Madam Speaker, permit me first to congratulate you on your appointment.
I would like to thank my hon. colleague from Brome—Missisquoi for allowing me to join him in commenting on the Speech from the Throne and to congratulate him on emphasizing the importance of collaboration and of what the people expect of us.
As I begin, I would like to thank the voters of Beauce for the confidence they have shown me by electing me for a third consecutive term. I am very proud of that and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
This week's throne speech has shown once again how much emphasis the Liberal government puts on making sure it respects the priorities of Canadians.
First, with regard to health, we saw in the agreement signed by the provincial premiers and territorial leaders—an agreement for $41.3 billion over 10 years, more than the Romanow report asked for— that once again, the Canadian people are our highest priority.
We are going to work in other fields as well—and I underscore this, as did my colleague from Brome—Missisquoi—on the importance of working in collaboration.
Second, we intend to invest $1 billion over 5 years in a national early learning and child care program.We take as our inspiration the program the Quebec government has established and we want to set it up all across Canada, and that again shows the collaboration we want to employ in giving the best possible service to the people of Canada.
Third, we want to increase assistance to caregivers and to seniors. I think nothing could be more appropriate than what we are planning to do now. The throne speech emphasized this well, and I am proud of it. In addition, we will increase the guaranteed income supplement by 7%, which shows once again how strongly we feel about helping the least well-off in our society.
Fourth, our collaboration will extend to equalization. There will be an important meeting in a few weeks, and I am sure that the provincial premiers and territorial leaders will agree with the Prime Minister on a way to have a more stable and predictable equalization program, in order to provide the best service possible to the population. We have already made a commitment to substantially increase the equalization program from which they benefit, beginning this year.
Then there is our commitment to support the cities and communities, which once again demonstrates the possibility of cooperation, with the federal, provincial and municipal levels working together in a shared interest. Since the Liberal government has been in power, $12 billion has been invested with the provinces and cities to help them with infrastructure, which brings the total of assistance to communities and municipalities for their needs to $30 billion.
Then there is our commitment to use 5¢ of the gas tax for the next 5 years to help the municipalities, cities and communities to meet their numerous challenges. I am sure that, in collaboration with the provinces, the territories, the communities and the municipalities, we will again succeed in rising to that challenge.
We are, of course, going to work very hard to resolve the mad cow and softwood lumber problems, both of which are crucial for Canada and Quebec, and particularly for us in Beauce. I can assure you that we Liberals are committed to finding a lasting solution to these problems.
We are also going to help businesses, since they are what drives job creation. In recent years, 90% of jobs created in the country were in small and medium businesses. We therefore want to give more access to risk capital and specifically to start-up funding to help businesses through the Canada Development Bank. This is good news. We must support all areas of industry. We have already done so and will continue to do so within our areas of jurisdiction, in conjunction with the provinces and territories.
In closing, I would just like to express my views on the amendment to the amendment on which we are to vote a little later on. We are accountable here for our management of the public purse. I am sure the opposition will understand that we cannot accept the amendment to the amendment, any more than could the provincial and territorial governments agree to a similar request from major cities. That is why I am obliged to oppose this amendment to the amendment.