Mr. Speaker, allow me to begin by thanking and congratulating our colleague, the Secretary of State for Nature, for her strength and courage, as well as her statement on violence against women. Too many women are losing their lives here in Canada and around the world, which is why this call to end violence and promote equality is so important and why we are marking the 16 days of activism starting today.
I rise in the House today to call attention to the tangible benefits of the federal budget tabled on November 4, particularly for my riding of Sherbrooke. The government is presenting a budget to build a strong Canada, a budget that capitalizes on significant, strategic investments to support and stimulate key sectors. These major investments will strengthen our economy, create jobs and improve our quality of life in Sherbrooke and across Canada. I had a host of interesting topics to choose from, but I decided to speak specifically on four topics: housing and infrastructure; affordability; defence and security; and artificial intelligence and quantum.
The budget includes billions of dollars for housing, which is a critical issue in my riding, and for infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, water, transportation and hospitals. The government wants to stimulate construction by cutting red tape and empowering industry to be more productive. For Sherbrooke, the budget provides opportunities to build and renovate more affordable housing faster, invest in more efficient public transit, and improve local infrastructure. This will make our city stronger and more resilient. Thanks to this support from the federal government, a number of fantastic projects can now be built. One example that comes to mind is the Coopérative d'habitation des Cantons de l'Est's Quartier du Cap project with 121 affordable housing units.
This budget is channelling significant investments into housing to make housing more accessible for our young families. We are also offering measures that make a real difference in Canadians' lives, such as cutting taxes for 22 million middle-class Canadians and renewing programs like the Canada child benefit, which has lifted 400,000 children in Canada out of poverty, the Canadian dental care plan and the national school food program. The Canadian dental care plan is helping more than 30,000 people in Sherbrooke.
Furthermore, many Canadians do not receive the federal benefits they are entitled to, because they believe they do not owe any tax, because they do not need to file a tax return, or because they do not have access to a tax filing service or simply to the Internet. Introducing automatic federal benefits will enable millions of people in Canada, including thousands of people in Sherbrooke, to receive the support they are entitled to.
The budget allocates more than $82 billion to defence and security. Substantial funding will go toward upgrading and sustaining Canadian Armed Forces capabilities, including training infrastructure. When I was first elected in 2019, I worked to secure a commitment from our government to rehabilitate our two armouries, namely the William Street and Colonel Gaëtan Côté armouries, to give our five reserve units facilities that are tailored to their needs. This major project is perfectly consistent with our whole-of-government approach to building sovereign defence capacity.
Other funding amounts have been earmarked for modernizing our digital cybersecurity infrastructure, communications and technologies. The budget also launches the defence industrial strategy to drive innovation within the Canadian defence industry. For Sherbrooke, these investments represent economic opportunities, well-paying jobs, contracts for our local businesses, and participation in defence supply chains. In addition, strengthening our national security infrastructure contributes to stability and builds local pride.
A number of economic players in Sherbrooke already contribute to this industry, such as Royer, which manufactures boots for the Canadian Armed Forces, and there are many others that look forward to playing a role.
More broadly, in terms of industrial prosperity, to build Canada strong, we must focus on what we can control. For example, we can control who we buy from. That is why we are adopting the new buy Canadian policy. It will apply to all federal agencies and corporations, but with the renewed sense of unity that is sweeping the country, many individuals and businesses have already embraced this approach and started buying local.
The budget also invests $925.6 million over five years in developing a sovereign public AI infrastructure. A portion of this funding will be used to create a sovereign Canadian cloud that would give researchers and businesses access to secure, national resources. The government is going to implement TechStat, or the artificial intelligence and technology measurement program, which will measure the adoption of AI and its impact on the Canadian economy.
At the same time, the government's office of digital transformation will work with industry to identify and support AI projects of national interest.
With the Université de Sherbrooke and our research centres, Sherbrooke is already an innovation hub, and this funding will strengthen our capacity to execute ambitious AI projects. This will help us attract researchers, support the development of start-ups, and build public-private partnerships.
The budget earmarks substantial funding for the quantum ecosystem as part of the defence industrial strategy. For my riding, this means that Sherbrooke will remain a quantum centre of excellence, as it is already home to the Université de Sherbrooke's Quantum Institute, university laboratories, technology start-ups and defence sector partnerships. These investments will create highly specialized jobs and position our region as a strategic player in the technology economy of the 21st century.
With businesses such as Nord Quantique, which is working on developing an error-correcting quantum computer, Sherbrooke is a major player in global innovation. When it comes to quantum, all roads lead to Sherbrooke. Our complete ecosystem, with its technologically advanced infrastructure, is where innovative companies come together to collaborate. It is the envy of the world.
In summary, the November 4 federal budget will create exciting opportunities for Sherbrooke. These include more affordable housing and modernized infrastructure, as well as shorter permit processing times to encourage affordable housing projects. It also includes $1 billion to provide transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness. Jobs will be created through our investments, particularly in defence, and many businesses in the region will be able to participate in terms of products and supply chains. The budget includes a boost for artificial intelligence and quantum, strengthening our local innovation ecosystem. Finally, it will lead to sustainable prosperity rooted in cutting-edge technologies and a resilient economy.
In Sherbrooke, we have good reason to be optimistic. These investments are more than just a promise. They are laying the foundation for a brighter, more innovative and more prosperous future.