Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate in this debate and to speak about the benefits the 1997 budget will bring for the businesses and citizens of Etobicoke-Lakeshore. I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Kenora-Rainy River.
The measures outlined by the finance minister in his speech yesterday will improve the lives of young people, of families and of seniors. Our measures for small and medium size businesses will help Etobicoke businesses thrive, grow and create jobs.
In my speech today I will focus on the specific measures that will benefit the people of my riding and then explain why the path this government has chosen is the best one for Etobians.
First, the budget will invest in our most important asset, young Canadians. Our youth employment strategy is good news for the students of Lakeshore Collegiate, Father Redmond, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Bishop Allen Academy, Humber College Lakeshore Campus, as well as university students in my riding.
Our strategy will support Canadian students with 120,000 career summer job opportunities and over 19,000 internship placements in the research, private and non-profit sectors. These crucial first opportunities will give young Canadians the chance to break the no experience, no job and no job, no experience cycle.
We are also continuing the successful youth service program. In Etobicoke-Lakeshore the program was instrumental in developing a youth and crime prevention initiative in one of our most troubled communities.
In addition, this government will assist young Canadians by helping them and their families to afford training and education. We are doing this by raising the per month education tax credit from $100 to $200 in the next two years and enabling students to apply it to more expenses and apply unused portions to future tax credits. For example, a college or university student with tuition of $2,800 and additional fees of $300 would receive $1,200 in combined federal and provincial tax assistance per year.
Moreover this government is extending the pay back period for student loans and offering an additional $20 million a year for student assistance. That is more good news for young Etobians worried about the cost of education.
We are also enabling parents with young children to save early to help pay for their children's education or make up for a contribution missed when their children were younger. Families in Etobicoke will be happy to hear that annual contributions to registered education savings plans are being doubled from $2,000 to $4,000. We are also relaxing the requirement that in the event the
child does not pursue post-secondary education, parents can transfer the RESP to their RRSP or receive the investment income directly.
Low income families in Etobicoke will be happy to hear that our government will enrich the Canada child tax credit by over $600 million. This combined with a $250 million working income supplement means an $850 million increase in annual benefits.
Our government will continue to work with the provinces and territories to design the complementary changes that will reduce child poverty and barriers to work.
Our efforts for health care in Canada are solid. We remain committed to the values of the Canadian system and we will enforce them through the Canada Health Act.
Etobians of all ages will be happy to hear that we have stabilized the Canada health and social transfer to the provinces at $25 billion annually and we anticipate growth in transfers at the turn of the century. We are committing $300 million more over the next three years for new health initiatives. Every dollar of the new money will be devoted toward the delivery of better health services to Canadians.
Seniors in Etobicoke-Lakeshore will be pleased to hear that we are devoting $150 million over the next three years to help the provinces put in place new projects, such as new approaches to home care, drug coverage and other innovations, that will enable us to test ways in which we can make our system more efficient.
There will also be $100 million for the community action program for children and the Canada prenatal nutrition programs designed to prevent health problems in our children.
This is more good news for groups like the Stonegate Community Centre, the Association of Ontario Health Centres, the Stothers Centre for Children and Families and the Welcome Baby Support Network for Teenage Mothers. All of these organizations will benefit from these new initiatives.
There is no question that our publicly funded system is one of Canada's greatest achievements and there is no doubt that this government will fight to keep it.
Our government is investing in helping the disabled achieve the equality to which they are entitled. As a member of the human rights and the status of persons with disabilities committee, I am especially pleased by the announcement of $100 million worth of additional support each year to disabled Canadians. Using tax credits, financial incentives, training and opportunities funds, the government will put Canadians with disabilities in balance with other Canadians, allowing them to realize the same opportunities.
In a similar way we are giving the people of Etobicoke-Lakeshore the chance to give more to charitable causes. The charitable sector is playing an increasingly important role in meeting the needs of Canadians. The government recognizes the importance of giving charities the tools they need to accomplish their important work.
Although tax assistance for charitable giving entails a cost for governments, it is plainly a much lower cost than providing full support directly through public funds. The 1997 budget levels the playing field between the crown and other kinds of charities, making it easier for organizations to raise funds and donors to receive larger tax credits.
The budget contains $95 million annually of new tax assistance to the charitable sector. This will give charities, like the Etobicoke Cancer Society, Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul, Reach the Rainbow, the YM-YWCA, the Children's Aid Society and the Etobicoke chapter of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the framework they need to accomplish their work and help Canadians whom these charities serve.
Now that I have mentioned some of the ways in which we are assisting individuals, I will speak about our strategy for a vibrant economy. The government has always maintained that good fiscal management is the route to investor confidence. In the time since we took office we have witnessed a monumental turn around in the fortunes of Canada. Remember, in the late 1980s, year after year of Conservative finance ministers preaching restraint, and then year after year of record deficits?
It was the Liberal government and the Minister of Finance that turned Canada from the worst debtor nation in the G7 to a deficit to GDP ratio of 2 per cent. In 1998, the government anticipates breaking its dependency on borrowing new money. This means that 1998 will mark the first time in 28 years that it will not have to go to the markets to borrow new money. It will put the Canadian government in an enviable position internationally. Canada will have the best financial record of any G7 government. In 1997, it is expected to be the growth and job creation leader of all G7 countries.
If the government were to offer the Canadian public, as the Reformers and the Ontario finance minister suggest, a broad based tax cut, not only will we lose the war on the deficit but we will surely lose the vital social programs we have been fighting to protect. This is not a fresh start for Canada but a full stop for Canada and a future for Canada.
Members will be happy to know that we are not gambling all our chips on the tax cut number like our opponents would. Instead, we are building on the cornerstone of responsible fiscal management, a strong health care system, a prosperous export strategy and an innovative research and development program. This is the best approach for Canada and for Etobicoke.
