Debates of April 22nd, 2021

Enhanced Border Security

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During question period, the member for Repentigny referred to Alberta oil as dirty oil. With the House's permission, I would like to table a report from the Canadian Energy Centre showing that Alberta oil actually has lower flaring and lower venting, and is cleaner oil than the oil that is imported into Quebec from the States and Algeria. I suggest that perhaps the member should get on board and bring in Alberta oil to help the environment, as opposed to the dirty oil that currently being imported.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

All those opposed to the hon. member moving the motion will please say nay.

[Some hon. members]

Nay.

Business of the House

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of Her Majesty's loyal opposition, I would like to hear from House leader of the government what our plans are for the remainder of this week and next week.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, we will continue the debate on the budget presented on Monday by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

Tomorrow, we will debate Bill C-21, the firearms act, at second reading.

When we return on Monday, we will have the fourth and final day of debate on the budget.

On Tuesday, we will resume the second reading debate of Bill C-12, an act respecting transparency and accountability in Canada's efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050.

On Wednesday of next week, we will continue with the second reading debate of Bill C-19, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act (COVID-19 response).

On Thursday, we will have the first of eight opposition days in the current supply cycle.

Finally, on Friday morning, we will start with a debate on Bill C-22, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, followed in the afternoon by a debate on Bill S-3, an act to amend the Offshore Health and Safety Act.

That is all.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that this House approve in general the budgetary policy of the government, and of the amendment.

Financial Statement of Minister of Finance

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise today and take this opportunity to share my thoughts on the recently tabled federal budget. Before I do, I want to congratulate our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance for her historic achievement of being Canada's first female finance minister to deliver a budget in this House. It is a well-deserved honour and one that was long overdue.

In terms of this budget, the first one in two years, I would say I am disappointed. I was expecting to hear a road map that lays out a responsible recovery plan, one that would lead us out of this pandemic in a timely manner. Instead, we were presented with a document not focused on restoring and creating jobs but on Liberal partisan spending priorities.

The budget path of this Prime Minister's reimagined economy veers off into the unknown and saddles our children with debt levels and repayment obligations that will challenge their future success. When reviewing this document, it is absolutely staggering to think that each of us owes a federal debt share of over $33,000.

The government members cannot argue that they are supporting middle-class Canadians when they put the middle class and those suffering in poverty this much into debt. The government members also cannot argue that they are supporting future generations when they are spending the very savings of those generations on Liberal priorities of the day, right now and in the near future.

Many others share these concerns. In fact, well-known economist David Rosenberg recently gave the federal budget a D grade, and was quoted by BNN Bloomberg as saying, “we're definitely mortgaging our future with this extreme increase in debt.”

He also acknowledged, “We're adding on more debt in six years than we did in the previous 152 years combined”. Let that resonate for a moment. We are adding more debt in six years than in all the years since Confederation combined, including two world wars.

Alas, here we are, speaking about this long-awaited and very overdue budget. This document contains 739 pages and almost 233,000 words. By far, by these metrics, it is the longest budget in Canadian history. Unfortunately, despite all these words and pages, no recovery plan is there to lay out how we are going to go about getting out of this pandemic and into the early stages of a recovery in the near future, so we can begin returning life back to normal. It is as if with this budget the Liberals want to wish the pandemic away and pretend we have already made it to the other side.

However, here is the reality. On the day the budget was announced, Ontario reported more than 4,400 new COVID cases, along with 19 more deaths. Record COVID numbers are also being felt in British Columbia and in Prince Edward Island, which has effectively closed its provincial borders to travellers from outside Atlantic Canada.

Our worst fears at the start of this pandemic are being realized in this severe third wave. As the provinces and territories struggle mightily to contain COVID-19 and the new variants of concern, they are without sufficient supplies of badly needed vaccines, which were already badly needed over a year ago to manage hospitalizations and protect our health and well-being.

Provinces and territories can only combat COVID with the resources they have. While many are ready to vaccinate, including Ontario, they are without vaccine supply because the federal government has failed to secure them. It is a shame that the federal government used its first budget announcement as a flashy attempt to turn the channel on this pandemic at a time when it is the worst it has ever been.

