Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Mississauga—Brampton South.
It is my pleasure to highlight some of the key measures in the federal budget, economic action plan 2014, “The Road to Balance: Creating Jobs and Opportunities”, recently tabled by the Minister of Finance.
This is our government's tenth budget since coming to office in 2006. Throughout this period, our country has faced many challenges, including a global recession. Our government, under our Prime Minister's leadership, has always made it a priority to ensure that Canada's economy stays strong and that we take the right measures to limit the impact of the recession here within our borders. When preparing our annual budgets, we have never strayed from our commitment to strengthen our economy for all Canadians without adding additional pressures on our citizens and businesses by raising taxes.
While the opposition likes to criticize how we have handled the economy and what we have chosen to prioritize in our budgets, the reality is that Canada has done much better than our G7 partners.
Here I will highlight some of the aspects of the budget that I am very proud of and that I believe are extremely important to my constituents and all Canadians.
One of the goals of our government is to ensure that we achieve a balanced budget. By staying firm on this commitment, Canada has earned a strong and credible reputation for responsible fiscal management. This, I believe, is the main reason Canada's economy has continued to recover. During the economic storm, we have continued to reduce our deficit, by almost two-thirds, so that our government will return to a balanced budget by 2015.
Another critically important matter that affects our economy is ensuring that we provide the assistance necessary to help Canadians find good jobs. To make sure that Canada's labour force is well positioned to meet future challenges, last year our government announced that the skills training system in Canada would be transformed to better help Canadians acquire the skills that would actually get them hired and provide them with the tools to make career changes.
With economic action plan 2014, we are putting the wheels in motion to develop our country's greatest asset, our people.
I was pleased to see the inclusion of a new interest-free student loan for apprentices, as this would help young Canadians generally, including young Canadians in my riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville take advantage of the opportunities created in the GTA by the construction boom. I was also very pleased to see additional funding for university and college research projects, which will, of course, benefit the University of Toronto in Mississauga and Sheridan College, which is expanding and building its second campus.
Last year's economic action plan introduced the Canada job grant, aimed at connecting people looking for work with employers by encouraging employers to participate as partners in the skills training system and incurring a portion of the cost. Consultations have confirmed that employers welcome an increased role in training decisions in a way that is simple for businesses to access, and that is what we will do.
We continue to work closely with provinces and territories toward the implementation of the Canada job grant and the renewal of the labour market agreements. In jurisdictions where agreements are not secured, the Government of Canada will deliver the Canada job grant directly through Service Canada starting on April 1.
As announced previously, our government will also provide $222 million per year to better meet the employment needs of Canadian businesses and improve the employment prospects for people with disabilities.
Recently I joined representatives from Family Services of Peel to announce that our government will help people with disabilities in the Peel Region develop the skills, knowledge, and experience they need to find jobs.
Family Services of Peel is receiving over $209,000 from the opportunities fund for persons with disabilities. This funding will allow the organization to provide 60 participants with the skills and hands-on experience needed to enter and succeed in the job market. Participants will also benefit from job coaching services to help them become more independent and find employment.
To help organizations do a better job reaching out to the potential labour pool, the economic action plan proposes to invest $15 million over three years to the ready, willing and able initiative to engage employers to hire youth and working-age adults with developmental disabilities, including autism.
Let me share an email that I recently received from Mr. Brett Paveling of Community Living Mississauga:
Mr. Lizon,
On behalf of Community Living Mississauga, I would like to once again thank you...for taking time to meet with Keith Tansley and I about the Ready, Willing and Able program back on December 20th.
Thanks to your support for this important issue, we are able to celebrate the news that this week's federal budget included an allocation of $15 million towards the program over the next three years.
Again, we appreciate your ongoing support....
This was from Community Living Mississauga. I am very proud of our government's work with our community partners in the riding I proudly represent.
Our government did not stop there in addressing the labour shortages. We have made significant investments to help apprentices and the employers that hire them.
Apprentices can face significant costs to complete technical training, including educational fees, costs for tools and equipment, living expenses, and forgone wages. That is why we proposed to create the Canada apprentice loan to provide apprentices registered in their first Red Seal trade with access to interest-free loans of up to $4,000 per period of technical training. This initiative will assist more apprentices in completing their training and encourage more Canadians to consider a career in the skilled trades.
To assist older workers in adapting to a changing job market, we are renewing the targeted initiative for older workers program, representing a federal investment of $75 million over three years.
To support women entrepreneurs and small business owners, economic action plan 2014 proposes to provide $150,000 to Status of Women Canada in 2014-15 to increase mentorship among women entrepreneurs.
Balancing the budget, tackling labour shortages, and ensuring that Canadian consumers are protected are extremely important factors to ensuring a prosperous economy.
For many years now, consumers have been unsatisfied with the telecom market in Canada. Our government has paid close attention to this, and our record speaks for itself. Since the auction of wireless spectrum in 2008, prices have fallen by 20% and jobs in the wireless industry have increased by 25%.
I would also like to mention an issue that is very dear to me, and that is our government's action to improve services to our veterans who served our country.
In conclusion, I encourage all members of the House to support the budget. It is a good budget. It is in our interests to support it and support the growth of our great country.