Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for The Battlefords-Meadow Lake for his question. I always enjoy hearing questions from this hon. member because he holds the seat that my grandfather, Jack Harrison, held many years ago and we have once in a while had exchanges in the House and it has always been a pleasure to discuss important issues with him.
Since I came to this House in 1993 I have worked, as have many of my colleagues, on issues relating to child poverty. It has been an issue of priority for me for many years, long before I came to this House, as some members will know.
When I hear the hon. member say that this is going to make people worse off, we have had a look at the numbers. The fact is no one will be worse off than they are under the present system. Here are the numbers, here are the facts. The maximum benefit will be increased from $500 per family to $605 for the first child, $405 for the second child and $330 for each additional child. Benefits will continue to be phased in based on family earned income over $3,750, not a very high threshold, and reduced as family income exceeds $20,921.
This is a very important measure in the right direction. We have to go on. I do not say this is enough. I do not begin to say that we are investing in this budget all that we need to do in the long run to solve the problem long term of child poverty, but we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are beginning to make a very important investment. We are showing that this is the direction we want to take on this important national challenge of fighting child poverty.
The member raised the question of the GST and the HST. The changes to the GST and HST in Nova Scotia are very important and very valuable in many ways. They are not perfect. I have never seen a change in taxation that was, unless it is actually eliminated.
We would love to be able to do that. However, when we are paying $42 billion-