It was either that, or the Liberals prematurely assumed that COVID-19 vaccines would be here by now and that cases and hospitalizations across the country would have subsided by April 19, 2021. Either way, these are massive miscalculations by the Liberal government. It is also evidence of irresponsible and poor governance.

In addition to lacking a recovery plan, there is scant to no mention of additional vaccine acquisition and distribution, and it is the same for rapid testing. Everyone knows that rapid testing must be a key component in any reopening and recovery plan, as we have seen in countries around the world that are much further ahead than we are in vaccinating their populations and reopening their economies.

Canada's Conservatives have been calling on the Liberal government to implement widespread and publicly available rapid testing devices since the early days of the pandemic, including at our international border points. However, when we review this budget, we see they do not even mention our land border crossings, of which I have four in my riding alone, despite the misleading title on page 73 of this budget. It is inappropriately titled “A Plan for the Safe Reopening of Our Borders”.

Just yesterday, the finance minister met virtually with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Businesses are seeking clarity and certainty from the government and are asking for the federal government to lay out the criteria it will be using to determine whether and when border restrictions can end. According to a press report, the finance minister reported by indicating that “everyone needs to be flexible at the moment as the country continues grappling with the pandemic.” Then, according to the media, “she suggested rapid-testing kits could soon be flowing to companies”. This is peculiar, as nowhere in the budget is rapid testing even mentioned.

Before the pandemic, Canada's travel and tourism industry was the country's fifth-largest sector, responsible for $105 billion in GDP or 2.3% of GDP. It employed one in 10 Canadians, 10% of Canadian jobs, and had 225,000 small and medium-sized businesses across Canada. COVID hit our travel and tourism industry first, it hit it the hardest and it will take this industry the longest to recover.

As special adviser to the Conservative leader on tourism recovery, I hear this from sectors of the industry when I meet with stakeholders. In fact many, including the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, have predicted that a recovery will take up to four or five years just to achieve the levels of success we had attained in 2019. Yet, in budget 2021, the federal government is only extending the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency rent subsidy until September 25 of this year, while an additional 12 weeks will be added to the Canada recovery benefit. However, subsidy rates for both CEWS and CERS will begin to gradually decrease beginning on July 4. For the Canada recovery benefit, the $500 payment usually received will be reduced to $300 for the last eight weeks of the benefit.

Travel and tourism industry stakeholders have been asking for these essential programs to be extended right through to the end of 2021 for those who have been hardest hit. They have also provided ample warning that travel and tourism will not resume right away, as if we were switching on a light, but rather, it will take time before we begin welcoming international or even domestic tourists back to our Canadian destinations.

The extended CEWS and CERS support, as well as changes to the Canada recovery benefit in budget 2021, clearly fall short of industry and worker needs, which is incredibly disappointing, from my perspective. Coming from the riding of Niagara Falls, where tourism is heavily dependent on the summer season, it will be devastating for many tourism businesses and workers if the CEWS, CERS and CRB rates decrease while COVID cases remain high, the borders remain closed and tourists stay away. Why are these emergency business support programs, which have been so essential for so many, set to these arbitrary timelines to end?

In a perfect world for the Prime Minister, his promise of everyone being vaccinated by September would be fulfilled and the economy could be instantly reopened as good as before. Unfortunately for the Liberals, this is another imagined world. The world we live in today is one with a severe vaccine shortage in Canada, without widely available rapid testing devices and with an overabundance of COVID variants that are driving a severe third wave. What happens to the CERS, CEWS, CRB and the workers and small businesses that rely on these emergency support programs if the variants continue unabated into the summer?

What if borders remain closed through the summer and into the fall, significantly damaging our prospects of having international tourists visit our destination. Summer is the best tourism season in Niagara. However, we are on the verge of losing our second consecutive summer tourism season due to this pandemic. If businesses do not reopen this summer or tourism does not return in time for the summer season, the CRB, CEWS and CERS plan, as laid out by budget 2021, could have a disastrous outcome for workers and the many businesses that depend on them.

