Madam Speaker, it is such a privilege to rise in this House to speak in favour of the budget that was tabled by the Minister of Finance in the House yesterday.
This is a budget that is about building. It is about building the type of Canada that each and every one of us deserves, that our kids deserve. It is about building the economy of the future today, about investing in the future of this country as an economic powerhouse. This is a budget about building and for builders. Whether building a community organization, a community centre or Canada's next great multi-billion dollar business, this is a budget that is focused on creating opportunity, support and value for Canada and for Canadians.
In my home province of British Columbia, this budget is going to be transformative. It is going to help to create thousands and thousands of jobs through support for the Red Chris mine in northern British Columbia and for support of LNG phase two. They are two major anchor projects in British Columbia that come with first nations' support and participation. They come with support from local communities and from the province. They are the types of initiatives that are nation-building exercises. They are the types of initiatives that Canadians are looking for their government to champion in a time of economic uncertainty. Regardless of party affiliation, we should all be able to stand by and support projects and initiatives in this budget that build for the type of future we need, that create the jobs Canadians are looking for in industries that the world needs Canada to lead in.
When I look at the impact of this budget in British Columbia on a macro level, it is transformative. Those two projects are going to represent billions of dollars of value to my home province, not just in the communities where those projects reside but throughout the province, including the Lower Mainland and my riding of Vancouver Granville. We all know that when we support large projects, the spillover benefit to small and medium-sized enterprises is there. It is strong, and it is a critical component of the economic ecosystem of the province. That is what makes this budget so remarkable. It is not just about large projects. It is also about the small projects and small supports in our communities that keep our communities alive and thriving.
In my riding alone, there has been a lot of support for the Filipino cultural and community centre, and I was pleased to see that listed as a single item in this budget. It is going to be a community centre for the Filipino community where they will be able to come together, to share who they are and what they are all about, and bring others along for that journey. This is a community that has become part of the fabric of Vancouver over generations. It represents, in many parts of our community and our province, the silent, quiet workers who care for our loved ones, who are there in the health care system, who do the hard work that is often unseen. For them to have a place that they can call their own is critically important, to show them not only that are they seen but that their request has been heard. That is what this budget seeks to do on this particular matter, and I am so proud to have been able to help champion that.
As colleagues know, I come to this House as a former entrepreneur in the tech sector, somebody who had the privilege of building companies. One of the major complaints from the tech sector has always been that Canada has not supported innovation in the way it could, or should. This budget does that. Boy, does it ever. It takes that challenge head-on. There is now $1 billion available through a venture and growth capital fund to support venture in this country, to support early-stage businesses, to make sure the entrepreneurs we are trying to develop and cultivate into the large businesses of the future today have the support and the financial support they need to be able to build higher and remain in this country.
We are going to protect their IP through support to ensure that the IP measures this country needs to see are in place. We are going to make sure that the thing entrepreneurs depend on at the early stage, SR&ED credits, and the process of accessing SR&ED credits, is now seamless, is easier and allows entrepreneurs to focus on what they need to be doing, which is building businesses, rather than dealing with red tape in government. By ensuring that we are protecting Canadian IP, we are creating the environment where Canadian innovators can continue to do research where they feel their IP will be secure and where they can continue to innovate without risk of losing that incredibly important asset, which is intellectual property.
On top of that, we have committed $1.3 billion in this budget to AI and quantum, industries of the future where Canada is already an intellectual leader and now needs to be a commercialization leader. By ensuring that that money is available to support quantum and AI in this country, today's entrepreneurs and innovators, who are building the businesses of tomorrow, will have what they need to be able to stay in this country. All too often, we hear of Canada being an incredible hotbed for great start-ups that flee.
Measures in this budget will make sure these companies not only get to stay here but will be able to grow here, to thrive here and to attract the capital that is required to stay here. By ensuring government is facilitating, by making it easier for that to occur, we are going to see these companies thrive. We are going to see more and more world-class companies like we see across the country and like I see in my own riding, such as Sanctuary AI and Aspect Biosystems. These are Canadian success stories that will benefit from the initiatives in this budget.
This is what this budget is about. It is about building. It is about building tech companies. It is about building entrepreneurial businesses. It is about building in natural resources in this country in a way that is responsible, that respects the environment, respects first nations and respects the wishes of provinces but keeps top of mind the fact that in order to support the things we want to do to protect Canadians in this country, we have to be creating wealth. We have to be creating opportunity. We have to be able to create prosperity for generations to come. This is what this budget seeks to do.
This budget is also about building security for Canadians by protecting the programs we care about, ensuring there is money on the table to build health care infrastructure, which this country desperately needs; to make sure we are safeguarding a school food program; to make sure we are safeguarding dental care and child care. These are generationally transformative programs that have made a positive impact across this country from coast to coast to coast. This is why provinces, all provinces of all political stripes, have signed on to these initiatives. Those provincial governments all understand the importance of making sure our most vulnerable are taken care of. That is what we are going to keep doing through this budget.
We talk about building security, but we also talk about building the security framework for this country through investments in national defence. As we have already heard, those investments are going to ensure Canada can protect its borders and play the role it needs to play internationally. This is an important message to be able to say to Canadians in a time of economic uncertainty, but also in a time of political uncertainty around the world: that Canada will be resolute and strong in its support for its allies and in its support for the work we need to do to defend our own borders.
This budget preserves our security by ensuring that industries at risk because of the unjustified tariffs from the United States have the support they need. In my home province of British Columbia, the softwood lumber industry has been in crisis as a result of the crippling tariffs from the United States. This budget allows for businesses and workers in British Columbia to access the supports they need so we can get through this difficult time. It also gives them the supports they need to ensure the industry adapts in a way that is meaningful and thoughtful, so when the demand does come, and boy, will it ever for British Columbia softwood, our mills are ready, our workers are primed, our unions are on board and everybody is there to ensure we are building that prosperity together.
As I said earlier, this is a budget about building. It is about building this country up. It is about building together. It is about ensuring that communities have the support they need, that businesses see the opportunity this country presents and that our workers from coast to coast to coast know that when we are faced with existential threats, the government is able to put forward a program where we are giving not handouts but a hand-up, a hand-up to business, to the private sector, to unions, to Canadians to say that we, in this together, can build the type of country each and every one of us wants to see for our kids.
When we talk about spending less on the things we need to be careful about spending on, and investing more in the things we need to be planning for the future, that is what we mean. We mean making generational investments in the types of things that are going to set this country up for success in the future, while ensuring we are safeguarding who we are today.
I am proud to stand in support of this budget. I look forward to working with all members of the House to ensure we can get this budget passed, so we can go home for Christmas and ensure our constituents can start to see the benefits of this budget immediately instead of going into an election over Christmas.
I want to thank all those who have put the hard work into making this budget come to pass in the way it is. I want to assure my constituents in Vancouver Granville that I will do whatever it takes to ensure this budget gets passed, because this is a budget that is transformative for the residents in my riding, in my community and in my province.