did so in a way that put in significant safeguards to ensure that the most vulnerable are protected and getting that balance right is something that we have to do every single day and be very careful about and we will continue to listen to experts work with partners make improvements where we need to to make sure that the regime we have that is all about defending people's rights and giving them choices is also protecting people who deserve protection including veterans who serve this country with incredible distinction next question hi it's maria ranten and with the richman news the coroner's report came out again 179 people died in october of drug poisonings looking at other numbers bc ambulance responded to 35 000 overdose calls last year i'm wondering whether you have spoken with premier eb on your visit here about looking at safe supply and bringing in safe supply to combat this drug poisoning crisis um yes i had a good conversation about it with the premier just now but we're also working very very closely through our ministers and appropriate officials to continue to move forward to counter this horrific opioid epidemic and drug poisoning epidemic that is facing people not just in vulnerable communities but in suburban and large and small cities across the province and across the country we know that anchoring ourselves in science and data making sure that issues of harm reduction safe consumption are put to the forefront we were happy to move forward with bc in landmark steps on drug supply just a number of months ago but we know there's much more to do and we will continue to work hand in hand with the province on leading in making sure that people are kept safe we know unfortunately that conservative politicians continue to disregard science disregard data in their approach on these as unfortunately the leader of the opposition reminded us in an incredibly ignorant video just a few weeks ago but on this side with thoughtful partners like the government of bc we will continue to be grounded in what works in compassion in evidence and in keeping people out of the justice system and focusing on on addiction as a health issue but i'm happy to turn to premier for a few words on this thank you uh prime minister um we know that addiction is a health issue and supporting people struggling with addiction uh keeping them alive and giving them an opportunity to get into treatment to turn their lives around is essential i'm really glad to have a strong partner in the federal government on this issue supporting bc and taking the steps necessary to support people to keep them alive so that they have that opportunity to access treatment and we have a lot of work to do in our healthcare system which was uh key in our conversations and mental health and addiction responses as part of our public health care system making sure we're supporting people um and families um i have uh i've already talked with too many parents who've lost kids uh too many families who have been hurt by the overdose crisis and british Columbia will continue to do everything possible to uh to address the toxic drug supply and to support people struggling with addiction and address this issue in our province i wonder if you have a timeline on that whether people can see this happening quickly there's a crisis going on so british Columbia has uh led the way uh nationally responding to the opioid overdose crisis the toxic drug supply crisis that we're facing uh we've had an important partnership with the federal government to try to separate people from those who are selling toxic drugs and get them connected to uh to drugs that are not going to kill them that are going to keep them alive uh and as part of my public safety announcement uh just a week and a half ago talking about a new model of care with st paul's providence healthcare where people who show up in the emergency room uh recovering from an overdose can go immediately from the emergency room to detox to treatment so when they have that moment of clarity that we can grab them and support them and in uh building a new life uh this is what you'll see from our government continued work on this essential and important issue uh and uh an acceleration of our work wherever possible to uh to end the needless deaths so we're seeing next question i think we have a lot of paper and i think police bodies across the country have had a lot of paper uh from what happened to february month and i'm waiting for the tools that the police bodies have been placed in order to ensure that we're not a repetition of the occupation that hurt a lot of people over the last year. I think it's important to name that we absolutely expect that Canadians have the freedom to express themselves, to be in agreement with politicians, to make demonstrations. It is extremely important that it is part of our democracy, but we will always encourage people to listen, but they cannot do it in a wrong way to other citizens. And that is what we expect that the police, the jurisdiction police, can manage. Let's go. Reaction following the revelations of the investigation yesterday concerning the import of human faecal matter contaminated in Quebec and in Ontario in the coming of the United States. Ottawa, do you intend to get involved in this question? And if yes, how and when? Obviously, we will look with attention to this report. There are extremely disturbing allegations that have