We are not on a good path, because the Liberals have failed us. To make matters worse, as the COVID conditions across Ontario have intensified, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a level 4 “Do not travel” health warning about Canada due to COVID-19, and it did this just one day after the Liberals announced their budget.

So many of us were looking to budget 2021 to provide a recovery plan, a real, solid, tangible recovery plan supported by science, metrics and data, so we could finally plan to reopen our borders and our economy and bring life back to normal. If there was an ideal time to unveil a federal recovery plan to get Canadians to the other side of this awful pandemic, it was on budget day. Unfortunately for Canadians, the Liberal government and the Prime Minister have failed us once again.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth and to the Minister of Canadian Heritage (Sport)]

Mr. Speaker, while I appreciate the speech from my colleague opposite, I have to wonder if we are reading from the same document when we are looking at the budget, although it is likely that my colleague reads most of these types of documents with blue-tinted glasses because we are still stuck in an era when we are talking about government debt as if it is a Visa card or a mortgage and we have to pay it down and live in prosperity debt-free as a nation. It is a bit of a fallacy.

When I read the budget, I saw investments in child care, investments in jobs, investments in the environment and the pursuit of a net-zero future for all Canadians, and indeed, as my colleague would know, investments in tourism and leisure.

If we are going to start taking things out of the budget to lessen the debt load of the country and invariably add to the debt load of Canadians in terms of personal debt, which deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal and many others indicate is the most serious form of debt in Canada, where would he start? Would he start cutting money to tourism and leisure, to families or to the environment? Which is the first one to go?

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if the hon. member was listening to the speech or just preparing remarks to attack my position here. In fact, when he talks about debt load, if we judge this budget, by 2026 we will be spending $39 billion just on interest payments on this debt and, if we think about it, only $25.6 billion on employment insurance benefits for Canadians. We can think about that. In 2026, we will be spending $40 billion on interest payments and only $27.9 billion on the Canada child benefit.

Again, there is a cost to be paid, which is interest payments, and those payments are not going to programs that support Canadians and assist Canadians, including those in the tourism sector. I represent a riding of 40,000 workers and they are looking for assistance. This budget is going to be one that hurts them.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Niagara Falls for his speech. He talked a lot about the pandemic.

Yesterday, the Conservative Party members refused to vote in favour of the amendment to the amendment moved by the Bloc Québécois to increase health transfers.

By so doing, the Conservatives have broken their promise to fight for health transfers, and they are abandoning seniors aged 65 and over.

I would like my colleague to comment on that.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Mr. Speaker, since the Bloc's subamendment deleted two key aspects of the amendment we were proposing, we therefore voted against it. The Bloc members knew that was going to happen. We support the notion of increased health care funding, but we do not agree with their position, which allowed them to delete certain sections of our amendment, so we voted against it. We do not agree with their refusal to understand the basic need for fiscal prudence and fiscal responsibility. I guess they would not, because they will never form a government. We also do not agree with creating two different classes of seniors, which their amendment proposed.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member talking about basic needs. We know that there are over 300,000 homeless people in our country right now. The government announced 4,500 new units for rapid housing and it is patting itself on the back, but at this pace, it is going to take over 37 years to house the homeless.

I know the Conservatives have talked a lot about reducing crime. We had a rapid housing initiative application in our riding get denied that was supported by the Nanaimo parole office. It cited how it had no accommodation for clients returning to the area from corrections. There was a report from the Province of B.C. about crime reduction, which cited that every dollar spent on prevention, whether it be affordable housing or criminal justice reform, saved $12 from the taxpayer.

Does my colleague agree that the government is not doing enough to tackle housing, which is absolutely critical to crime reduction and to helping those who are struggling the most?

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will agree with the member in the sense that this budget does nothing to help those who need it the most. Again, I will refer back to my community of 40,000 workers. They are all sitting at home. They are collecting government programs, but they would rather be working instead. A vaccine is a way forward. Rapid testing is a way forward.

