Mr. Speaker, on May 2 Canadians made a clear choice. They voted to keep the economy on track to recovery, and they voted to create jobs for both themselves and their children.
It has been the priority of our Conservative government to secure Canada's economic recovery, encourage growth, and create jobs through Canada's economic action plan. We are into its next phase, and it is clear that this is a plan that is working, a plan that is responding powerfully to an extraordinary challenge. Since its inception, we have cut taxes, opened new markets for businesses, and created approximately 650,000 net new jobs. For the fourth year in a row, Canada's financial system has been ranked the soundest system in the world by the World Economic Forum.
However, we cannot ignore the reality that yet we find many Canadians are still looking for work and the global recovery remains fragile.
The introduction of keeping Canada's economy and jobs growing act is paramount and includes key elements of the next phase of Canada's economic action plan. We know, as I said, this is a plan that is working, so we must move this legislation forward with perseverance and intention.
I am proud and incredibly honoured to once again be representing the constituents of Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar. I know that this legislation, which continues to deliver on our promise of a low-tax plan for jobs and growth, will be well received by many residents in my riding.
Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar is a diverse riding. It is home to a broad range of demographics: farmers, tradespeople, business owners, artists, students, aboriginals, immigrants, new Canadians and people of every age. It draws on several economic bases, including agriculture, manufacturing, mining and the service industry.
Though there is diversity in the population, we can all agree that there are basic fundamentals every community requires in order to thrive: families need an adequate source of income; individuals need access to education and training; communities need stability and support to provide long-term sustainable infrastructure.
This is what our Conservative government is delivering on. By introducing measures such as the small business hiring tax credit in the keeping Canada's economy and jobs growing act, we are helping the private sector take back their rightful place as the primary source of new jobs.
This week is Small Business Week. It is important that we acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our small business owners. Small businesses employ millions of Canadians and are significant drivers of our economy. Given the fragile state of the global economy, the contributions of small businesses are more important than ever.
That is why we are committed to assisting small business expansion by lessening the costs of hiring. Consequently, we are helping unemployed workers and people new to the job market get the jobs they need and empower them to realize their dreams.
As I mentioned, we are also doing our part to strengthen families and ease the family budget. By introducing initiatives such as the family caregiver tax credit and the children's arts tax credit, we are helping to alleviate the cost of caring for loved ones and ensuring that kids are given the opportunity to thrive creatively in art, music or drama.
We are interested in creating a legacy for our children and ensuring a sustainable future for Canada. By improving financial assistance for students and making it easier to allocate registered education savings plan assets among siblings, we are enabling greater access to higher education.
I would also like to remind my colleagues that we have kept our commitment to ensure that Canada's seniors, who have worked hard to build our country, have a secure retirement and a good quality of life. That is why we introduced, earlier this year, the measure to enhance the guaranteed income supplement for those seniors who rely almost exclusively on their old age security and GIS. This is yet another example of our government keeping its promises.
In Saskatchewan we are blessed to have one of the lowest unemployment rates and highest growth rates in Canada. All of these measures that I have mentioned will help ensure that our economy continues to thrive and that the most vulnerable are not left behind.
As I have already mentioned, I represent a diverse riding that is both rural and urban. Access to doctors is an issue in rural and remote areas across the country; that is why we are delivering for Canadians by offering an incentive for new doctors and nurses to practise in those rural and remote areas. By offering student loan forgiveness to doctors and nurses who practise in rural and remote areas, we will ensure that families living in those communities receive the same high level of acceptable quality health care, no matter where they choose to live.
Similarly, many small urban and rural communities rely on volunteer firefighters to protect their lives and property. To encourage these volunteers and recognize the important service they provide to our communities, we will be providing a volunteer firefighters tax credit to those who perform at least 200 hours of service in their communities. This is something that has been asked for. It is a promise we have made, and now it will be a promise kept.
Canadians are a responsible, practical people, and they expect the same from their government. That is why we cannot continue with deficits indefinitely, as the opposition is calling for through a new round of stimulus spending.
This Conservative government made a promise to Canadians that we would eliminate the deficit. We will cut the deficit through restrained spending and through a targeted review of our programs. Through a combination of attrition in our public service and by targeting programs that were created to solve the problems of decades past and have long since outlived their usefulness, we will ensure value for tax dollars and continue towards our goal of returning Canada to balanced budgets in the 2014-15 fiscal year.
We also promised Canadians that we would eliminate the per-vote subsidy that forces taxpayers to give money to political parties. Regardless of what opposition parties might think, most Canadians believe that political parties are not entitled to tax dollars via a direct per-vote subsidy. Eliminating the subsidy will save Canadians millions upon millions of tax dollars every year.
In summary, we have been listening to Canadians. We promised to deliver on the priorities of Canadian families and to support communities. We promised to deliver jobs and economic growth. We promised to invest in education and respect the taxpayer.
Canadians have spoken, and we have listened. Now it is time to do our part. I hope that all parties will work collaboratively to respond to Canadians and the expectations and needs that they have expressed. I encourage all members in the House to support the keeping Canada's economy and jobs growing act. A vote to pass the bill is a vote in support of all Canadians.