Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague from Mississauga South. The budget just presented by the government takes action on what matters. Tax cuts, proper investments and supporting our families are just some of the actions we have taken in response to the concerns of Canadians, including my constituents in Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, about what matters to them.
Lambton—Kent—Middlesex is a rural riding in the heart of southwestern Ontario. The largest municipality has a population of 12,000 citizens. How will this budget affect my constituents? How will it impact on families with children, people who work in the fields, in the factories or in our small business sector, the lifeblood of our rural economy? Leaving more money in the pockets of families is a pre-eminent method of relieving the day to day obligations of the most successful and powerful contributor to our nation's future prosperity, the family.
The middle class family is a big winner in this budget. It is payback time after the many years of cutbacks and financial constraints endured through the efforts of all Canadians. Their contributions to Canada's fiscal success can now be addressed by personal tax relief measures totalling $58 billion, including restoring full indexation to the tax system retroactive to January 1, 2000, lowering the middle income tax rate by 3% and raising the middle income tax threshold to $35,000.
A special emphasis on the needs of families has been shaped by this budget in its tax reduction plan. Increasing the child tax benefit by $2.5 billion a year by 2004 to more than $9 billion annually means the maximum benefit for a family's first child will grow to $2,400 from the current level of $1,805. As the Minister of Finance has stated, providing children with a safe and nurturing environment, investing in their health and education, and promoting secure families are all critical to children's sound development and ability to learn.
Relative to the current tax system a family's personal income tax will drop by an average of 21%, a significant event after many decades of tax increases and lower disposable income. Our senior citizens as well will see all their benefits indexed to inflation. Low income seniors could see a tax reduction of 84%, verifying our defence of those who have built this nation and provided our solid foundation, our senior citizens.
We have entered the era of budget surpluses, never to return to the dark and gloomy days of deficits spiralling out of control, a dangerous national debt dooming our grandchildren's future to one of hostility and lack of hope.
I truly believe that this is a watershed budget. We have turned on to the path moving forward with confidence toward a healthier, more prosperous future with taxes being reduced and the national debt on a permanent downward track. Collectively all Canadians have achieved a financial turnaround of historic proportions by eliminating a $42 billion deficit in four years.
Maintaining sound fiscal management, showing value for the use of the hard earned taxpayer dollar and showing respect for that same dollar is how we are governing Canada. We are taking action on what matters.
We are taking action on health care, which is of critical consequence in rural areas. Lambton county in my riding has the fewest doctors per capita in the entire province. Chatham-Kent is also on the list of underserviced communities. Many residents must travel to the cities in the region for specialized care, creating burdens on those institutions as well.
Our commitment on behalf of Canadians is to increase transfer payments to record levels, $31 billion this year alone and rising to $43.7 billion by 2004. I hope Premier Mike Harris will actually spend this new money on health care. Last year Ontario received an extra $1.5 billion in transfers and the premier said emphatically that he would spend every cent on health care. Unfortunately the premier's actions did not match his words. Only about half the $1.5 billion was spent on health care, with $700 million spent elsewhere, perhaps to pay for tax cuts. I implore the premier to follow the federal Liberal government's lead and take action on what matters.
Infrastructure is also of interest in my riding. The multi-year plan to improve highways and municipal infrastructure will be of great benefit. The former Canada infrastructure works program resulted in $23 million in projects in my riding, helping to build much needed medical centres and firehalls, to name just a few.
A major overhaul of Canada's border control is also welcomed. Southern Ontario has seen troubling incidents of illegal migrants, dozens at a time, using Canada as a conduit for their attempts at U.S. entry. My constituents will be pleased that millions of dollars will be invested wisely to help the RCMP, Canada Customs, and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration with extra resources to monitor the movements of high risk people and goods and to improve the immigration and refugee determination system by making it more effective and efficient.
If members of parliament eat at least once a day they are supporters of agriculture. We know that the return of farmers from the marketplace is getting lower and lower while the grocery stores and the middle men reap the profits from our world-class food system. The extra billion dollars announced in January by the minister of agriculture is welcome news. I look forward to further discussions on farm aid as we work toward an appropriate national farm safety net system that treats all farmers equally.
Factoring in the costs of production as the old GRIP accomplished would be right and proper. Having spoken with Ron McDougall, Ken Bee, chairman of the Ontario Soybean Growers Marketing Board, Don McCabe of the Ontario Corn Producers, and Ron Martin who is with the Ontario Wheat Growers, I acknowledge their concerns. These gentlemen, among others, are urging the government to extend the market revenue insurance plan beyond the next two years to help in long term financial planning. They have made a number of excellent suggestions as well to improve the national safety net program.
In a recent speech by Philip Shaw of Dresden, Ontario, writer of “Under the Agridome” in the Voice of the Farmer publication, he points out that a first rate and viable safety net is absolutely essential if farmers in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada are to sustain a long term agricultural outlook. I agree with him. Let us work together and put these ideas into action on behalf of our primary producers.
On behalf of my constituents I believe the budget sets a course for a better future by taking action on what matters. We are resolute in sustaining sound financial management by keeping the budget balanced, putting a curb on reckless government spending, continuing our prudent approach to budget planning, lowering our national debt and offering tax cuts across the board, helping families, farmers and rural communities.
The economic outlook is for continued strong growth with the unemployment rate at its lowest level in 24 years, with disposable income on the rise, and with consumer and business confident, upbeat and optimistic. Canada is a nation of winners and the budget sets Canada on the track for future victories so that upcoming generations will build on the success of the best nation in the world.
