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.