Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his questions. I would also like thank him for all the very interesting discussions we had when preparing the budget. I really appreciated it.
First, I am very pleased that the member noted that we focused on fighting tax evasion. It is a priority for our government, especially during a pandemic, since social solidarity is very important. To achieve social solidarity, everyone must pay their fair share, and we are really going to focus on that. I will be very pleased to work on this objective with all members.
Second, given that the member is from Quebec, I will take this opportunity to point out to all members that the budget and the commitments we have made truly show the importance of Quebec's political leadership. Quebec made the decision to create a child care system more than 20 years ago. It was difficult and very costly. When I discussed this with Éric Girard, he told me to be careful because it is very expensive.
Quebec has proven another very important thing, namely that a child care system will make the economic recovery excellent and extraordinary. I think that it is important for me, as an anglophone from Toronto, to thank Quebec, especially the feminists from Quebec who worked very hard to build that system.
I will now address the other two questions.
In terms of health, we announced last month that we would be giving the provinces $5 billion to fight the third wave of COVID-19. As everyone knows, it is costing a lot of money, but the federal government is there to help the provinces.
As far as seniors are concerned, we have enhanced the old age security program for those 75 and older. We also allocated $3 billion for long-term care. This is a major contribution.
In closing, when it comes to the deficit and the fact that it is lower than what we projected, I hope that everyone will agree with me that this is a good thing and that it illustrates our government's prudent approach.