ManitobaA $72-million boost in funding for French language education in Manitoba over the next four years is part of an agreement officially signed by the province and the federal government on Tuesday.Funding ‘sends an important signal’ on bilingualism: Manitoba advanced education ministerCBC News · Posted: Oct 14, 2025 2:35 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoManitoba Advanced Education and Training Minister Renée Cable, left, and Ginette Lavack, the member of Parliament for St. Boniface-St. Vital, signed an agreement about provincial and federal funding for French language education in the province until 2028. (Radio-Canada)The federal government promised $72-million in funding for French language education in Manitoba over the next four years in an agreement officially signed by the province and Ottawa on Tuesday.Canada is contributing $18 million a year for four school years under the agreement to enhance French-language education, from preschool to post-secondary, in Manitoba, Advanced Education and Training Minister Renée Cable said at a news conference Tuesday.The funding will support education in French as a second language and in French “as a minority language” — meaning education in French for francophones outside Quebec.The money is part of $1.4-billion in spending on French language education across the country first announced in February.”It’s so important that we recognize that being fully bilingual is such an important part of who we are as Canadians,” Cable told Radio-Canada at the news conference.Manitoba always benefits from opportunities to increase access to French language education, because the province has a higher need for it, she said.”We increase our ability to deliver services in French, [to] enhance our ability to attract investment from different partners and [to] really do what we ought to be doing to protect the national identity of Canadians.”Enrolment in French-language minority schools across Canada jumped by 21 per cent from 2005 to 2021, according to Statistics Canada.Demand for French immersion programs also rose during that period, with the number of students enrolled in those programs at the elementary and secondary levels rising from about 295,000 to about 484,000, Statistics Canada said.While Manitoba promised to match Canada’s yearly $18 million in funding as part of the agreement, a provincial spokesperson told CBC News that Manitoba is actually spending $30 million a year.”It sends an important signal, not only to the folks who are working in and sending their kids to [francophone] schools, but it really signals to the rest of Canada that our bilingualism is important and that we are going to continue to invest here in Manitoba,” Cable said.
Canada spends $72M to boost French language education in Manitoba
