Bill Morneau

[Taxation, April 11th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, budget 2016 was an historic budget. It helps people across this country.

It certainly helps people in Quebec, like it helps people across this country, with changes in their taxes, with changes in the way we give the Canada child benefit. It will make a real difference for people in that province, as it will across the country, through investments in infrastructure and in the long-term growth of our economy.

We are confident that people in Quebec and across the country will have a better future as a result of these investments.

[The Budget, April 11th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we are proud of what we have put in the budget. It is open. It is transparent. We are talking here about how much we will grow the economy. That is the debate. We are confident that our measures to help Canadians today, with tax cuts and benefit changes, and our measures for the future, with infrastructure expenditures and the new innovation plan, will make a real difference over the long term, allowing us to grow the economy. We are happy to have the debate on exactly how much it will grow the economy.

[The Budget, April 11th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of budget 2016. We have been open and transparent with Canadians. We introduced measures that are easy to understand.

We also know that the PBO leads an important institution. We received a letter from him on April 1, and over the week that followed, we provided all necessary information to the PBO for his office to understand our budget.

[The Budget, April 11th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we were happy to consult with Canadians. We had more than 250,000 people who were touched by our pre-budget consultations. We listened to Canadians across the country, small businesses and big businesses.

We have made a real difference for small and medium-sized business by helping middle-class Canadians. We are investing in the future of Canada through a new innovation plan that is going to allow us to grow our economy over the long term. This is what Canada needs at this time, and we are going to make a real difference for future Canadians.

[The Budget, April 11th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be able to talk about taxes in our budget. We started on January 1 by reducing taxes on nine million Canadians. We moved forward with our Canada child benefit, which gives more money to nine out of 10 families with children—on average $2,300 more.

We are in a situation where we are helping people who have not had the help they have needed over the last generation. We are improving the lot of middle-class Canadians, and we are going to grow the economy, so for the future their children and their grandchildren will be in a better position.

[Taxation, April 11th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of budget 2016 for many reasons, but one of the most important reasons is what it will do for our economy and how much it will help small and medium-sized businesses.

We are helping the Canadian middle class by improving their situation. That is going to improve every single consumer of small and medium-sized businesses in this country. We are going to grow the economy, and that is going to make business in Canada much more successful in the future.

[Small Business, March 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we have decided to maintain the small business tax rate where it is, at 10.5%. We have decided to focus on how we can grow the economy so that small and medium-sized businesses can have a successful opportunity to grow their businesses. We have decided to help the middle class so they can buy the goods and services from small businesses that small businesses want to sell, and that middle-class Canadians need.

This is a budget that will make a huge difference for businesses across this country in a positive way.

[The Budget, March 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of our budget. We started with major tax measures for the middle class. We also want an innovative economy. We listened to people who have innovative companies and we decided to make investments that can help our economy become more innovative in the future.

[The Budget, March 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we know that the way to deal with an economy that had low growth and the way to deal with demographic challenges is to make investments in the future. We know that by making investments in the future, we can have a better fiscal situation for our children and our grandchildren. That is exactly what Canadians asked us to do, and that is exactly what we have started now. We know that the investments we are making this year and next year will help us to grow the economy, and that is exactly the right thing to do.

[The Budget, March 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by saying it is nice to get a question from the hon. member for the first time. I appreciate it. I want to remind him that he was part of a government that left us with a deficit of $150 billion of additional debt.

We are now turning to how we can grow the economy for the next generation of Canadians. We are making investments that can make a real difference in this country for the future, investments in infrastructure and innovation, so that the children of today and their children will have a better future for Canada.