A key concern about this budget is that it would put these programs, which are vitally important for our community, at risk. If those programs end in September, what happens? Niagara, by its nature, is a seasonal tourism operation. If those people do not even have the necessary hours and COVID still remains, they will not have any programs to go back on to support themselves in the months ahead.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, before I start my speech on the budget, I would like to congratulate the member for Brampton East for his parliamentary secretary assignment. I will be sharing my time with him in the House.

I rise today to communicate my strong support of the federal budget delivered this week and to speak specifically about the strong economic measures announced in support of Canadians and businesses. I am partially inspired by the comments made by the leader of the official opposition earlier this week, when he made the following ill-informed and misguided remark: “this budget does next to nothing to secure the Canadian economy.”

While I am not surprised by this type of politics from the member for Durham, it does indicate that he either did not bother to inform himself of the long list of economic measures taken in this budget, or he has a fundamental lack of understanding about how best to support and grow the Canadian economy.

Budget 2021 not only acknowledges the thousands of Canadian workers who have been laid off or are facing reduced working hours due to the pandemic, but it also offers a strong plan to increase opportunities. In total, this budget would create or maintain 330,000 jobs in Canada by 2022-23. Further, it would also create almost 500,000 new training and work experience opportunities. This is, of course, in line with the Speech from the Throne last fall, which committed to creating one million jobs by the end of the year.

On that front, I am pleased to say that we are well ahead of the predicted timeline for job creation. Of course, gaining jobs in light of the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic took away so many over the past 12 months is something that must be mentioned. Along with these considerations is the fact that our government's investment into getting people back to work and creating new opportunity is expected to result in reaching our pre-pandemic employment rate by early 2022.

Budget 2021 announced $26 billion over the next six years to invest in critical infrastructure across the country, from more reliable and accessible public transit to supporting projects in indigenous communities and massive programs to create more energy-efficient and affordable housing. The fact is that not only do infrastructure projects provide a long-term foundation for overall economic growth, but they also create immediate well-paying jobs for the duration of each respective project.

Another measure that would help hundreds of thousands of small business owners is the newly announced Canada recovery hiring program for eligible employers who are continuing to experience declines in revenue relative to before the pandemic. For those businesses that have had to lay off staff or drastically reduce the hours their employees are receiving, this proposed subsidy program would offset a portion of the costs employers must endure as they reopen. These subsidies could be applied to either increasing work hours available to already existing employees or the hiring of new staff.

As we know, small to medium-sized businesses, which have been hit the hardest by the pandemic, are the backbone of the Canadian economy and the drivers of job creation from coast to coast to coast, so helping them be well prepared to recover and thrive in the post-pandemic economy is a smart strategic investment that would create jobs and create opportunities.

With the rollout of vaccines well under way, and when it is safe to do so, businesses in the tourism and arts and culture sectors are getting ready to welcome Canadians back to experience the great places and activities this country has to offer. To support thousands of jobs for vendors, technicians, production crews and many more, our government will invest $1 billion over three years, including $200 million for local festivals, museums, heritage celebrations, and community cultural and amateur sporting events, which will showcase the best of Canadian culture and talent.

I also want to take the time to outline some of the measures announced that will support young people. Over the next three years, $470 million will be directed toward Employment and Social Development Canada to establish a new apprenticeship service. This initiative will create 55,000 first-year apprentices in construction and manufacturing Red Seal trades. Up to $5,000 will be available for all the first-year apprentice opportunities and up to $10,000 for year one will be directed to those employers who hire under-represented populations, including racialized Canadians and persons with disabilities.

This budget also proposes to invest over $370 million in new funding for the Canada summer jobs program in 2022 and 2023 to support 75,000 new job placements in the summer of 2022. This builds on the funding announced in the fall economic statement, in which the program will support over 220,000 summer jobs over the next two years.

I want to mention the $708 million over the next five years that is being invested into Mitacs, a non-profit organization that connects young workers with innovative, business-engaged research and provides training opportunities. This will give Canada's young innovators more opportunity to succeed while supporting businesses of all sizes across the country. This will result in at least 85,000 work-integrated placements that provide job learning for young people and the opportunity for participating businesses to grow and develop talent.

There is also $5 billion over the next seven years for the net-zero accelerator, which is a critical component of innovation as we shape a more green and prosperous economy.

