Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise in this House to address the budget implementation act.
Of course, we all get into politics for our own reasons. My own priorities are to help create a more prosperous, socially just and environmentally healthy Canada.
When I looked back to when I was making the decision to run for office, I could not help but think of the community I came from in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, and my own family. Not long beforehand, I had spent some time out west. One of my sisters is a doctor who moved to Ontario. Another sister became a chiropractor and moved out of the province as well. I have a few younger sisters who had to move away from home for work. Out of the six of us, not one of us in 2015 was living and working in the area where we grew up, and that is a problem.
I have seen the impact of slow economic growth on communities like mine, and the real problem in Nova Scotia was that this situation was not unique to the Fraser family. If we inserted the name of any one of our neighbours, we would have found somebody who moved away from home because they did not have a chance to make ends meet, pay off their student loans or, in some circumstances, even get by. However, I am pleased with where we are at today when I look at the state of our economy nationally and also back home in Nova Scotia.
Members have heard a number of times over the course of this debate that the Canadian economy has added over 900,000 jobs since 2015 and that unemployment is at an all-time low. This is reflected in the experience of Nova Scotia as well. Our unemployment rate is at the lowest rate in my home province since we started keeping track of those statistics over 40 years ago. At the same time, the last time I checked the jobs report, we had just received the numbers for January and February, and I saw that the provincial economy in Nova Scotia had added 7,500 jobs. This is important, because these were predominantly private sector, full-time jobs that will provide an opportunity for people to stay at home if they want to.
These things do not just happen by accident; they happen as a result of Canadians working hard together. They develop from policies that create the conditions for economic success. Those kinds of policies are what I have seen implemented from day one and what I see again in this budget implementation act.
We can look at some of the investments in infrastructure that help put people to work in the short term but also create stronger communities that are designed for success in the long term, and we need look no further than my own backyard. We have a major highway-twinning project going forward for construction of Highway 104 between Sutherlands River and Antigonish. Not only is it going to create up to 500 jobs at its peak, but it is also going to improve the transportation network and help businesses and people get to where they are going more effectively and, importantly, more safely.
We can look at projects like the new Pictou Campus Nova Scotia Community College Trades & Innovation Centre, which has put about 125 people to work during the construction phase and is also helping to educate the next generation of skilled workers.
We have major projects going on at St. Francis Xavier University, a Centre for Innovation in Health and an Institute of Government, that are going to help educate people for generations to come and create a significant number of jobs in the short term.
We also see investments in key strategic sectors, such as the fishery, where we are legislating protection of the owner-operator model to make sure that the economic benefits of the inshore fishery stay in rural communities. We are seeing the development of a $325-million Atlantic fisheries fund that is benefiting things like the North Bay Fisherman's Co-op to allow them to extend their season and get a higher price for their product. We see investments at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport to develop the Air Cargo Logistics Park, which is going to make it easier to get the products to market. We also see trade deals that are knocking off tariffs on the shellfish industry, and in some instances, in terms of the price, will put upwards of 20% back in the pockets of local communities and the people who live there.
We also see investments in this budget implementation act in things like the accelerated capital cost writedown for manufacturers who purchase equipment, giving them greater savings and beefing up their cash flow. We see investments in things like a reduction of the small business tax rate from 11% to 9%.
We see, importantly for rural communities, a commitment to connectivity like we have never seen before. We have a plan that is going to make sure that 95% of Canadian households are connected to high-speed Internet by 2025, and by 2030, there will not be a Canadian home or business that does not have access to high-speed Internet. This is incredibly important. I have spoken to people back home who have had to close their storefront because they could not process credit and debit transactions when the signal was bad. In tourism communities like Sherbrooke, for example, business life is being able to process transactions when people show up who do not carry cash.
I have talked to people in the seafood processing sector who could not upload their documents to take part in seafood trade shows in Boston, upon which their entire financial success depends. These are smart investments that are making a real difference to Canadians.
It is important that we do not just focus on the need to grow the economy, but to do it in a way that works for everyone. In the globalized economy in which we live, the rich are continuing to get richer. In a country as wealthy as Canada, it is unconscionable to me that when I knock on doors, there are families whose kids do not have enough to eat. The phone number for the power company is on speed dial in our constituency offices because we deal with people who cannot afford to keep the lights on.
We are reordering the way that our economy works to make sure that it benefits every Canadian. We are implementing programs that put more money in the pockets of nine out of 10 Canadian families, such as the Canada child benefit. This policy on its own has lifted approximately 300,000 Canadian children out of poverty. In the communities I represent, annually this sends $48 million directly to the families I represent. It helps 12,000 kids.
While these statistics are nice, what really speaks volumes to me is the human impact, the stories I hear in my community. When a single mom in the town of Stellarton tells me that she is able to afford clothes for her kids on the first day of school, I know we are on the right track. When I talk to people who found work in our communities, they say that they were lucky to be able to find a job in another part of Canada or in the United States, but now that they have come home, they are proud, because their children deserve to have their father around and not have him fly away for three weeks at a time. It is these stories that motivate me every day.
I want to draw particular attention to a number of groups that we have been trying to help that are getting some attention in this budget. When I look at the measures we have implemented for seniors, I know they are getting a little extra help. There is not a group that deserves it more. In the province where I live, we have among the highest per capita rate of seniors for our population. In small communities our young people have historically been leaving, and it is a real problem, because we want to be more than retirement communities, yet we know that we have to support the seniors who live there now.
That is why we have rolled back the age of eligibility for old age security from 67 to 65. That is why we have beefed up the guaranteed income supplement for our most vulnerable low-income seniors, in some cases putting up to $1,000 a year directly into their pockets. That is why we have beefed up the Canada pension plan to ensure that the next generation can continue to have a secure and dignified retirement.
In this budget, we have also implemented measures that allow the minister to waive the requirement for an application to qualify for the Canada pension plan. This is going to help 40,000 Canadian seniors get the benefits they are entitled to today but are not receiving.
With the limited time I have remaining, I want to focus on the topic that is near and dear to my heart: climate change. There might not be a more important fight we could be having than the fight against climate change. Divisive as it may be, this is an all-hands-on-deck moment that we need to get behind. Our economy will not matter much if we do not have a planet to live on.
We are moving forward with a serious plan that is going to reduce our emissions. We are putting a price on pollution and returning money to residents to ensure that 80% of Canadians who are subject to this plan are better off. While it does not apply in Nova Scotia, we made sure that it is not free to pollute anywhere in Canada. We are also making historic investments in things like transit and phasing out coal, making sure that 90% of our electricity is generated from clean resources by the year 2030.
As well, we are protecting nature to a degree that no government in Canada's history ever has. Just last year, we announced $1.3 billion towards nature and conservation efforts. This is going to ensure that our places are protected, our species have a place to call home, and that we are doing the right thing to protect our natural environment for the next generation.
As I said at the opening of my remarks, I am committed to building a Canada that is more prosperous, socially just and environmentally healthy. This budget pushes that agenda forward, and I could not be more proud to stand up and defend these measures, because I see the progress that they are creating at home.