been raised. We will do follow-ups. Next question. Lindsay Duncombe, CBC National News. Prime Minister, I'd like to get you to comment on a leaked letter from the ambassador to the EU on new proposed rules on forestry products. Specifically, why does your government have concerns about the definition around those rules, including forest degradation in addition to deforestation? And what concerns do you have about environmental NGOs alleging that your government's green promises don't line up to actual industrial practices such as clear-cut logging? First of all, Canada has been one of the world leaders on nature protection and biodiversity, and we're going to continue that leadership in the coming week as we host COP 15 on nature in Montreal, where we'll be gathering together countries from around the world to talk about how we can continue to protect nature, protect biodiversity that is so essential to resilience for our ecosystems and success of our communities and do so in an ambitious way with partners across the country and around the world. Obviously, Government of BC is a strong and steadfast partner when it comes to protecting nature, and that's just a great example of the work that we will continue to do and lead on. We are on our way to protecting 30% of our land, 30% of our oceans by 2030. That's the target we're pushing around the world. We went from 1% of our coastal areas protected when we took office in 2015 to now just over 14% or on our way to 30%. So there's a lot that we're doing, and there's a lot that we need to continue doing. In terms of forestry, here in BC, they've been leading the way on sustainable forestry practices. We know how important it is as a driver of jobs in the short and medium term, but it should also be a driver of jobs for the long term as communities continue to rely on good jobs even in a lower carbon, more environmentally responsible world. The work we're doing in terms of getting that right is ongoing. There are always going to be challenges we're facing, but we're always going to be working to improve every step of the way. What about that definition, Prime Minister, because deforestation of which Canada has 0.02% deforestation rate is about forests that have changed to a totally different purpose. They are roads and mines and logs. Degradation is about where animals can live, and moose can't run around in trees that are only up to your needs. So how are you going to respond to the fact that practices don't line up to what is needed in this climate emergency for biodiversity as well as for carbon capture? We're going to continue to lead the world in how we protect nature, how we demonstrate sustainable practices, and how we include Canadians and their concerns around it. We know people want to see protected areas, strong biodiversity for future generations. We know they want to have jobs that are enhancing and protecting the future of their children at the same time, and that's exactly what we're going to continue working on. Next question. Good morning. My name is Vermeet from Red FM. My question to you is, many Canadians are saying that you and your party policies are the reason for inflation. What would you like to say to those people who are hurting financially? You know, I was just at the opportunity to meet with a number of fellow world leaders in Asia, whether it was in Bangkok or in Phnom Penh or in Indonesia, where we were talking directly about the global inflation crisis and it's hitting everyone around the world. Most people significantly harder than it's hitting Canadian families. Of course, that's cold comfort for people who are having trouble paying their bills here at home. But to know that we are not alone in this and indeed we're able to give supports and be there for Canadians in ways that other countries with not a solid fiscal situations aren't able to should be somewhat of a reassurance. And the conversations we're having with countries around the world to highlight that this is about coming out of a pandemic. This is about the disruption of supply chains that that pandemic caused. It's about Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine and the fact that energy prices and food prices around the world are being hiked because of Russia's irresponsible actions. These are, this is a global inflation phenomenon. But the solutions to support Canadians are very much local. That's why we're so pleased to be able to announce today in partnership with the government of BC the childcare fees are dropping by half here in BC and across the country. That's hundreds if not thousands of dollars a month for families that will have that money there to buy groceries, to help pay rent, to buy Christmas presents. That was something the Conservative Party voted against. We're also moving forward on support for low-income renters. We're moving forward on support so families can send their kids to the dentists who couldn't afford to before that. Those are direct supports for families in a very real way. Again, Conservative politicians voted against those measures. Actually, the biggest advice and support that Pierre Paulyev and the Conservatives gave to Canadians on avoiding inflation was by cryptocurrencies. If Canadians had invested in crypto when Pierre Paulyev told them they could opt out of inflation by investing in crypto, people would have seen half of their life savings disappeared. That's not