Mr. Speaker, budget 2025 meets an important moment in our country's history. It is a budget that bets on Canada, a budget that invests in our future and ensures that we will build a strong and resilient future. The challenge before us is to become less reliant on our trade partners to the south and to build from within.
I would like to start off by talking about one of my favourite words in the English language, which is “infrastructure”. I would also like to congratulate the Victoria Highland Civic Centre steering committee on its advocacy and work to ensure that a new rink will be built in Baddeck if the 2025 budget passes. The community has been sorely lacking over the past year with a rink that had been eroded to the point that it was no longer safe. During my campaign in the spring, I heard from many in Victoria, and especially in Baddeck, about how devastating the loss of the rink was to the community and what we needed to do to get a rink for the community for the local youth hockey program. It fills me with great joy to be able to deliver on this project for them. I want to especially thank the members of the steering committee, John Trickett, Jeanne Campbell, Terry Kelly, David Parkinson and Sandy Campbell for never giving up on the new rink for the community.
This rink is a perfect example of the kind of infrastructure investments our government is making. We now have a build community strong fund with $51 billion over 10 years, from small local community infrastructure to major infrastructure, such as hospitals, universities, transit, and road and water systems. On this side of the House, we are ready to build great things and keep our economy moving.
Our government is also investing and fast-tracking major projects that will focus on buying Canadian for Canadians. These are projects that are shovel-ready and shovel-worthy and that would advance our climate and reconciliation goals. One project of significance for Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish is the government's Major Projects Office selection of Wind West Atlantic Energy. Wind West has the potential to power Nova Scotia and beyond with enough clean wind energy to meet our demands into the future. This first phase, with four wind power areas off the coast of Nova Scotia, aims to unlock 5,000 megawatts and could drive billions of new investments in economic activity across the country. Wind West is a project that shows the investment in clean energy does not have to come at the cost of economic development. We can invest in our future while strengthening our economy.
Another major investment we are making is in housing and homes. With the new Build Canada Homes initiative, there is $13 billion that aims to increase the supply of affordable housing through construction, financing and industry. As we endeavour to build houses faster and in greater numbers, we will build these Canadian homes with Canadian materials, such as lumber, to ensure that we are supporting our local industries from start to finish.
Restoring affordability to homes is important, but we are also working to restore affordability to everyday life. It is clear that the cost of living has increased in Canada, just as it has increased around the world due to climate change, American tariffs and the war in Ukraine. As a G7 country with the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio, we are uniquely positioned to make investments in our future and build a stronger, more resilient country.
Our government is also cutting taxes for 22 million middle-class Canadians, which goes a long way to help the residents of Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish, and of ridings across Canada, to keep more money in their pockets. At the same time, we remain committed to seniors with our dental care program, committed to families with our affordable child care and the Canada child benefit, and committed to youth with a $40-million investment in a youth climate corps with green jobs that will help take on the challenges of climate change, not to mention the 175,000 jobs within Canada for the Canada summer jobs program for young Canadians.
We are launching automated federal benefits to ensure that 5.5 million low-income Canadians get the benefits they need without the complicated paperwork. We have also ensured that the children across Canada are not distracted by empty bellies when they are trying to learn by making the national school food program permanent. This program saves money for families and makes sure that no child's hunger is an obstacle to their education.
Budget 2025 continues the important work of advancing reconciliation. Our Prime Minister campaigned on a promise to spend less to invest more, but while other departments were asked to find up to 15% in savings, we knew that we had to protect the core services and programs that we deliver to indigenous Canadians, and that is what we did.
It is not only the right thing to do; it is also our fiduciary responsibility to ensure that we do not take steps backward. We heard from Indigenous people during the budget consultation process not only that we needed to invest billions in housing, water, waste water and infrastructure in indigenous communities but also that weather-related emergencies are more frequent and that the impacts of climate change required urgent investments. Fires, floods and hurricanes have impacted indigenous communities in great numbers, and we will be there to help them through these difficult times.
We also heard about challenges to our communities, when it came to health and Jordan's principle. That is why we are investing billions to ensure that we address the challenges within Jordan's principle, including addressing the backlog of crises and creating stability moving forward. Budget 2025 allows us to do that.
Unlike budgets in the past that captured indigenous investment on a few pages, the current budget has indigenous investment that is embedded and integrated throughout. It is embedded within the national school food program. It is embedded within the artificial intelligence budget, which can help us digitize indigenous languages moving forward. It is embedded in the projects of national importance that will help us build the strongest economy in the G7 by ensuring that projects advance indigenous interests with meaningful equity, meaningful partnership and meaningful participation.
I have heard the challenges during my lifetime from first nations communities, which have shared with me a great deal about how they are tired of micromanaging poverty. I have good news: Budget 2025 dreams of a future of prosperity for indigenous communities, through major investments in being multi-million-dollar partners in the energy sector, in building trade ports and in mining critical minerals that the world needs.
We invite indigenous nations to dream big and to take advantage of the $10 billion in the indigenous loans guarantee program and the $45 billion allocated to the Canada Infrastructure Bank, so indigenous leaders can manage prosperity, not poverty. I would encourage first nations, Métis and Inuit communities to look at the suite of tools available to make investing in major projects more affordable.
For example, last spring in my riding, 12 Mi'kmaq communities formed a limited partnership known as the Wskijnu’k Mtmo’taqnuow Agency, WMA, and borrowed $18 million from the Canada Infrastructure Bank's indigenous equity initiative to invest in a battery storage facility alongside Nova Scotia. The great thing about this is that they get the own-source revenues not only when the project is paid off but also all along the way; as they are making payments, they are able to bring own-source revenues back to their communities.
I have often been asked by Indigenous leaders how they can invest in major projects when the needs are so great in their communities. How can they make payments on million-dollar loans? This is the beauty of the indigenous loan guarantee program. The way it is set up, it works with indigenous stakeholders and communities so loan payments are balanced to maximize benefits to them.
When communities are given the right tools, indigenous leadership drives prosperity and long-term ownership. With the budget our government has presented, we are investing in housing, clean water, health care, connectivity and infrastructure so communities can thrive and prosper. The budget speaks to the north and to working hand in hand with indigenous partners to build a stronger future together.
I invite indigenous leaders to work together, to dream big, to create partnerships and to be partners in major clean energy projects such as the Wind West Atlantic energy project, the Iqaluit hydro project or the Northcliff Resources Sisson mine. Now is the time to build Canada. Let us build prosperity in all our communities.
