Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to speak here today. I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his very important question on seniors and our middle class.
The previous government's plan to nearly double the tax-free savings account, or TFSA, contribution limit would have helped the wealthiest Canadians save more and would have cost the federal treasury hundreds of millions of dollars over the next five years and tens of billions in the long term. This government made a different choice. We have a plan to grow the economy, and we have already gotten the ball rolling.
We will implement initiatives that will help the greatest number of Canadians succeed. During the election campaign, we talked about the middle class, and those are the people we want to help. In December, we started by cutting taxes for the middle class. In the 2016 budget, we will introduce a Canada child benefit that will make things better for nine out of 10 families in this country.
We also know that only 6.7% of Canadians who can contribute to a TFSA hit the limit in 2013. Doubling the annual contribution limit does not help the 93% of Canadians who cannot max out their TFSAs. I can assure Canadians that the limit for 2015 is still $10,000 and that the change will not be retroactive.
I would also like to take this opportunity to tell my hon. colleague that we conducted pre-budget consultations all over the country, from Moncton to Yellowknife. Along with the Minister of Finance, we hosted approximately 20 meetings with hundreds of Canadians. We also heard from over 100,000 Canadians who shared their opinions online.
People want us to focus on the middle class and talk about innovation, productivity and smart infrastructure, infrastructure that will move our country forward. People also spoke to us about exports.
After travelling all over the country, we know that Canadians want a responsible government that will invest in the middle class and make sure that Canada's economy continues to grow. That is exactly what we are doing when we invest in the middle class, as we did in December by lowering taxes for the middle class. That is exactly what we did when we created our Canada child benefit. We are putting more money in the pockets of Canadians in order to grow the economy.