Thank you.
We essentially made four significant commitments that we want to follow through on, and there are many other things we want to do as well.
First and foremost, we said that we want to improve the lives of the middle class and those striving to get into the middle class. We started that with a reduction in middle-class taxes. We believe that's an important decision for the middle class. We also believe that it's an important aid to stimulate the economy, because those people will spend money in the economy. We made a commitment to help those most vulnerable, and the most important signature aspect of what we've been speaking about is the Canada child benefit, which will improve the lives of nine out of ten families with children. It will raise an enormous number of children out of poverty—hundreds of thousands—which will enable those families to be more engaged in the workforce, which will help the economy. It will also enable those families to have a more dignified life.
We've talked about and remain committed to significant infrastructure investments. We'd like to move the amount of spending on infrastructure over the next decade up to $120 billion, which is a historic amount, and split the increase of $60 billion, as you know, among transit, social, and green infrastructure—roughly $20 billion in each area. We are moving forward on those commitments. We believe they will have a significant impact on our long-term rate of productivity. There are definitely some projects that we will be able to move ahead on quickly, which will, as you mentioned, increase jobs across the country.
Finally, and absolutely not least, we recognize that Canada does not have the best record in terms of productivity compared to other countries. We recognize that investments in innovation will and can make a significant difference on our firm-based level of productivity. We know this is important to get on with. Our decisions in the upcoming budget will be consistent with an approach to focusing on innovation, and we will be working on this diligently to move us forward with this plan.