Mr. Speaker, before I get started, I will just let you know that I will be sharing my time with the member for Beauport—Limoilou.
I am pleased to rise today to debate Bill C-30, which is an act to implement certain provisions of the spring economic update tabled in Parliament on April 28. It gives me pleasure to rise to speak to this bill. It has a number of very important economic measures that would help workers, Canadian families and industries get through what we know is a bit of a challenging time for our country.
Before I get into a lot of the measures here, I find it necessary to point out that, in the finance committee last week, the Conservatives unfortunately expended 25 hours of parliamentary resources filibustering the bill. We saw them move subamendment after subamendment on the one amendment they had provided. They were not translated, which means that this was used as a stall tactic to hold up the bill. The bill, as I have said, has a number of economic measures that are important for Canadians. We also heard Conservatives in that filibuster talk about everything from elephants and Spider-Man to FIFA security and trees falling in the forest. There were many irrelevant points, and I had to call many points of order to keep us on track.
As such, when members opposite stand up to complain about not having enough time to debate important bills and legislation, as they did yesterday, maybe they should prioritize committee time, which is designed specifically to study those bills and get into those debates, not to waste those parliamentary resources and then complain about it afterward. We found out at the end of that filibuster that, in fact, the stall tactics they had used were not actually about Bill C-30.
All of it was under the cover of wanting to debate clauses and provide subamendments, but we found out, on the record, when one of the Conservative members finally stated it, that this was actually about holding our committee hostage to extract and force out of the government concessions on another bill, Bill C-22, which is related to lawful access. Lawful access is obviously something that we all, on this side of the House, want to provide to law enforcement so it can do the important investigative work to crack down on organized crime in this country.
Bill C-30 has measures that are important for us to get through before the House rises. It includes suspending the excise tax on fuel and extending that to aviation fuel. It includes a cap on the excise tax for alcohol, wine, spirits and beer. Craft brewers have been asking for this. Obviously, it would be capped at 2% of the escalator on the excise tax on alcohol.
We would also extend the grace period for repayment of RRSP withdrawals for Canadians who access their RRSPs to purchase their first home. We would be making permanent the capital gains exemption for employee ownership trusts and workers' co-operatives for businesses that are owned and operated by individuals who want to sell to their employees. This is a really great measure, something I have advocated for strongly.
We would also be lowering CPP contributions by 40 basis points, which members opposite had time to talk about in committee. I could speak at length to that. It is a small but important measure to help workers to lower those contributions in a way that would not compromise the Canada Pension Plan in any way, shape or form, so that would be good.
The labour mobility tax deduction would also be enhanced through the bill. It would move from $4,000 per year to $10,000 a year. Skilled trades workers who travel for work would be able to write off expenses of up to $10,000 in a single year, so that is significant support at $6,000 more per year. Basically, they would have more of those hard-earned dollars to spend how they choose.
We would also extend EI support for seasonal workers. We have offered immediate expensing for greenhouses. If colleagues remember, immediate expensing was a feature of budget 2025. It is very important, I would suggest, because it would allow businesses, in a time of great uncertainty, to invest and make capital investments in improving their businesses at a time when there is a lot of uncertainty, which would not happen otherwise.
We have moved forward with a number of immediate expensing measures, which include research and development, IP protection, new IT technology and other forms of energy efficiency measures that businesses can implement. It includes new equipment and machinery as well. We have also extended it to greenhouses. Obviously, this would help. It is integrated into our national food security strategy as well as a measure to help growers and producers in Canada to build more greenhouses and then be able to write that off as a business expense in year one.
The immediate expensing measures have already had an effect in the economy. We see business investment in two categories rising at a pretty steep rate, over 10%, both in new machinery and equipment and in IP protection. Those two categories are specifically covered under the immediate expensing measures that we are now enhancing for greenhouses.
We have also made some changes to the Bank Act and the Canada Transportation Act. Both of these measures are small but significant. Under the Canada Transportation Act, the minister would be able to request information from airports and allow better policy development.
This is a list, at a high-level overview, of the measures in Bill C-30 that I think would be very meaningful for workers, families and Canadians. They are part of our plan to get the Canadian economy through a challenging period while we step up to support in multiple ways.
Obviously, the world order is a bit fractured right now. There is lots of uncertainty, but our government is grounded in trying to support greater self-sufficiency, domestic resilience and strengthening the economy. We can handle the upheaval that is happening around the world and get the Canadian economy through a challenging time. Bill C-30 is a part of that plan, and I will mention, in a little more detail, some of the measures that are in it.
One of the measures I mentioned in Bill C-30 is the temporary suspension of the federal fuel excise tax to effectively zero cents per litre on gasoline and diesel fuel nationwide. This would provide a savings of 10¢ per litre on gasoline and four cents per litre on diesel from April 20, 2026, through to Labour Day. The bill would also extend the suspension of the excise tax to aviation fuel over the same period to help mitigate the very high costs of jet fuel.
I will take a minute here before my time runs out to speak to the labour mobility tax deduction. Again, this is a key measure for our skilled trades workers.
We see the Canadian economy being more resilient than was anticipated by anyone who did projections. We saw 88,000 new jobs in the last labour market survey that was done. That is good news for Canadians. Of those jobs, 27,000 were in the construction industry, which is great news for the Canadian economy, especially when the construction season is under way and we want to build Canada up. There is a lot of work in developing the infrastructure, housing, defence capabilities, etc. that the country needs.
Having a labour mobility tax deduction is good news for many of those workers who may need or want to travel to contribute to Build Canada Strong. As we build that infrastructure, there will be more jobs for Canadians, and we will see those jobs increase, I am sure, in the months ahead. It is good news to be able to write off another $6,000 of travel and living expenses due to having to travel for work. It is a great measure that would keep more money in their pockets.