There is $500 million for the industrial research assistance program for innovative small and medium-sized businesses, $440 million over the next decade to support artificial intelligence innovation across Canada and a combined $760 million investment in genomics and quantum research.

To conclude, I want to make it clear that all of the investments announced this week in the budget have one common theme. They are in support of a wide range of economic projects that create tangible jobs and opportunities.

Away from political spin and the desire of the parties across the way to find them at issue, these are the facts that surround our government's path to secure the economy. Balance is what will define the budget as we continue to take every measure possible to ensure that Canada rises above the pandemic with a healthy population while at the same time making long-term investments into creating a post-pandemic growing economy.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you and the other members in the House for giving me the opportunity to speak on the budget.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member mentioned tourism. He said that tourism businesses are getting ready to welcome back visitors from all around the world. Well, he is wrong. They are not. Why are they not? It is because they have been begging this government for over a year for some kind of a plan that gives them a sense as to when they are going to be able to that and how they are going to be able to do that. This government has ignored them for over year. The Prime Minister promised them over a year ago that there would be a plan for them, and that promise has not been kept.

CEO Keith Henry and the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada said:

The Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada is confused, troubled and disappointed with the federal budget announcement. ...the economic effects of the pandemic have reached catastrophic levels, with many businesses forced to shut their doors permanently.... With an unprecedented amount of spending in the federal budget, the Indigenous tourism industry seems to be left behind. The Indigenous tourism sector needs a national, coordinated, Indigenous-led approach in order to respond, recover and build resiliency from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and this federal budget largely missed the mark for the Indigenous tourism industry in Canada.

That is widely felt among the entire tourism industry.

I would ask the member: Would it not be better to measure success, rather than by billions of dollars that they spend, by actually measuring something that they have accomplished, been able to bring—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We will have to leave it at that.

We will go to the hon. member for Surrey—Newton.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, when it comes to tourism, heritage, culture and our indigenous peoples' heritage, our government is committed. That is why, if we look at budget 2021, we are investing $1 billion over the next three years to support tourism. That is exactly what the people on the ground were advocating for.

The finance minister has had many virtual meetings with chambers of commerce and organizations right from the grassroots. That is the input they gave, and so this is what our government is providing to make sure that we are able to support tourism and travel.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

Earlier this week, I heard the Prime Minister struggling to explain why he was creating two classes of seniors in his budget by increasing old age security only for people aged 75 and over. No matter whether someone is 72 or 76, the cost of living is going up for everyone, including everything from groceries to rent.

This budget measure is upsetting people in my region, the Lower St. Lawrence, where seniors under 75 are wondering why they are facing this injustice. I would like the member to explain why he thinks these two classes of seniors are being created.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, to go back to the 2015 election, the Liberals made a promise to seniors when the Conservatives were trying to bring in a retirement age of 67. The Prime Minister, then the leader of the Liberal Party, made a promise that we would retain the retirement age at 65 so that seniors would not have to go through another two years of poverty.

Now, we see that the most vulnerable group of seniors is particularly 75 years and older, and that is where our government is trying to help them. There will be a one-time, $500 payment in August 2021 and a 10% increase starting in July 2022, which is going to help approximately 3.3 million seniors—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We have time for just a very short question from the hon. member for Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to return to tourism, because I find the member's speech a little perplexing when he talked about tourism getting ready to welcome people back. He talked about $1 billion as a kind of look-over-here strategy.

Is this member really comfortable with beginning to phase out support to small businesses and tourism and to cut the emergency benefit for workers who depend on it in the tourism industry in the middle of their second lost season starting in July? How does he expect them to survive with those cuts beginning that early?

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to supporting tourism, I already explained, but when it comes to supporting small businesses, our government has already extended the business subsidy to the fall to make sure that we are able to support those businesses that need the help the most and the tourism and travel industry is one of them.

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by thanking the hon. member for Surrey—Newton for his kind words. I am thankful for the chance to address the House and all Canadians during this time of extreme difficulty for our country, particularly for my province of Ontario.

