Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon to my colleagues.
Good afternoon to the ministers here. We are very thankful you are here. We appreciate your presentations to us.
First and foremost, I just want to say to all the ministers here what a profound impact you're having on all Canadians, but in particular on my riding of Saint John—Rothesay.
There's Minister Hajdu with the skills link program, Canada summer jobs, youth training.
There's Minister Duclos, with the national housing strategy and the Canada child benefit. I want to congratulate you on meeting the government's poverty reduction target three years ahead of schedule. Congratulations.
And there's Minister Qualtrough, with the landmark accessibility legislation.
Last, but certainly not least, there's my friend Minister Tassi, with the increase to the GIS and the new horizons for seniors program.
My question is for Minister Tassi.
Minister Tassi, I know you've been travelling all over the country talking to Canadians. I was lucky enough to have you in my riding of Saint John-Rothesay. If you remember, we went to the town of Rothesay. We had a wonderful meeting with Mayor Nancy Grant. We talked about how Rothesay was designated an age-friendly community by the Government of New Brunswick, which our federal government helped make happen by providing funding for the Rothesay seniors' resource centre through the new horizons for seniors program.
We also had a great meeting with the Rothesay Age-Friendly Committee. They were instrumental in establishing the centre to discuss this and other seniors initiatives in Saint John—Rothesay. We had great discussions with the seniors. I remember in particular two seniors who are in a low-income situation, single seniors. They talked to us about just how profound the 10% increase in the GIS was to them, and what a game-changer and life-changer it was to them.
Minister Tassi, I just want you to express and talk about the impact of our government's investments in bolstering the GIS for low-income seniors and expanding the new horizons for seniors program. Could you just share with us how instrumental that is to changing lives for Canadians?