Thank you, Mr. Chair, vice-chairs, and honourable committee members, for the opportunity to be here with you today.
I'd also like to thank all of you for your work on budget implementation act no. 2 and for all the work that I know you've been doing on the pre-budget consultations.
As you know, our government came to office with a plan to grow the middle class and to grow the economy, and budget implementation act no. 2 is an important next step towards that goal. The bill will help to make the tax system simpler, fairer, more flexible, and efficient.
A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget includes measures to give federally regulated workers the right to request more flexible work arrangements from their employer, largely benefiting women, who continue to do the majority of unpaid domestic work in our society.
Also proposed is the elimination of unpaid internships in federally regulated sectors that aren't part of a formal educational program and providing labour standard protections for unpaid interns who are part of an educational program.
Mr. Chair, if you look at the measures in BIA 2, I think we can all agree that this legislation is an important step in our plan to build an economy that works for the middle class and for those who are working hard to join it.
Before I speak about the next steps in our plan, I'd like to tell you about how we got to where we are today and the signs that tell us our plans to build a stronger middle class and to grow the economy are working.
Just two years ago, the world economy was still in recovery. Canadians were feeling like they were working harder than ever but just weren't getting ahead, and there were grounds for their concerns. The median real wage income of Canadians had barely risen over the previous 30 years.
Middle-class Canadians were worried. They were looking for real change and elected a government with a plan to ensure that their hard work would not go unrewarded, a plan that would enable all Canadians to enjoy the benefits of a growing economy.
Today, as I mentioned, there are clear signs that this plan is working.
In just two years, we've lifted 26 long-term boil water advisories on reserve. Over 350,000 more students get help each year to afford books and tuition and earn their degrees. We've effectively doubled the Canada summer jobs program, helping almost 65,000 students find work in the summer months.
With the Canada child benefit, we've helped about 300,000 children to be lifted—