Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to take part in this evening's debate. I thank my colleague from Nanaimo—Ladysmith for raising the question, which ultimately touches on the subject of fairness within the Canadian economy.
I will agree notionally, and I expect most members of the House of Commons would as well, that it should be a priority for the Government of Canada to support our nation's most vulnerable. If that means we have to ask the wealthiest members of our society to pay their fair share, then that should be a consequence we readily accept for the benefits that will accrue to our society by supporting our nation's most vulnerable.
I will note, in particular, in the recent Speech from the Throne on the subject of taxing extreme wealth, the government has committed to limiting the stock option deduction for some of the wealthiest members of Canadian society and has decided to move forward on the issue of avoidance of taxes by digital giants. However, this is not a party that we have arrived to recently. Members will recall, having been in the previous Parliament, that the very first thing our government did when we were elected to office in 2015 was to raise taxes on the wealthiest 1% of Canadian income earners so that we could provide an income tax cut to nine million middle-class families.
We also moved forward with a plan with respect to the Canada child benefit. We stopped sending child care cheques to millionaires and put more money into the pockets of nine out of 10 Canadian families. This is a theme that has been a golden thread throughout the various policies we have adopted over the past five years. However, the inequities that exist within the economy have been made more readily apparent by the ongoing pandemic. That is why we made the decision, at the onset of this public health emergency, that we would be there for Canadians.
The Canada emergency response benefit has supported nearly nine million vulnerable Canadians in their time of need. The Canada emergency wage subsidy has supported millions more in maintaining a connection to their employer so that they can keep their job on the back end of this pandemic. There are countless examples of policies that have used Canadian taxpayer dollars to support our nation's most vulnerable during a time of unprecedented uncertainty.
Going forward, we need to recognize that the best thing that we can do to support our economy and prevent the need for this extraordinary amount of revenue to support the programs on the back end is to launch a world-class public health response so that we can limit the cost of the coronavirus to our society. That is why we have made major investments in personal protective equipment for front-line staff. That is why we are investing in the research and development of vaccines. That is why we ordered 7.9 million rapid testing kits as soon as Health Canada approved them, and that is why we are continuing to support the provinces in the delivery and administration of health care during this pandemic.
We do not need to just double down on a public health strategy. We also need to be investing in measures that will prevent households and businesses from bearing the enormous costs of this pandemic. By moving forward with some of the policies that I mentioned, whether it is the CERB, the wage subsidy or the emergency business account, we are going to be able to make an investment up front that will prevent us from suffering the worst consequences of inaction, leading to millions of additional dollars that we do not need to spend if we make smart investments now.
On a forward-looking basis, there will come a time when we need to examine how we are going to finance many of the polices that we have put in place now or we plan to going forward. By targeting policies that will promote growth and support Canada's most vulnerable, we will be able to save the system billions of dollars and support Canada's most vulnerable. If it means we have to ask the wealthiest to pay a bit more, then so be it.