Mr. Speaker, it seems that the hon. member for Carleton has a mixture of cherry-picked statistics that obscure more than they reveal. His speech reminded me of a saying by a former councillor from when I was on Pickering council. The Conservatives have their minds made up. They don't want to be confused by the facts. Let me go over in the chamber those important facts that the Conservatives do not want to be confused by.
First, we have a growing economy, and Canadians are benefiting from that growth. During the past three years, hard-working Canadians have created more than 800,000 new jobs, pushing the unemployment rate to its lowest level in 40 years. Wages are rising, and this year Canada is expected to remain among the fastest-growing economies in the G7. In fact, the work our government is doing is attracting praise from around the world. Recently, the U.S. News & World Report's ranking of 2019 best countries put Canada at number one for quality of life. This tells us that our plan to invest in people and communities is working.
From the beginning, our government has put people at the heart of its plan for economic growth. Our government is building a strong Canada, a better Canada, and we will continue to ensure that our fiscal plan is sustainable by maintaining our fiscal anchors. As part of that, our government will continue to reduce the federal debt-to-GDP ratio.
We began our mandate determined to help hard-working Canadians have more opportunities to share in the benefits that come from a strong and growing economy, and that is exactly what we have done. We have taken decisive and effective action based on the shared values that define us as a country to make the priorities of Canadians a reality. We asked the wealthiest 1% of Canadians to pay a little more so that we could cut taxes for the middle class. That middle-class tax cut is benefiting over nine million Canadians, who now have more in their pockets.
We also created the Canada child benefit. Compared to the previous system of child benefits, the CCB is simpler, more generous and better targeted to those families who need it most. It is also entirely tax free. Rather than offering boutique tax credits to millionaire families, we decided to help Canadians who need it the most. With the CCB, nine out of 10 Canadian families are getting more in benefits than they did under the previous system, and Canadian children are better off as a result. The CCB has already helped to lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. The extra support it gives makes a big difference for those working hard to make ends meet. This additional support from the CCB helps pay for the things that can make a real difference in a child's future, like nutritious food, sports activities or music lessons.
Thanks to the middle-class tax cut and the Canada child benefit, a typical middle-class family of four will receive, on average, about $2,000 more each year to help with the costs of raising their children, save for their future and help grow the economy for the benefit of everyone. With our middle-class tax cut and the Canada child benefit, a two-earner couple, one earning the average wage and the other earning two-thirds of that wage, with two children, now keeps nearly 85% of their income. For a single parent of two children earning the average wage, or for families with two children where only one parent is working at the average wage, the benefits are even more significant.
According to the OECD, when the CCB and other benefits are added to family income, those families effectively pay personal tax rates of just 1.8% and 1.2% respectively. That means they keep more than 98% of what they earn. The fact is, a majority of Canadians are paying a lower effective tax rate under our government. Individuals are paying less, single-earner families are paying less, two-earner families are paying less and single mothers are paying a lot less. The only Canadians who are paying more are the top 1%, so we can lower taxes on the middle class.
We have gone even further to ensure that the benefits of economic growth are widely shared. We will continue to stand up for the middle class while Conservatives continue to advocate on behalf of their wealthy friends.
I would like to point to the Canada workers benefit, the CWB, as a good example of what our government has done to help those people working hard to join the middle class.
Beginning this year, the CWB replaces the working income tax benefit. It will provide a benefit that is more generous and more accessible. The CWB will put more money in the pockets of low-income workers, encouraging more people to join and stay in the workforce and offering real help to more than two million Canadians who are working hard to join the middle class.
To give members a sense of what this will mean for Canadians, a low-income worker earning $15,000 could receive up to almost $500 more from the Canada workers benefit in 2019 than under the old working income tax benefit in 2018. That money can be used to support their priorities and help them get ahead, making a real difference for Canadians who are working hard to join the middle class.
Our government has also taken action to ensure that all Canadians benefit from the opportunities we are creating and will continue to benefit from our actions in their retirement years. We have worked in collaboration with our provincial and territorial partners to enhance the Canada pension plan, the CPP, so that Canadians can enjoy a secure and dignified retirement.
We also reversed the Harper government's disastrous changes to the guaranteed income supplement and to old age security, which would have plunged 100,000 seniors into poverty each year.
The CPP enhancement will be phased in starting this month. It means more money for Canadians when they retire, so that they can worry less about their savings and focus more on enjoying time with their families.
Over time this enhancement will raise the maximum CPP retirement benefit by up to 50%. This translates into an increase in the current maximum retirement benefit of nearly $7,300, from $13,855 to more than $21,100 in today's dollar terms.
With the action taken by Quebec to enhance the Quebec pension plan along similar lines, all Canadian workers can now look forward to a safer and more secure retirement.
