Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak in reply to the Speech from the Throne.
As the Speech from the Throne states, Canada is the greatest country in the world. With a population of only 33 million, it has a gross national product of approximately $1,500 billion, and those are real Canadian dollars.
The success of this great economy is the result of hard work and innovation of millions of individual Canadians. Our government wants to build on this success by creating the conditions that encourage both individuals and companies to continue to prosper through strategic investments in the economy and tax relief.
The throne speech reinforces our government's overall approach to growing the Canadian economy. The Advantage Canada plan is at the centre of this sensible approach that ultimately means better paying jobs and solid growth for Canadians. I, like all of us, look forward to the fall economic and fiscal update from the Minister of Finance which will outline the next steps in that plan.
While we have been in government for only a short time, we as Conservatives have done so much to provide the country with effective economic leadership. At the core of our economic philosophy is the belief that Canadians still pay too much tax. As a consequence, over the past year and a half our government has brought forward and implemented broad based tax relief for individuals, businesses and families. To be exact, we have enacted or announced $41.5 billion worth of tax cuts for hard-working Canadians since coming to office.
Members from the Conservative Party believe that Canadians should be able to rely on an income tax system that rewards those who work hard. As Minister of National Revenue, I am responsible for the CRA and its fiscal policy administration activities. That does not mean just collecting taxes. It also means giving money back to Canadians and their families through a number of sensible benefits programs the government has launched. This makes everyone happy, including the tax man.
The throne speech recognizes middle class Canadians and their families as the bedrock of our workforce. It reminded us that we must understand their priorities and address their concerns if we are to achieve our goal of a more prosperous Canada. As Minister of National Revenue, I fully support this objective.
I would now like to describe how our government turns fiscal policy into monetary reality for Canadian families and the 25 million individual tax filers in this country. Let us look, for example, at the impact of our universal child care benefit. This benefit helps parents of young children balance their work and family lives. It means a family with two children under the age of six receives $2,400 a year which contributes to a choice in child care. In fact, our government has already distributed $3 billion in UCCB payments to about 1.5 million Canadian families.
Another good example of how the government is delivering valuable benefits to Canadians and their families is the child disability benefit. This program assists families in caring for children with severe and prolonged impairment in mental or physical functions. The program reported over 53,000 recipients in the last fiscal year, with a total of $155 million going directly into the hands of caregivers.
Budget 2007 introduced a non-refundable child tax credit for parents. In practical terms, this means that the government will issue a cheque to more than $3 million Canadian families for up to $310 for each child under 18.
The child fitness tax credit offers parents an annual tax credit of up to $500 to help offset fees paid to register their children in eligible physical fitness programs. For instance, a family that pays a total of $1,500 to register three kids in hockey programs will reduce their taxes owing by $232. Parents will get this tax credit when they file their 2007 income tax return. Besides helping the pocketbook, it will also help address other critical concerns like childhood obesity.
The list goes on. We are helping Canadians with the cost of post-secondary education through registered education savings plans, deductions for the cost of textbooks, tax exempt bursaries and scholarships.
Last year, countless Canadians applied for the public transit tax credit and we fully expect these numbers to significantly increase this year. Early indications have shown that it is having a positive impact on public transit ridership. Last year, the Toronto Transit Commission confirmed the credit had resulted in about a 5% increase in sales just months after coming into force.
We are now working with our partners in the provinces and territories to implement a new working income tax benefit. The goal of this benefit is to strengthen incentives for low income Canadians so that they can earn income from work without sacrificing needed social benefits. Once implemented, we estimate that this will help more than one million Canadians and their families to get over the so-called welfare wall.
Those are some examples of how we, the Conservatives, are working to improve the quality of life of Canadians.
The government has shown Canadians that filing their tax return does not necessarily mean they will have less money in their pockets. For many Canadians, it even means they will get money back.
As members of the Conservative Party, we also believe that the government has an important role in creating the appropriate conditions to help Canadian businesses and organizations prosper. We also believe that we can achieve this by using the income tax system to reward hard work, encourage investment and create jobs, and to help Canadian businesses be competitive internationally.
That is why our government has enacted or announced more than $3.5 billion in tax cuts for business since taking office, cuts that directly impact 1.6 million corporate tax filers throughout Canada. More specifically, our government has introduced the Canada employment tax credit, eliminated the corporate surtax, and increased the taxable income threshold for small businesses and reduced the rate.
We understand that small businesses are essential to economic competitiveness. To this end, we committed to reduce the administrative burden and red tape for business by 20%. In fact, we have already taken steps toward this goal. For instance, the CRA's small business action task force introduced measures to reduce the frequency of tax remittance and filing requirements.
This means the compliance burden for small businesses is being reduced substantially, on average by about one-third, and by up to 70% for some very small businesses. CRA estimates that 350,000 businesses stand to benefit from these changes.
Expanding online access to tax services is another way we are reducing the burden for businesses. Today, I am pleased to announce the addition of several new features to the CRA's My Business Account suite of electronic services for businesses. Our government continues to deliver on its goal to meet the needs of business taxpayers for faster, secure and expanded online access to tax services. The new My Business Account services are a significant improvement in service delivery and help to reduce red tape.
I should also mention another initiative we have undertaken to improve the situation of the business community. We have updated the Canada-U.S. tax convention to facilitate cross-border investment and commerce. This newly signed agreement protocol represents a major milestone in that its provisions will help facilitate cross-border investment and commerce.
We are modernizing our competition and investment policies to ensure they can attract the kinds of foreign investments that create jobs and opportunities for Canadians and let us compete against the best in the world.
One of the most effective ways for our government to improve the quality of life of our citizens is to reduce taxes.
I would be remiss if I did not mention our government's historically and economically important decision to reduce the GST. A lower GST helps families and businesses. It lets individuals and parents keep their money to meet their needs. It also leaves more money in their pockets for them to use to stimulate our economy, which is good for all businesses.
Overall, our throne speech is an ambitious agenda to make--