As we encourage residents to stay at home and practise extra vigilance, our federal government will always have Canadians' backs. We exceeded our original quarter one commitments for the total of 9.5 million doses received. With over 13 million now delivered to provinces and territories, we are currently third among G20 countries for people receiving their vaccines and we are well on track to provide a vaccine to every adult who would like one by September.

As we look to our new budget, I want to reflect on how our government has continued to support and invest in Canadians throughout this pandemic. The Canada recovery benefit has now helped more than 1.8 million Canadians put food on the table and pay their bills, including $14.5 billion in direct support.

Last month, we increased the number of weeks for the program availability to families and workers. The wage subsidy has provided $73 billion to workers with over three million approved applications to date. There have been 669,000 approved applications for the rent subsidy, totalling over $2 billion in support. These are crucial supports that support Canadian families, workers and businesses.

On Monday, my two proud daughters watched our first female Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance table a historic budget. As she put it herself, this budget is about completing our fight against COVID-19, alleviating the damage left by the recession it created, and building up to create more opportunities for Canadians to thrive in years to come.

We have not seen such a steep and fast economic contraction in recent times. As many members know first-hand, those disproportionately affected include low-wage workers, young people, women and racialized Canadians. Some businesses have found innovative ways to prosper and even grow and others, due to circumstances outside their control, have had to fight just to survive.

I am thrilled to be able to speak on a budget that is delivering on our government's commitment to creating jobs, growing the middle class, helping businesses get on track for long-term growth, and ensuring that Canadians' future will be healthier, more equitable, greener and more prosperous. Our top priority remains protecting Canadians' health and safety, particularly during this third aggressive wave.

Budget 2021 invests in Canada's biomanufacturing and life sciences sector to rebuild domestic vaccine manufacturing capacity. Our government is proposing a $3-billion investment to support provinces and territories and ensuring standards for long-term care are applied and permanent changes are established.

We will also provide $90 million to launch an “age well at home” initiative. This would assist community-based organizations to provide practical support to help low-income and otherwise vulnerable seniors to age in place, such as matching seniors with volunteers who can help with meal preparation, home maintenance, daily errands, yard work and transportation.

Our government is also proposing to increase the old age security for seniors age 75 and over beginning in 2022, including a one-time top-up payment of $500 this August, as we want to make sure we are there for our seniors who have built our country.

Ontario will see an investment of $466 million to support health care system capacity in responding to surges in COVID-19 cases, as well as heightened demand for those experiencing challenges related to mental health, substance abuse and homelessness.

The pandemic has created new barriers for those needing access to mental health services and the stresses associated with the pandemic, whether job, health or isolation related. Budget 2021 represents a $1.2-billion investment nationwide to help mitigate this challenge.

For our economy to reach its full potential, we must ensure we have the highest participation rate possible in our workforce. To do so, our government is proposing a transformative investment to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system. This unprecedented plan will drive economic growth, increase women's participation in the workforce and ensure each child has the best start in life. We will aim to reduce fees for regulated child care by 50% on average by 2022, with the goal of reaching $10 per day on average by 2026. We will provide almost $30 billion over the next five years and provide permanent, ongoing funding.

We are committed to supporting women entrepreneurs as we aim to build back stronger and more inclusively. Our budget proposes allocating $146 million to strengthen the women entrepreneurship strategy. Women entrepreneurs will have greater access to financing, mentorship and training. We will work with financial institutions to develop a voluntary code to support the inclusion of women and other under-represented entrepreneurs as clients in the financial sector.

To support low-wage workers, our budget proposes to expand the Canada workers benefit to support about one million additional Canadians, helping them return to work and increasing benefits for those most vulnerable. The government will raise the income level at which the benefit starts being reduced to $22,944 for single individuals without children and to $26,177 for families.

Investing in youth has never been more important than at this moment. Many young people, recent graduates and students are struggling to find valuable job experience and growth opportunities due to the barriers caused by the pandemic.

Our budget is proposing to waive interest accrual on Canada student loans and Canada apprenticeship loans until March 31, 2023. We are proposing to double student grants for an additional two years, effectively covering 90% of the average undergraduate tuition in Canada for low-income students during the pandemic.

