Mr. Speaker, the Liberal women's caucus, which I chair, is pleased and proud that a number of the policies on which we have been working tirelessly have been included and recognized in the 2005 budget.
I shall point out a few: a faster increase in guaranteed income supplement benefits for low-income seniors; establishment of anew national seniors’ secretariat; a doubling of the amount caregivers can claim for medical and disability-related expenses; $5 billion for the early learning and child care initiative; justice initiatives that will make our communities safer; significant investments in the environment; an additional $850 million in health; $735 million for aboriginal families; the basic personal exemption raised to $10,000 removing more than 860,000 taxpayers from the tax rolls, including 240,000 seniors, most of whom are women.
The 2005 budget is good news for all the women of Quebec and all the women of Canada—