Thank you again for sharing your birthday with us, Mr. Rajotte.
Minister Flaherty, thank you again for coming today.
As mentioned in your remarks, our government is staying the course and staying focused on the economy, including implementing the next phase of Canada's economic action plan. I am pleased to note that this plan includes not only many measures to help support Canada's economic recovery but also initiatives to support Canada's families.
In my riding of Vancouver South we have many families. It's a very residential area. We have the highest ethnic diversity in Canada, as well as a disproportionate number of seniors. Many of these measures to support Canadian families are measures about which I've heard positive and glowing remarks, so I want to pass that on to you today, Minister.
I want to also note that in supporting Canadian families, this government has maintained the course in federal-provincial transfer payments. These payments have remained stable, and we have committed to increasing health care transfers by 6% every year. As we know, these are measures that support Canadian families in terms of education, health, etc.
Today I want to specifically mention my constituents' support for the new family caregiver tax credit, which is an impressive new credit. In our ethnic communities in Vancouver, many caregivers do provide care to our aging population, our seniors, as well as to youth who are perhaps in special-needs circumstances. I note that this new tax support for family caregivers is at 15% and for each family is $2,000. It will impact over 500,000 caregivers across Canada. In 2011-12 that is a $40 million investment to support our families, and it is $160 million for the following year.
I also note that we are continuing and extending our ecoENERGY retrofit homes program. As I mentioned earlier, in Vancouver South we are a very residential area, so this program is also welcomed by my constituents. It provides nearly $870 million over two years to address climate change and air quality. It provides homeowners with grants of up to $5,000 to make their homes more energy efficient, which will help reduce the burden of high energy costs. Again, this is a very welcome measure.
Finally, I want to touch upon seniors, because in Vancouver South we have a very high proportion of seniors. The enhanced guaranteed income supplement is going to benefit couples by $840 per year and single seniors by $600. This is a measure that will support families and seniors with up to $3 million per year, impacting 680,000 seniors across Canada.
I mention these measures because I and my constituents are very pleased and happy that in this next phase of the economic action plan, this government is continuing to support families across Canada, which I think is very important.
After talking about families, however, I want to turn a bit to the future and ask the minister to highlight some measures that the government is taking in the next phase of Canada's economic action plan to secure Canada's long-term economic prosperity. Could you specifically highlight measures in relation to innovation, education, and training?