Mr. Speaker, as a member of Parliament for a riding with some of the highest poverty rates in Canada, I find our government's focus on innovation and poverty reduction refreshing and exciting. Low-income single seniors will now receive a 10% increase in the GIS, and now we are introducing the new horizons for seniors program.
Many of my constituents and our seniors live in poverty. For that reason, I rise in the House today with particular excitement to stand beside the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development to endorse funding for the Saint John Free Public Library under the new horizons for seniors program. This funding will assist in creating education-based programming for seniors in my riding by having a writer-in-residence program. This will work toward creating a better standard of living for seniors through engagement, social participation, and inclusion in my great riding of Saint John—Rothesay.