Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise today to speak about Bill C‑15.
I want to begin by acknowledging that today is November 25. Like every year, today marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. I must stress the importance of our efforts to address violence against women, including domestic violence.
In an increasingly uncertain world, it is up to us to adapt our economy, strengthen our supply chains and adapt to the new geopolitical reality of uncertainty. Budget 2025 provides a plan for building a stronger, safer, more resilient Canada.
The budget implementation act would make strategic investments in our country to build out our economy to build out our infrastructure, protect Canadian jobs, protect our Arctic, protect our national sovereignty and empower Canadians to think bigger, to grow bigger and to realize their full potential. The legislation would, for example, double the pace of affordable homebuilding over the next decade through the new Build Canada Homes. This unprecedented investment in housing construction in budget 2025 constitutes the most ambitious plan for housing in a generation.
When I think of our plan to build strategic national infrastructure and when I envision the Canada of tomorrow, I think of our high-speed rail project linking Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. It involves building Canada's first real high-speed train, capable of reaching speeds of 300 kilometres an hour or more, on nearly 1,000 kilometres of new dedicated, fully electrified tracks in the country's most densely populated corridor, home to roughly 18 million Canadians. With the bill before the House, we are taking a decisive step toward building this modern, clean and fast network; it is future-oriented infrastructure that will forever transform how we travel.
About 10 days ago, I stood alongside the Prime Minister to inaugurate the main segment of another train, our magnificent REM, which now connects the south shore to the north shore, passing through downtown Montreal and the middle of my riding of Outremont at Édouard Montpetit station. With a top speed of 100 kilometres an hour, it is not quite the 300 kilometres an hour of the future high-speed train, but it is truly a transformative project that has been supported from day one by the federal government and represents the biggest expansion of public transit in Quebec in over half a century.
Our national strategy to modernize our modes of transportation, from the REM to the future high-speed rail, is closely tied to our climate competitiveness strategy. The fight against climate change is not just a moral obligation, but it is also an economic imperative. Investments in clean energy are already outpacing investments in fossil fuels. The clean-tech market is set to triple within 10 years. Our government remains fully committed to meeting our greenhouse gas reduction targets. Our bill strengthens this commitment by improving and expanding the suite of investment tax credits that support clean technologies and clean manufacturing, providing Canadian businesses with the certainty they need to invest and innovate.
Our budget strengthens Canada's climate competitiveness by enhancing industrial carbon pricing with a long-term price trajectory; strengthening methane regulations for the oil, gas and landfill sectors; updating clean electricity and clean fuel standards; and incentivizing clean-tech investments. The legislation before the House would ensure that it is Canadian workers who will build the clean industries the world is demanding from us.
Building out a clean economy means investing in the next generation of workers who are going to power it. I was proud to join the Minister of Environment last Saturday in Mile End in my riding to confirm and to celebrate the launch of Canada's first-ever youth climate corps, an initiative championed by so many people across the country, so many young people in particular.
I want to stop to thank Climate Action Network for its passionate and professional advocacy.
A year ago, just outside this chamber, outside those doors, I met with a young constituent of mine named Shir, who had travelled all the way to Ottawa from my riding to push for this very idea. Back then, it was just that, an idea. Many conversations later with Malaika, Bushra, Caroline Brouillette, their executive director, and so many more, it is here in black and white, in the federal budget. It is a new program for youth job placement, for skills training, for concrete and real action on climate created by young Canadians, for young Canadians.
To all the young people in our country who have an idea, who care about an issue, the youth climate corps was the dream of a few and then the dream of many; now it is a national program in this country. We should never underestimate the power of one. We should never underestimate what can be accomplished here in Canada.
I will now very quickly address research innovation and entrepreneurship. The business community has rightly hailed the scope and potential of our new productivity superdeduction, designed to make it more attractive for businesses to invest in machinery and equipment, in technology and productivity-enhancing assets.
I also want to highlight two other measures that did not get as much airtime. First, the legislation before us would deliver a major expansion to the SR&ED tax credit, the scientific research and experimental development tax incentive. This tax credit encourages Canadian innovators to develop and commercialize cutting-edge ideas here at home. Our small and medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs have asked us to expand this fabulous program, which they rely on, and the federal government has listened.
Another piece that is critical to our economic growth in the new economy is to build Canadian intellectual property. Strong IP is essential to building Canadian innovation that competes and wins on the global stage. That is why our federal government is extending support for Canada's entrepreneurs to secure patents, helping small businesses leverage and commercialize their intangible assets and ensuring that our businesses can protect their IP in global markets. We are also launching a comprehensive review of Canada's IP performance to strengthen our capacity to turn Canadian ideas into Canadian wealth. In short, we are making sure that when Canadians invent the future, Canadians own it and Canadians reap the benefit from it.
The budget also cracks down on financial fraud and scams, and it implements open banking to give consumers more control over their financial data. It is a little-known fact, but one measure that will have an impact on many vulnerable Canadians in this country is that the legislation before us would increase the amount immediately available after depositing a cheque from $100 to $150.
The bill before the House also reaffirms the key role that culture plays as a vital driving force behind our collective identity. Our government is there to support our artists, our creators, our authors, our musicians and all of our cultural industries so that they can keep telling our stories and be the voice of Canadians at home and abroad.
What immediately comes to my mind is the power of music to bring people together, to connect regions and generations, and to remind us of everything that unites us. The Canada Music Fund plays a particularly important role in this regard. It is administered in part by Musicaction, an outstanding organization based in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, in my riding, which supports homegrown talent and propels them to reach new heights.
I look forward to celebrating the tens of millions of dollars in federal government funding that Musicaction is going to receive. Our message is clear: To invest in culture is to invest in what Canada is all about.
I will end by saying that this is more than a budget or a piece of implementing legislation. It is a decision to throw down the gloves and build this country; to build the housing, the high-speed rail and the infrastructure; to protect the vulnerable, our innovation through IP, our borders and our sovereignty through a new defence industrial strategy; and to empower consumers through greater choice, empower entrepreneurs to grow and innovate, empower the business community to invest here and, yes, empower young people to dream in a Canada where absolutely anything is possible.
