Mr. Speaker, it is now my turn to speak to Bill C-4. I want to mention that my colleagues across the way spoke of minuscule savings. While it may seem minuscule to them, in my riding, in Laval, every dollar counts. I will not presume to know what constitutes minuscule savings for someone in serious need.
I am going to talk a little about Bill C-4, but I also want to talk about my riding of Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, in Laval. I want to talk about what the bill means to my riding. I will talk a bit about Laval. If I have enough time, I would like to come back to the matter of rising food prices.
To begin, I will start with Bill C-4. The bill responds to our government's priority of building an economy that works for everyone and taking concrete steps to make life more affordable for Canadians. The bill follows up on three of the government's initial announcements: cutting taxes for nearly 22 million middle-class Canadians, eliminating the GST for first-time homebuyers on new homes worth up to $1 million, and eliminating consumer carbon pricing legislation. Those are the three main components of Bill C-4.
What does that mean in my riding, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, in Laval? I would like to say a few words about my riding and the Laval region. As many people know, this city north of Montreal has one of the fastest-growing populations in Quebec. I believe there are now 460,000 people living in Laval. In the part of Laval that I represent, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, there are a lot of young families, but there are also older people who live in the more traditional part of that riding, in the former village of Sainte-Rose. It is a vast area where there is still a lot of land and agriculture in a somewhat urban setting. It presents quite a challenge. There is still plenty of land that could be used for housing. This is being done intelligently and in a way that is aligned with our desire to preserve green spaces.
The population of Laval is younger than the average. During the election campaign in April, we heard a lot about housing issues. Indeed, it is a very serious problem. The city's ability to support some degree of densification in Laval is helping to keep housing prices at a relatively affordable level, but there is pressure on prices and on access to home ownership.
That is why Bill C-4 is very well received back home in Laval. The second component, the elimination of GST on the purchase of new homes, can represent a significant savings of $20,000 to $25,000 on the purchase of a new home. There are new homes being built in Laval. There has been steady construction in Laval. I am not talking about Quebec as a whole, but Laval, where construction is progressing at a very good pace.
Young families will certainly benefit from this GST reduction. This effort will help many young families achieve their dream of owning a house or an apartment. It will also increase urban density and therefore encourage construction.
The housing problem is really a supply problem. The cost of housing is so high mainly because supply has not kept pace with population growth, even though supply in Laval has increased much more quickly than elsewhere in Canada. Still, with these measures and those of the city, which is very supportive of real estate development, I think we will be able to provide affordable housing in our region.
Laval's economy is very diverse, but obviously manufacturing is very important to our region. It creates a lot of jobs, which are generally well paid. Fortunately for us in Laval, the manufacturing sector is very diverse. No single industry is more prominent than another; it is very diverse. There are truly cutting-edge industries, especially in the life sciences, for example. Consider Moderna's vaccine plant, which is located in Laval. There are all kinds of other SMEs in aerospace and other fields.
Everything related to the uncertainty surrounding trade with our American neighbours is of great concern to us in Laval. During the election campaign, citizens told us that it was absolutely essential for us to be able to stand on our own two feet and find a way to maintain our access to the U.S. market.
There is one thing that is often overlooked and should be considered, which is that 85% of Canadian manufacturing exports to the United States still enter the United States without paying taxes or customs duties if they comply with CUSMA.
Because the manufacturing sector in Laval is highly diversified, exports remain very strong, but this uncertainty plays a very important role in any new investment project. We are seeing a major slowdown. We will have to pay close attention to this, because the creation of new jobs is currently being affected by the fact that most companies are waiting to see what the rules of the game will be a little later with regard to trade with our neighbours in the United States.
It is really the housing market that sets Laval apart from the rest of the province. I think that, even across Canada, it is relatively unique, because there is a lot of activity. There is a lot of construction going on. Prices are still reasonably affordable. There is an effort to increase the city's density. One of the problems resulting from all this is the significant challenge related to transportation and public transit as the population grows. Access to subways and public transit is becoming an issue.
The budget therefore also includes measures to improve local infrastructure and transport infrastructure, which is certainly welcome.
When it comes to Bill C-4 and the tax cut, let me be clear. When we talk about reducing income taxes, the people who will benefit from a tax cut are those who pay taxes. Someone on a very low income who pays very little tax is obviously not going to benefit from a significant tax cut, since they do not pay much tax to begin with.
There are other social measures provided by the federal and provincial governments to meet the needs of people with very low incomes, such as old age security, the guaranteed income supplement and, for younger people, the Canada child benefit. There is a whole series of social programs that support people with lower incomes.
An income tax cut has a real and significant impact for the middle class. It is not minuscule. I mention that because, recently, we have talked a lot in the House about the cost of living and especially about the pressure on food prices, and with good reason. Food prices are very high, even though inflation, the annual increase in prices, is much more under control than it was a few years ago. Prices really started skyrocketing as of 2022 and have now reached problematic levels, which is affecting a lot of families in Canada.
However, it is also important to note that, if the federal government started to massively reduce its programs to assist families, whether it be the Canada child benefit, old age security, the guaranteed income supplement or the national school food program, like our Conservative colleagues are implicitly suggesting, that would make life even more difficult for low-income Canadians. It would take away a big part of their safety net.
Furthermore, these are primarily international issues. Canada is not the only country where food prices are high. This is happening in the United States, in Europe, and more or less everywhere. I would say that we are now facing a structural change. For a long time, in North America, in developed countries, in Europe, and in Japan, we saw a long decline in food prices for all sorts of reasons, such as technological discoveries and new means of production. There was a structural decline in food prices shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, but certainly after the pandemic, we saw this long-term trend change. We are now seeing upward pressure on food prices around the world, regardless of the Canadian government's fiscal and budgetary policies, which have no impact on the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, or crops affected by climate change.
Our friends often cite the price of coffee as an example. Coffee is imported, but more importantly, harvests have been poor, especially in Brazil, but also, to a lesser extent, in Africa. There is less coffee on the world market. It is a question of supply and demand.
There is also a lot of talk about the price of meat. In North America, in the United States and Canada, structurally speaking, herds are smaller now than they were a few years ago. We have moved from a period of meat surplus to a period where herds are much smaller. This creates an imbalance between supply and demand. This puts upward pressure on the price of meat, sugar, cocoa and so on. All of these products, which are imported, are affected by climate change, and the supply of these products is decreasing.
It is not simply a matter of an industrial carbon tax. That is not it. In fact, every study completed shows that an industrial carbon tax has very little impact on consumer prices. While that may not be the case 10 years from now, at the moment, the impact of the industrial carbon tax on food prices is virtually zero. It really is a matter of supply and demand. It truly is an international issue.
In fact, the situation points to a need for more collaboration and international co-operation. My Conservative colleagues also talk a lot about massive cuts to Canada's international aid. They believe that Canada should drastically slash its international development assistance. Right now would be the worst time to do that. If we think that we have food problems, in a rich country like Canada, imagine what it is like for countries with fewer resources than us that rely on international aid to feed their people. I fail to understand how, at this point in human history, we can consider cutting international aid to less fortunate countries. This is really not the time for that.
I see that my time is almost up. I have a lot more to say, but I think I will continue at the next opportunity.