On their side, the Conservatives planned to push back the age of retirement and take money away from our seniors. They even called for the CPP to be scrapped.
Second, Canada has a favourable investment climate. Our government recognizes the importance of a beneficial tax environment for small businesses. That is why we reduced the small business tax rate, first to 10% as of January 1, 2018, and then to 9%, effective January 1, 2019.
The combined federal-provincial-territorial average income tax rate for small businesses is 12.2% in 2019, the lowest in the G7 and the fourth-lowest among members of the OECD.
Even with this good news, we cannot take Canada's economic strength for granted. The year 2018 was challenging, especially with regard to the recent tax changes in the U.S. and concerns about what ongoing global trade disputes might mean for Canadian businesses.
Last summer our government heard from a number of business leaders that there is strong interest in making investments, the kind that can position businesses for long-term growth and create good, well-paying jobs for Canadian workers. We heard from many businesses that welcomed our new trade deal with the United States and Mexico, because securing that deal really does help when it comes to being able to confidently invest for the future. We welcome this new modernized trade agreement because it will help support good, well-paying middle-class jobs right across this country.
In total, Canada has signed free trade agreements with our neighbours to the south, the United States and Mexico; with our partners with whom we share the Atlantic Ocean, the European Union; and with Asia-Pacific countries, with whom we share access to the Pacific Ocean.
Today Canada is the only G7 country to have trade agreements with all other G7 countries. In all, we have 14 trade agreements covering 51 countries. These agreements in total give Canadian businesses privileged access to 1.5 billion consumers worldwide. These trade agreements lead to business confidence, which leads to business investing in middle-class jobs.
In the 2018 fall economic statement, our government took forward action to strengthen Canada's already competitive position. This includes allowing businesses to immediately write off the full cost of machinery and equipment used for the manufacturing and processing of goods and the full cost of specified clean-energy equipment to spur new investment and the adoption of advanced clean technology in the Canadian economy.
We also introduced the accelerated investment incentive, which will allow businesses of all sizes and in all sectors of the economy to write off a larger share of the cost of newly acquired assets in the year the investment is made.
Under the accelerated investment incentive, capital investments will generally be eligible for a first-year deduction for depreciation equal to up to three times the amount that would otherwise apply in the year the asset is put into use. Tripling the current first-year rate will allow businesses to recover the initial cost of their investment more quickly. This means reduced risk and a better incentive for businesses in Canada to make investments. The accelerated investment incentive applies to all tangible assets, including long-lived investments like buildings. It also applies to intangible capital assets, such as patents and other intellectual property.
With these two measures, the average overall tax rate on new business investment in Canada, as measured by the marginal effective tax rate, or METR, will fall from 17% to 13.8%. This means that Canada will have the lowest rate in the G7, one that is significantly below the United States. The METR is important because it provides a good representation of the overall effect of many of the tax factors affecting businesses in any given location.
However, that is not all. We also took steps to do more to modernize regulations so that it is easier for businesses to grow.
We believe that concrete, comprehensive and systematic measures such as the ones I have mentioned are more effective than the piecemeal and ineffective boutique tax credits mentioned by the hon. member.
Our government has also made it clear that gender equality is very important for Canada's economic growth. Canadian women are among the best educated in the world, yet they are less likely to participate in the labour market then men and are more likely to work part time. This under-representation continues in positions of leadership, and businesses in Canada are overwhelmingly owned by men. It reflects a number of factors, including the fact that Canadian women often have greater demands from unpaid work, preventing them from pursuing opportunities to reach their full potential.
Our economy is not working to capacity when women who wish to participate cannot do so, and the evidence is clear. RBC Economics estimates that adding more women to the workforce could boost Canada's GDP by as much as 4%. Our economy is strengthened when women and girls have opportunities to contribute to economic growth and to benefit equally from it. The time is now to ensure that all Canadians, and women in particular, are provided with an opportunity to succeed and lead. That is why we took several actions to move Canada toward gender equality.
Budget 2018 legislation provided help for new parents to care for their children during those critical early months through the new employment insurance parental sharing benefit. It encourages a more equal sharing of child care responsibilities within the home and allows for more flexibility to go back to work earlier, especially for mothers, if that is their choice, feeling reassured that their family has the support they need.
We also took steps to address the gender gap in federally regulated workplaces by requiring equal pay for equal work of equal value. About 1.2 million employed Canadians fall under the scope of this legislation.
In conclusion, our government is committed to growing the economy by helping all Canadians. We maintain that a strong economy is the result of a strong middle class, and our policies and results reflect this. Over the past three years, our government has invested in Canadians and in the things that matter most to them. These investments reflect the choice to reject austerity policies and instead invest wisely in strengthening the middle class and growing the economy.
That is what we have done, and middle-class Canadians are now better off. I can assure hon. members that we will continue to build on our good work in budget 2019.