Mr. Speaker, I was saying that the former leader of the opposite party, who was in Switzerland, raised the retirement age from 65 to 67. There are bricklayers, electricians and labourers who work a very long time. Those extra two years of work are laborious. That is not fair to them. That is not fair to Canadians. It was not fair.
When we got elected, we promised we would return it, and we did. That is approximately $17,000 more in the pockets of retirees today than there was nine years ago. The opposition party, which was in government at the time, raised the retirement age without consultation, without doing it in this country, while it was overseas, just like that. We returned it. That is leadership.
On the middle-class income tax cut, literally billions of dollars will be returning to Canadians because we cut that middle tax bracket from 22% to about 20.5% in year one. We did that. On the Canada child care plan, $10-a-day day care is saving parents in my riding, including myself, and I am blessed, over $10,000 of after-tax income. We can do the math of what that means for before-tax income. We have continued to invest, and we will continue to invest.
There was a chart out the other day showing that rental construction in this country is booming right now. It is outpacing population growth because of the policies we have implemented. Going into Christmastime, in a few weeks, when we all get to spend time in our communities with our residents and our families, we should go to our local restaurants.
There are over 5,000 hard-working Canadians in Vaughan—Woodbridge right now who work for restaurants. They and their employers are going to see an uptick in business. Restaurants Canada has applauded this. It was there the day of the announcement because it is a great thing to do, and it is going to carry them over into January, which is a tough period for many businesses because of their seasonality. That is great news.
The Province of Ontario has signed with us for the national school food program, much like it did for the early learning and national day care plan. Again, they have joined us to provide tax relief to the residents of Ontario and to the wonderful citizens I am blessed to represent in the riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge. This is something we should applaud. This is progress we should applaud. Hard-working Canadians go to work every day, and they deserve a break.
We need to meet Canadians where they are today. As a son of very humble immigrants who came to this country and worked very hard at a pulp mill and a fish plant, I can say that every little bit helps. Every little bit helps all the time, and that is where we are at. The residents in my riding can put their trust in me. They have, and they will because we keep our word.
There is an old hockey adage from a few years ago where Patrick Roy was getting murmured out by another hockey player, and Patrick Roy said he puts his two rings in his ears, so he does not listen to the noise. I will not listen to the noise.