Madam Speaker, I rise today in the House to talk about the impact budget 2025 will have on the people and businesses in my riding of Trois‑Rivières. This budget will strengthen what we already have, build for the future and protect our territory.
First of all, this budget tackles the cost of living by implementing measures to leave more money in the pockets of Canadians and strengthen their purchasing power. These include measures such as the 1% tax cut for 22 million Canadians, including families in Trois‑Rivières, and the Canadian dental care plan, which is helping families and seniors save hundreds of dollars. The budget is also making the national school food program permanent.
Later this week, we will mark National Child Day, which celebrates children's rights. Education is a right, but it is difficult to learn on an empty stomach, and too many children find themselves in this situation. Back home in Trois‑Rivières, Canada's national school food program is being rolled out in more than 20 schools in disadvantaged areas, in collaboration with partners such as Breakfast Club of Canada and La Tablée des Chefs. In our community alone, this program helps hundreds of children succeed in school and helps families make ends meet when they need it most. In Canada, 400,000 children benefit from this program.
No one wants charity. The people of Trois‑Rivières, like all Canadians, are proud people, but no one knows when hard times will come knocking. When they do, people know which party is there for them. This budget reinforces our commitment to give them a helping hand. That is what a united people is all about. With these measures, the government is ensuring that Canadians can keep more money in their pockets, but that is not all.
We know that rent is the biggest expense for families. The national housing strategy has resulted in hundreds of homes being built in Trois‑Rivières and across Canada, and that includes market housing, affordable housing and social housing. However, we need to do more. That is why budget 2025 is setting up the Build Canada Homes program with $13 billion in capitalization to build more housing faster while focusing on affordable housing. We are committed to doubling the rate of housing construction to increase housing supply and bring prices down.
We are also supporting first-time homebuyers through a number of programs, such as the GST tax break on new homes. However, we need to change our methods if we are to build faster. That is why Build Canada Homes will help modernize the construction industry to incentivize factory-built construction, including prefabricated and modular construction, and accelerate the pace of homebuilding. That is how we get to work. Catalyzing the construction industry will also create more jobs and encourage young people to go into the construction trades or other skilled trades.
Budget 2025 also has initiatives to support the training of the workers we will need in the coming years. We will support our critical sectors, such as the steel and lumber sector, with predictable orders. However, we are not only going to build housing. We are also going to build strong communities with the community infrastructure and public transit they will need to reach their full potential. We will work hand in hand with all levels of government to ensure our communities are resilient in dealing with climate change. We will make sure they have the water infrastructure to support the densification of urban areas, which we need. In short, we are going to build strong communities.
This budget has a very clear common theme: building the future. To build the future, we need vision and confidence. On this side of the House, we have confidence in the future. We know that it will not be easy, but with budget 2025, we are investing in what we can control.
I would like to draw a parallel here with my riding, Trois‑Rivières. For a long time, Trois‑Rivières' economy revolved around a single industry, paper, with Canadian International Paper, among others, as a major employer. When the industry took a hit in the late 1990s and early 2000s and the paper mills closed, the city went through some tough times, but it managed to bounce back and emerge from this situation even stronger and more resilient. The city had to be ambitious and bold. Trois‑Rivières envisioned a different future and rolled up its sleeves to make it a reality.
Today, Canada finds itself with a dance partner that is looking to unilaterally change the rules. Faced with this, we have two choices. We can resign ourselves to it, or we can choose to take control of our destiny and focus on what we can control. On this side of the House, we choose Canada because we know that Canada is the envy of the world. We have everything we need to succeed here at home: talent, ingenuity, the industries we need, plenty of land, the energy resources the world needs and the critical minerals that will power the technologies of the future.
In the face of uncertainty, there is only one thing to do: take action and forge ahead with a thoughtful and bold plan that focuses on our country. That is what budget 2025 does. First and foremost, the priority is to protect jobs and support the strategic automotive, steel, aluminum, and lumber industries. We are doing this through the $5-billion strategic response fund, the regional tariff response initiative, and two programs worth up to $1.2 billion to support the forestry industry.
Next, we are investing in competitiveness. With the productivity super-deduction, we are introducing tax incentives to enable businesses to write off their venture capital investments right away. For Trois‑Rivières businesses such as FAB 3R and Germain et Frère, this helps counter uncertainty and make our industries more competitive and productive, in addition to creating the best investment climate in the G7. In fact, international economists are already predicting that we will have the strongest growth in the G7 next year.
We are also stimulating our economy by building the major infrastructure projects we need to support this growth, so that our ports are ready to meet demand, so we can connect our communities to Canada's far north and so we can make travel by high-speed rail easier along the Quebec City-Toronto corridor, with a stop, of course, in Trois‑Rivières. We are also continuing to sign agreements to open up other markets and encourage the diversification of our exports around the world.
Let us talk for a few minutes about defence and protecting our sovereignty. Trois‑Rivières has a long and proud military history. In 1776, when the United States was trying to annex Quebec after American troops arrived in Montreal, the battle of Trois‑Rivières was decisive in pushing our southern neighbours back to the other side of the border once and for all. Budget 2025 makes historic investments in defence and in the Canadian military to modernize the military's working conditions and the equipment at its disposal, including record wage increases for the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces. They are the ones who make sacrifices every day to protect us.
Defence investments will enable us to build and protect the far north, construct dual-use infrastructure that will benefit communities and invest in research and development so that our industries can continue to innovate. I will work to ensure that industries in Trois‑Rivières and Mauricie contribute to this evolving ecosystem, in order to support companies such as Marmen and Infinition, which provide good jobs in my riding. With the new buy Canadian policy, we are ensuring that these investments will benefit businesses across Canada.
In closing, we are at a crossroads. This is a moment that our children and grandchildren will remember. It is a moment that calls for greatness and courage, that calls for putting politics aside. Canadians expect us to work together to build the Canada of tomorrow, a strong Canada.