Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance is a man of great integrity who, even before taking office, took the initiative and contacted the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner in order to obtain her advice and recommendations. Following that meeting and the disclosure by the Minister of Finance of his assets and investments, she sent him the letter made public today, in which she does not recommend setting up a blind trust. She says that there must be a screen to avoid conflicts of interest and any appearance of conflict of interest, and it must be made public.
That is what the minister did. He followed to the letter the recommendations of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, who he has worked with since taking office. When opposition parties started raising questions, the minister, to avoid any distractions, contacted the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner proactively. He made a commitment today to put his assets in a blind trust and to maintain the conflict of interest screen, which is public and has been in place since he took office. He has also committed to divesting himself of his shares in the company in question.
This proves that the Minister of Finance has always been transparent with the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, in whom we have the utmost confidence and who parliamentarians and Canadians trust to ensure compliance with our laws and the rules governing all of us in the House. That is what the minister did and that is what he will continue to do in the interest of integrity and transparency.
The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner should enjoy the full confidence of Parliament. When her recommendations are followed, it means we are doing the right thing, and that is what the minister has been doing since taking office.
We could also talk about other things the minister has done. As soon as he took office, he kick-started our economy, helping create 400,000 jobs across the country over the past two years. He cut taxes for nine million Canadians and raised taxes for the wealthiest 1%. He reduced child poverty by 40% thanks to the Canada child benefit, which is much more generous and more progressive than the previous program and is definitely helping more people who need it most.
We could also talk about the infrastructure investment policies that have contributed to Canada's exceptional growth. The Minister of Finance, who has dedicated the past two years to serving Canadians, deserves to be lauded for leading Canada on the path to inclusive prosperity.
As for tax reform and our support for small businesses, the Minister of Finance announced this week that we are going to cut the tax rate for small and medium-sized business from 10.5% to 9% by January 1, 2019, as part of our ongoing efforts to support Canada's small businesses, SMEs, and entrepreneurs. He also announced a number of changes to our tax reform, because we are a government that believes in the importance of consulting and listening to people. We have faith not only in our caucus, but in Canadians from coast to coast as well. However, our goal remains unchanged: to improve tax fairness in certain areas.