Mr. Speaker, Bill C-36 moves the government forward in its commitment to implement the Canada child tax credit.
I will take a few minutes to talk about this because I know the men and women in Etobicoke—Lakeshore who daily have to plan for their children and who daily in some way have to respond to the needs in their communities would like to find out a bit more about the child tax benefits and to see how that child tax benefit measures up in the goal of building a strong economy.
Let me start by quoting the Minister of Human Resources Development who described the challenge in two simple sentences: “Opportunity denied in childhood too often means chances lost as an adult. Children are our future, so there is no better place for Canadians to invest”.
Bill C-36 speaks to that investment in our children. The vast majority of Canadians know how lucky we are to be living in Canada. Most of our children receive a pretty good start in life but some are not so lucky. I am speaking of the children who unfortunately experience emotional, behavioural, learning problems that affect their school performance and personal development, and those caught in the cycle of poverty.
Others suffer from physical problems such as disease, disability or injury. This is not only a personal tragedy but also a loss to the nation as a whole. And so Canadians believe that their government should make it a priority to invest in the well-being of our children, the future of our country.
Governments already provide substantial support for families with children but we need to do more. The issue is not just how much support we provide but also how we provide that support. In particular, we must do everything we can to tear down the so-called welfare wall. We must ensure that parents on social assistance who rejoin the workforce will not lose all their benefits and services.
The federal, provincial and territorial governments have been examining ways to bring down the welfare wall and to improve assistance to children in low income families. We know the discussion that goes on around our country.
The proposed approach is a national child benefit system under which the federal government will provide an enriched Canada child tax benefit. In turn, the provinces and the territories would redirect some of their spending into better services and benefits for low income families, especially the working poor.
The 1997 budget started us on that road. It proposed a two step enrichment of $850 million to the existing $5.1 billion child tax benefit. The $850 million annual increase includes $600 million in new funds in addition to the $250 million for the working income supplement proposed in the 1996 budget.
I am showing here the direction in which this government is going from 1996 to 1997 to this budget. In the first step, which took effect last July, the working income supplement was changed to provide benefits for each child instead of per family. The maximum working income supplement is $605 for one income families and $1,010 for two child families. It increases by $330 for each additional child.
The second step will occur this July when the working income supplement will be combined with an enriched child tax benefit to form the Canada child tax benefit. The maximum benefit for low income families will be $1,625 for one child families and $3,050 for two children families and will increase by $1,425 for each additional child.
Those individuals who will benefit from this will definitely know that we are heading in the direction to alleviate their situation. More than 1.4 million Canadian families with 2.5 million children will see an increase in federal child benefit payments by July 1998.
As part of the national child benefit system social assistance payments made by provinces and territories will be adjusted in accordance with the increase in the child tax benefit. The provincial and territorial governments will then reinvest the savings from social assistance to improve benefits and services to all low income families with children whether they are on social assistance or working. We hope that in the province of Ontario this will definitely happen.
Provinces are currently finalizing their reinvestment plans and are considering a variety of options including provincial income benefits, earned income supplements, extension of medical and dental benefits to low income working families and increased support for child care. To ensure that aboriginal children on reserves benefit like other children from this initiative the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development is working with first nation leaders and provinces to develop appropriate reinvestment strategies.
The national child benefit system is an important initiative that deserves the support of all members of this House. It will increase support to low income families and reduce barriers to work, building on the respective strengths of the federal and the provincial governments in achieving shared goals. As part of the national child benefit system the federal government has committed to further enriching the Canada child tax benefit by $850 million annually.
The 1998 budget allocates $425 million as of July 1999 and a further $425 million as of July 2000 to fulfil this commitment and this commitment is to be worked out further with provincial and territorial partners.
The federal government will continue working with the provinces and territories as well as with the first nations to reduce child poverty and barriers to work.
There can be no more worthy effort than a new partnership on behalf of Canada's children. This is why the government is more determined than ever to improve assistance to children in low income families. This is why the government is more determined than ever to open up a broader and brighter horizon for low income families and their children by bringing down once and for all the welfare wall.
That is why I ask members of the House to support Bill C-36 which moves us closer to a goal that all of us in the House should support.