responsible leadership. Responsible leadership is moving forward with concrete supports to help people through this global crisis, whether it's with childcare, whether it's with dental care, whether it's with support for low-income renters, whether it's support with the GST rebate, whether it's Canada Child Benefit index to the cost of living. We are a government that has been there for Canadians and will continue to, not just because it's the right thing to do, but we saw during the pandemic investing to support Canadian families and small businesses and seniors and young people so we could get through the tough times, guaranteed that our economy would come roaring back faster than the United States, faster than other parts of the world. That's what this government has delivered and that's what we're going to continue to do for Canadians. Following up? Yes. According to media polls, there has been decline in yours as well as Liberal Party popularity. So how is the morale in caucus and how do you plan to change this trend? The reality is our caucus is entirely focused on delivering for Canadians. While other people are pointing fingers and saying ridiculous things like Canada is broken, we're going to continue to be there for Canadians. We're going to continue to work with them. We're going to continue to give them the supports necessary so you can build a stronger future for your kids with childcare fees reduced. You can send your kids to the dentist when you couldn't afford to before. You can have extra money in your pockets for Christmas presents with our GST doubling rebate. These are things we're doing concretely because we know that times are tough but we also know that Canadians demonstrate time and time again in difficult moments. We pull together, we lean on each other, we roll up our sleeves, we help each other out. That's what is incredible about this country and that's why even through the difficult times I have unlimited confidence in Canadians' capacity to get through this when we all work together. Orders of government, community organizations, civil society, volunteers, all of us pulling together optimistically and positively for a better country. We'll take one last question. Okay, perfect. Brianna Shalabaugh, Canadian Press. Hi, Prime Minister. The Canadian Coalition of Firearm Rights Online Shop recently offered a 10% off clothing, mugs, and other merchandise using the promo code Polly. What do you think of this firearms group invoking the name of Polly Sasevon Gun Control Group which was born out of the 1989 mass shooting in Montreal in the late 1990s? I think Canadians are all united in wanting to see less gun crime. I think Canadians understand that we need to have safer communities. Nobody is in disagreement with that. Unfortunately, we see the gun lobby working with the Conservative Party of Canada to spread misinformation, to use fear to sow division by trying to mislead Canadians. When the reality is, we are stepping up by freezing the market on handguns across the country, meaning there will be no more handguns in this country, by making sure that military-style assault weapons, guns designed to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time, are no longer legal in this country to buy, to sell, to own, to use. We did that a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, the Conservative Party has made it very clear they want to make assault weapons legal again in this country. I'm sorry. Canadians know that while we will always respect the rights of law-abiding hunters and farmers to use shotguns and rifles, there are certain guns that have no place in our communities, no place anywhere in Canada, and that's what we promised to Canadians we would move forward on, and that's exactly what we're doing. My last question is, there's an issue. We are way behind our allies in rectifying, and now we're hearing your ministers won't testify at the Senate about it. Why haven't you lifted the barriers to getting aid to Afghanistan? Sorry, can you repeat the question? There's an issue. We are way behind our allies in rectifying, and we're now hearing your ministers won't testify in the Senate about it. Why haven't you lifted the barriers to getting aid in Afghanistan? Oh, aid in Afghanistan, yes. Canada, like other countries around the world, have recognized, have long recognized that the Taliban is a terrorist organization responsible for horrific violence both in their own country and elsewhere around the world. And rightly, we listed them as a terror organization. We're now facing the challenge that the Taliban is now the government in Afghanistan. We do not recognize them as government, but we know that Afghans, the Afghan women and girls are incredibly vulnerable with them as a government, and we need to try and figure out how to get aid to communities and individuals who are hurting in Afghanistan without supporting and funding the terrorist organization that is their government right now. It's a complex situation. We have a number of allies who've moved forward on it, and we are looking to do the same. Canada has a long history of stepping up for Afghanistan, and we will continue to be there for the Afghan people, but we have to do it in a way that doesn't support or embolden the government that is busy oppressing and doing violence to them. Thank you very much. This is what concludes the press conference. Thank you so much.