Madam Speaker, I want to reflect on the Minister of Democratic Reform, who introduced the debate by spending a great deal of time talking about the election fairness and the Senate. I also want to take the opportunity to talk about a few other issues related to the budget that were raised this afternoon.
Let me start by recognizing National Public Service Week. Unlike the Conservatives across the way, and we saw it during question period today, we need to recognize the valuable contributions our public service makes every day. Our public service is held in such high esteem that experts and civil servants around the world often come to Canada to get a better understanding of how we have been so successful at attracting some of the brightest individuals, as well as that sense of commitment to serving the public, which our public servants do day in and day out.
The Prime Minister recognized earlier today how important it was for elected officials to listen to our public servants. I can assure that Public Service Week is not only to commend our public servants, but also to clearly let them know we listen to what they have to say. We appreciate their fine work.
I have heard a lot about the Senate. A number of my colleagues brought up the biographies of numerous senators. It was encouraging. It was not that long ago when we heard Stephen Harper, while he was prime minister and even before that, tell us what the Conservative Party wanted to do with the Senate.
Being from western Canada, the propaganda that stemmed from the Conservative Party was overwhelming at times. It talked about how it wanted to reform and make changes to the Senate. The only real thing it was able to accomplish was to put a dark cloud over the Senate, which motivated Canadians to say they wanted to see something happen on the Senate file.
I would love to compare the types of appointments made under the previous Harper government, which were based strictly on politics. The prime minister made the decision and chose the individuals he believed needed to be in the other chamber. We saw some of those appointments. Some of my colleagues have thrown names at me, and I am sure many Canadians are familiar with them. Probably one of the more popular appointments was Mr. Duffy. He, along with a few others, ultimately raised a great deal of concern about the Senate. It was a hotly debated issue, even prior to the current Prime Minister becoming the leader of the Liberal Party.
The Conservative prime minister was saying it was the best they could do. The NDP was saying to abolish the Senate. Both answers coming from the Conservatives and NDP were that to justify reform of the senate, the Constitution had to be changed.
When today's Prime Minister became leader of the Liberal Party, which was the third party, he made a very bold move. He said that to be part of that Liberal caucus, one needed to be an elected member of Parliament. He wanted to see the Senate operate in a more independent fashion.
With that statement, we saw more reform to the Senate chamber than Stephen Harper ever did in 10 years. That is when the Prime Minister was leader of the third party. There was a genuine attempt to make changes without having to change the Constitution. We know Canadians do not want us to focus our attention on that. It was important to move forward on making changes to the Senate, which could be done without having to change the Constitution.
I am really encouraged by the way senators have been appointed. We have some incredible senators. Individuals who have been listening to the debate will have heard some of the bios of those independent senators. We look forward to having a relationship where the Senate continues to do better. There are many sides to that.
I will not go into all the biographies of senators, but I will talk about one. As many do, I have a favourite senator, and that is Senator Sinclair, a former judge. He played a critical role as the chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Many Manitobans felt very proud that the Prime Minister kept his word in ensuring we depoliticized the Senate.
Members can sense the enthusiasm in my caucus on that issue. Let us imagine the enthusiasm of Canadians, recognizing that this is just one of many promises the Prime Minister has kept. We could say so much more about about the Senate.
However, we have had a busy Minister of Democratic Institutions who introduced the debate today. I want to highlight a couple of other things. Imagine, we now have a government that recognizes it is good to get more people to vote in elections.
Many Canadians will remember the unfair elections act brought in by Stephen Harper. We have a minister who has recognized the many faults in that legislation, and has brought in some really good stuff. Let me mention a few of those things.
What about the voter identification card, a card everyone was issued? When I asked the minister a question about it earlier today, she said there were about 200,000 individuals who might have not had the same opportunity to vote because of being unable to use their voter ID cards. There is good news. The voter identification card will count in the next federal election because of this government.
We want to see more young people engaged in the elections. What is a good way to get young people engaged? Through the legislation being proposed by the government, 14 to 17 years olds can register with Elections Canada. That will get more young people engaged at an earlier age, so they are on the voters' lists. That is a positive thing, having more young people engaged on this issue.
We all know Canadians are a trustworthy group of people. We know the Conservative Party said that it did not trust vouching at poll stations. When we were in opposition, we said that we trusted Canadians and that it was good enough to accept a Canadian vouching for another Canadian. This minister has brought in legislation that would allow Canadians to once again vouch for other Canadians, and that too would increase voter participation in the next election.
