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Transcript: Canadian PM Mark Carney Remarks on 2026 Federal Budget – Nov 6, 2026  

Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Winnipeg on November 6, 2026, the day after tabling the federal budget, to unveil Budget 2026’s $30 billion national plan to end homelessness in Canada within a decade. Joined by Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, Carney announced more than $1 billion for over 2,000 transitional and supportive homes in Winnipeg and a new Winnipeg Centre for Mental Health and Addictions, then took reporters’ questions on Quebec, U.S. tariffs, immigration, fiscal sustainability, fertilizer and trade with China. Read the full transcript below:

MARK CARNEY: Thank you. Thank you very much, Ben. Premier Kinew, Mayor Gillingham, Mayor Martinez Ferrada, Mark Chipman, David Thompson, Grand Chief Daniels, leaders of the Red River Métis, Minister Gudin. And I also want to recognize, although it’s hard to see with the lights, I want to recognize the many Winnipeggers here today who serve this community by caring for those in need.

The outreach workers, shelter staff, nurses, counselors, volunteers who show up day after day, night after night to help their fellow citizens.

Budget 2026: Building Our Sovereignty

Yesterday, we tabled in Parliament the federal budget for 2026, and we tabled that to become masters of our destiny to what purpose. We tabled it so that we can more fully live those values. In an increasingly turbulent world, Canada is determining our future. We have the strength to build, the discipline to deliver, and the values to take care of each other.

And so the budget is the next step of our ambitious and pragmatic and generational plan to make Canadians, as I said, building our sovereignty and giving us the freedom to live our lives as we choose.

That means investments that build our sovereignty so entrepreneurs are empowered to grow so that ideas become companies so artists and creators can tell our stories. So we have energy that we generate and control so that Canadians have more choice and lower cost. And so that there is a home for every Canadian.

The Homelessness Crisis

Here in Winnipeg, as in many cities across Canada, the homelessness crisis is acute. It starts with people who are just getting by then something goes wrong. A lost job, a family breakdown, an illness and addiction, or often several blows come all at once. And when the systems that are meant to help can’t cope, people fall through.

And for too many, homelessness doesn’t end quickly. Most people experiencing homelessness in Winnipeg have been without a home for six months or more. Some have lived this way for years, some for decades.

The basics that most of us take for granted, a shower, a bed, a door that locks become a daily struggle. Maggie Helwig describes homelessness as, and I quote, “more than anything else, a life of constant displacement.” It’s also dangerous. Extreme temperatures, violence, no easy access to a doctor, a meal, or a bed.

Every year here at Hope Alley, just off Main Street, this community holds a memorial for those who died on the streets. Two weeks ago, nearly 200 names were read out loud. People lost to homelessness and to toxic drugs, some known only as John or Jane Doe.

There are similar memorials across our countries. Torontonians gather at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Edmontonians at the Memorial Plaza. When people have nowhere to go, the whole community feels it. In our emergency rooms, on our transit system, in our downtowns.

Today, across Canada, an estimated 65,000 people are without a home. People staying in emergency shelters and transitional housing, sleeping in cars doorways. Canada’s strength and our compassion must be put to work for those who need it the most because Canada strong starts in a warm home.

And just as there’s no single way into homelessness, there’s no single way out. There’s no simple answer. This is a hard problem. And hard problems demand the humility to learn from previous well intentioned efforts that have fallen short. And it demands the resolve to build on what succeeded.

For decades, governments and communities have tried to address this crisis. Too often these efforts have been inadequately resourced, poorly coordinated, and not sustained. We’re learning from these experiences. And as we learn above all, from the people working on the front lines, many of whom are with us here today. And what works, what we get from those learning comes down to a combination of three things.

What Works: Help

First, help works. Help can start before someone ever loses their home. Covering the rent when a paycheck falls short. A call to a landlord, support when a family is in crisis. And for someone already on the street, help is an outreach worker who knows their name and gets them to a warm bed at night. Help can be a way forward, replacing a lost ID, getting income support, finding a job and a permanent home.

And that’s what Reaching Home helps do. Through this program, the Canadian government backs local organizations that do this work every day on the ground across Canada.

Here in Winnipeg, that support flows through organizations such as End Homelessness Winnipeg, an Indigenous led group that lifts people out of homelessness and maintains vital real time data. That data tells us that four out of every five homeless Winnipeggers are Indigenous, and their work helps to reach them.

As does Chalmers Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation, which helps families keep their homes by sitting down with a landlord, covering back rent, and providing one to one support. And the North End Women’s Centre, where women and gender diverse people can find a safe place to stay while they get back on their feet. So help works.

What Works: Housing

The second thing that works, obviously, is housing. And that means transitional homes as a safe bridge out of crisis and deeply affordable homes so that the bridge leads somewhere permanent to live. And it means that the help continues as needed.

So today, we’re standing on the construction site for the formerly known as the Hudson’s Bay Building.