Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.
It is my enormous pleasure to rise in this House to respond to the Speech from the Throne. However, before I begin, I want to thank the residents of my constituency of Davenport for their faith and trust in me. I am enormously grateful that they have re-elected me for a fourth term to serve them as well as serve our great country.
I give a special thanks to my incredible team and my created family. There is no way I could do this job without their love and support.
Davenport residents came out in full force to vote in this election, because they are worried. They are worried about the threats by the President of the United States to our sovereignty, to our economy and to our future prosperity. They also know that the world is a more dangerous and a more uncertain place than at any other point since World War II. They feel that Canada is facing challenges that are unprecedented in our lifetimes, and so they voted for a leader and a party with a plan to make Canada more economically resilient.
We have a plan to unite our country, and to defend and secure our country. We have a plan to turn the challenges that we face today into incredible opportunities so that Canadians can face the future with confidence, strength and the resources we need to succeed and prosper in the 21st century.
Canada is the greatest country in the world. We are a strong and brave country, and our potential is unlimited. We are also a country that is in crisis, and we must act urgently and immediately to ensure that Canada remains strong and free.
Key segments of our plan are outlined in the Speech from the Throne, and I will highlight some that I believe are particularly meaningful to the residents of my constituency of Davenport.
At a time of global uncertainty and economic threats, Davenport residents are very happy that part of our plan is to ensure a more resilient Canada, one that is anchored in our own internal economic strength. We have virtually everything in this country. We now need to eliminate the roadblocks and ensure the resources to build us up.
How do we do this? Our Prime Minister is clear: We will have one Canadian economy, not 13, which is what we have now. We will eliminate interprovincial trade barriers. Our federal government has promised to pass legislation to remove all remaining federal barriers to internal trade and labour mobility by July 1. The impact will be the freer movement of people, goods and services across our country. This will also allow our small and medium-sized businesses as well as our innovators to expand and grow across our country, which is something Davenport businesses will be very happy and very excited about. Best of all, lifting these barriers has the potential to add $200 billion to our economy each and every single year.
Second, we will unite the country by investing in nation-building projects, primarily infrastructure, transportation and supply chain corridors. This would mean more supply chain options in Canada, which would mean more railroads, ports, highways, etc. The focus will be on projects of national significance and projects that will connect Canada, which will deepen Canada's ties with the world and will create high-paying jobs for generations of Canadians. Of course, all of these projects of national significance will have to ensure meaningful consultation with indigenous peoples, and all projects must adhere to our climate commitments. Best of all, Davenport residents are so excited by the ambition of our government. We truly believe that if we implement these measures and more, we can become not only a resilient economy, but also the strongest economy in the G7.
As our Speech from the Throne says, the economy is only truly strong when it serves everyone. Many Davenport residents, like so many Canadians, are having such a hard time making ends meet, and so we are responding by introducing a middle-class tax cut, which will save two-income families up to $840 a year. Our government has also committed to continue to fund programs that we introduced over the last almost 10 years. This includes national child care, national dental care, pharmacare, the Canada child benefit and the Canada disability benefit. All these programs and more are life-changing programs that the residents in my constituency of Davenport love. I know they will be delighted that we will continue to support them.
Our Speech from the Throne also contains a clear commitment for our government to build more housing. We are located in downtown west Toronto, and Davenport residents are worried that they are not going to be able to continue to live in the city that they love, that their kids and their grandkids will not be able to live in the city where they were raised. Our government has committed to a number of measures that will greatly benefit Davenport residents. We are going to provide more support for Canadians who are trying to buy homes. We will cut the GST on homes under $1 million for first-time homebuyers, which will deliver savings of up to $50,000. We are going to lower the GST on homes between $1 million and $1.5 million.
Davenport is a multi-ethnic working-class/middle-class riding, and most of our homes are in these price ranges, so both of these measures are very welcome and will be very helpful. In addition, we are spending a lot more to build houses.
Our federal government has committed to double down, with an ambitious new housing plan that will double the rate of homebuilding in Canada. We have learned a lot over the last few years about what worked and what we can do better. Based on this data, we have announced the most ambitious housing plan since World War II. These measures will include the creation of “build Canada homes” to accelerate the development of new affordable housing. We will invest in innovation. We are going to invest in the growth of modular and prefabricated housing. We will increase the financing for affordable home developers. We will eliminate red tape and development costs by cutting municipal development charges in half for multi-unit housing.
All of this will rapidly increase housing supply and bring housing costs down. Members will be happy to learn that our additional funding and ambitious housing plan will use Canadian technology, Canadian skilled workers and Canadian lumber. All these measures, in addition to the ones we have already had in place over the last seven to eight years, will go a long way in ensuring greater housing supply and affordable home prices for the residents of my riding of Davenport and, indeed, for all Canadians.
Community safety is vitally important to Davenport residents. For us, there are way too many American handguns on the city streets of Toronto. While the numbers have gone down, we still have far too many car thefts in Canada's largest city. I know that Davenport residents will be happy to know that our government, just yesterday, introduced Bill C-2, which would enhance security at the border.
When passed, CBSA officers who work at our borders will have new powers to stop stolen products, like cars, from leaving our country. They will also ensure the deployment of more scanners, drones and helicopters, additional personnel and canine teams, which will help stop guns and drugs from coming into our country.
Finally, our government has committed to toughen the Criminal Code, to make bail harder for repeat offenders charged with violent crime and/or major offences.
We have made serious commitments to spend more money to protect Canada's sovereignty. We have to do more to secure borders, to secure the Arctic and to secure Canada from coast to coast to coast. We have made a commitment to fulfill our NATO commitment of 2% of our GDP and we will achieve this with haste. I also believe that we will commit to even greater NATO spending, but we have to wait for NATO meetings in June for the total number and commitments.
In conclusion, Canada is in crisis. It is time for Canadians to continue to stay united. It is time to build a resilient Canadian economy, to invest in national building projects and to spend less but invest more. It is time for us to secure our borders and protect our sovereignty, to build more affordable housing and put more money in the pockets of Canadians. These measures and more, as well as working together, will continue to ensure a prosperous Canada, the strongest economy in the G7 and an economy that truly serves everyone.
Canada is the greatest country in the world. We are a confident country with an ambitious plan. We are indeed a country that is strong and free.