Further supports for youth include $118 million in after-school programming and $239 million in student work placement programs to support 50,000 work integrative learning opportunities for post-secondary students, up 20,000 from last year.

We will invest $80 million to help kids learn to code, and $109 million to create 7,000 more jobs through the youth employment and skills strategy to better meet the needs of vulnerable youth facing various and often multiple barriers to employment. An additional 94,000 job placements will be made available through Canada summer jobs funding.

To further our progress in prioritizing job creation in small business, our budget will extend business and income support measures through to the fall. We will support almost 500,000 new training and work opportunities, including 215,000 opportunities for youth.

Budget 2021 is a plan that puts the government on track to meet its commitment to create one million jobs. Our budget proposes $700 million over three years for the regional development agencies to support business financing. This would position local economies for long-term growth by transitioning to a green economy and enhancing competitiveness.

We also propose to launch the Canada digital adoption program to assist over 160,000 businesses with the cost of new technology. This will provide businesses with the advice they need to get the most out of new technology, while employing 28,000 young Canadians who will be trained to work with them. In addition, we also propose to allow small businesses to fully expense up to $1.5 million in capital investments and assets, including digital technology and intellectual property. This constitutes an additional $2.2 billion investment in the growth of entrepreneurial companies.

Fighting climate change has been and will always be one of our government's biggest priorities. Budget 2021 includes a plan to allow 200,000 Canadians to make their homes greener. Our investments are aimed at reducing the pollution from fuels used in the transportation and production of goods by increasing Canada's production of low carbon fuels, including biofuels. They are aimed at encouraging the developing of innovative new technologies to reduce pollution in heavy industry, and conserving up to one million square kilometres more land and inland waters to help achieve our 25% protected area by 2025 targets.

This plan puts Canada on track to exceed its Paris targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 36% by 2030. This also puts us on a path to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

As part of our green recovery plan, we are proposing $5 billion to the net zero accelerator. This would allow the government to provide up to $8 billion in support for projects that will help reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions across the economy.

We are proposing to reduce general, corporate and small business income tax for businesses that manufacture zero emission technologies. More investments in this plan include $56 million to develop and implement a set of codes and standards for retail ZEV charging and fuelling stations. We will provide $98 million to support our commitment to power federal buildings with 100% clean energy by 2022, and $104 million to strengthen greenhouse gas emission regulations for light and heavy-duty vehicles and off-road residential equipment.

Canada entered the pandemic in a strong fiscal position. This allowed our government to take quick actions, supporting people and businesses, and to make historic investments in the recovery. To respond to the pandemic, $8 out of $10 spent in Canada has come from the federal government. I am incredibly proud that our government stepped up to support Canadians through an unprecedented year.

I would like to end today by talking about a conversation I had with a constituent who was filled with emotion just talking about the historic child care announcement and what it meant for her. It meant she would no longer have to choose between staying home to care for her child or going to work only to see a majority of her paycheque go toward paying for costly child care. It would mean giving her child the opportunity to learn and grow in a professional setting, providing this constituent the opportunity to focus on her career and feeling proud that she would be able to contribute to the Canadian economy.

This is why we are here, to make real, positive impacts in the lives of so many. I am proud to stand behind such a historic budget that will support all Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have heard from a number of operators in the tourism sector who are very disappointed. They look at the announcements in the budget and because of the status of where Canada is in the pandemic, in the midst of a third wave, it is likely another missed tourism season, especially in an area like mine, where there are a lot of seasonal businesses. The fact that the wage subsidy and the rent subsidy will be not only phased out over the summer months, but will have ended by the time September comes around has been a big disappointment for tourism providers.

Could member comment on why the government is cutting so short a segment of the economy that has been so affected by the pandemic.

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our government has always been there to support businesses in many different sectors. Brampton has a tourism sector and a hospitality sector that have been impacted more than other businesses. Through our federal development agencies and through the regional relief recovery fund, many businesses have received support. Of course, there is more to do. We have extended our wage subsidy programs until September 25, I believe, but I also know our government will do whatever it takes to continue to support businesses.