The good news does not stop there. As I said, we have a busy Minister of Democratic Institutions. We have reform in our election financing laws. After the legislation passes, not only will we have more robust legislation, but we will have some of the strongest, if not the strongest, legislation on election financing in North America. We all can all be proud that.
We are highlighting the fact that not only a prime minister or a minister, but also a leader of an officially recognized party has an obligation to report those individuals who contribute more than $200 to attend an event. What does that mean? More transparency and more accountability for our political leaders in Canada, and that is a good thing.
We have heard a great deal about the estimates and the reforms on estimates. The government House leader has gone out of her way to get opposition members onside. The President of the Treasury Board has tried to encourage members to understand that we need to move forward in making changes to the House of Commons. Let me share a couple of those ideas.
One idea makes a lot of sense. It is what we did in the Manitoba legislature. The Minister of Natural Resources and I served in the Manitoba legislature. After the budget was presented, we had the main estimates. What is wrong with that? The President of the Treasury Board has talked a lot about that and we should all get behind that because it makes sense.
A Conservative member, in addressing this issue, talked about the importance of ministers, their responsibilities, and the need to be transparent and accountable. Members will recall that not only did the Prime Minister appoint a gender-neutral cabinet, but as part of that every ministers was given a mandate letter that was made public. Unlike former Prime Minister Harper, we recognize that each minister has a responsibility and that responsibility is dictated in the mandate letter. Unlike the member who previously spoke, we see that as a good thing.
It is interesting how the member across the way said that the Conservatives were a little disappointed because the government interrupted a committee meeting in which a minister was before it and the minister did not come back. I have heard many ministers in the House talk about the importance of making changes to benefit all Canadians. One of those changes was to the way in which we had some of those votes. I say this because the previous speaker made reference to it. She talked about how unfortunate it was that we had the bells ringing during the committee meeting, which interrupted the meeting. Hundreds of individuals are brought to Ottawa under the pretence of making a presentation to a standing committee. Unfortunately, at times, there are votes. However, with the the number of dilatory motions brought in by the official opposition, interruptions occurred as direct result of those.
When we get members of the Conservative Party who are talking about changes and wanting to see changes that are going to have a positive impact on the flow of business inside the House, they need to reflect on some of the behaviours that they participated in that ultimately caused the disruptions they are opposing today. There are many different ideas.
Having said all of that, I want to get to the core of the main estimates. That is really what we are talking about. There is so much good news. I take budget one and budget two, and I say, this is all about Canada's middle class. For those Canadians who appreciate and want to see Canada's middle class and those aspiring to be a part of it really move forward, this is a budget and estimates that people need to get behind. Look at what we have been able to accomplish in such a short period of time. Let me name a few of those things.
The Prime Minister often talks about the extra tax on the 1% wealthiest. Remember, that is the tax the Conservatives voted against. Then what about the tax break for Canada's middle class? That was hundreds of millions of dollars put into the pockets of Canadians, which will be helping our small businesses, which I know makes the minister responsible for small business very happy. We put in tax breaks and gave the cash to Canadians in the very first budget. This is just a continuation. Again, the Conservatives, believe it or not, voted against tax breaks.
Let us talk about seniors. When we look at some of the actions for seniors, we had the wonderful reversal of the Stephen Harper approach on retirement. Remember, Stephen Harper increased the age of retirement from 65 to 67. I remember it well. I did petitions. We did emergency debates, just name it, to try to point out to Mr. Harper that it was a bad decision. We made a campaign promise to reverse that decision, and we did just that. Canadians will have the opportunity to retire at the age of 65.
Then we could talk about the guaranteed income supplement. There was a substantial increase, which lifted tens of thousands of seniors in every region of our country out of poverty because of a good idea, an idea that the Harper government never acted on, which is most unfortunate.
One of the best things that I believe this government has done is that it has recognized the importance of investing in Canada's infrastructure. Investing billions of dollars, record amounts of money, into Canada's infrastructure is good for our economy. It is good for Canadians. It is going to enrich all those who get behind this project because it will make a difference. This is the type of thing we are here for, to look for good, solid policy ideas that are going to have a positive impact on everyday Canadians.
Day after day, we are seeing decisions being made by this cabinet, by this government, and by the caucus, to ensure that Canadians will be better off as a direct result of this Prime Minister and the wonderful things that we are doing.
To quote the Prime Minister, we can always do better. That is something we take very seriously. We consult with our constituents, knowing full well that we have a government that wants us to come back with the ideas that are being generated from our constituencies to share with our caucus colleagues so that those ideas will be reflected in the government policies that are being developed over the coming years.
I think it is a good thing for Canadians for members to get behind this particular budget and vote for—