Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to be able to rise in the House and participate in this debate tonight on Bill C-31, the budget implementation act.
I would like to start with a bit of a tribute. I have had the opportunity, in the three years that I have had the honour and privilege of representing the people of Mississauga—Streetsville in the House of Commons, to work with a phenomenal individual who, unfortunately as we all know, is no longer with us. Of course, that is the Hon. Jim Flaherty, who was the architect of the budget that we are talking about tonight. I have not yet had the opportunity since his very untimely and sudden passing to pay tribute to Jim Flaherty, to his wife Christine Elliott, and his three sons, and to just let the entire family know how much we miss Jim, how much Canada has lost in this great public servant of our country. He was a man who led Canada through the most difficult economic recession since the Great Depression, who was recognized as probably the world's best finance minister during that very difficult time, and certainly who is revered and respected on both sides of this House. I wanted to start off tonight by saying that and ensuring that all members of this House, and I am sure they all do, remember Jim very fondly and thank him for his tremendous contribution to this great country of Canada.
We are here tonight to talk about Bill C-31, the budget implementation act. This is a very important budget that sets Canada forward for next year, having us return to balance. We look at where our country was and where we, like most countries around the world if not all during that very difficult economic recession, had to go into deficit financing and spending to ensure economies did not collapse, ensure we kept people working, and ensure that we invested in infrastructure. We certainly did. There is no doubt that at that time we ran deficits that would have been larger than anyone would have thought, but it was done in a responsible and prudent way. I might note that it was actually done, and budgets like those were actually passed, during minority Parliaments so we had support of other parties in this House for the kind of investment and spending that we did and the levels of deficits that we accumulated as the Government of Canada at that time. However, times improved and, just like families in Mississauga—Streetsville would do if they have to spend a bit more today and then save up in the future and pay back that money that they have borrowed, we do that. It is a prudent and responsible thing to do.
I am delighted and the constituents in my great riding of Mississauga—Streetsville would agree that they are delighted and proud to see where Canada has come and that in the next fiscal year we will achieve a balanced budget. Hopefully there will be a surplus and we will begin to pay down debt and we will continue to offer tax relief for Canadians.
Tonight I just want to highlight a few things that are in Bill C-31. It is important that we remind people of the very positive measures that are in this bill. One of the main focuses of our budgets since I have been a member of Parliament here has been on jobs, growth, and long-term prosperity. This is another budget that focuses exactly on those core areas.
Bill C-31 would invest $11 million over two years and $3.5 million per year ongoing to strengthen the labour market opinion process to ensure Canadians are given the first chance at available jobs.
It provides $14 million over two years and $4.7 million per year ongoing toward the successful implementation of an expression of interest economic immigration system to support Canada's labour market needs. It provides apprentices registered in the Red Seal trades with access to interest-free loans of up to $4,000 per period of technical training. As a member of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and Status of Persons With Disabilities, our committee held the hearings and listened to witnesses, who were very excited about the prospect of this new apprentice loan that I am so proud to talk about in this budget tonight.
We are cutting red tape on more than 50,000 employers by reducing the maximum number of required payments on account of source deductions.
We are continuing our focus on more jobs and better jobs for all Canadians.
The budget also continues our support for families and communities. We are encouraging competition and lower prices in the telecommunications market by capping wholesale domestic wireless roaming rates to prevent wireless providers from charging other companies, that may be their competitors, more than they charge their own customers for mobile voice, data, and text services.
We are introducing a search and rescue volunteers tax credit for our search and rescue volunteers who perform at least 200 hours of service in a year.
We are increasing the maximum amount of the adoption expense tax credit to $15,000 to help make adoption more affordable for Canadian families. That one is particularly important to me because I served for six years, two 3-year terms as a member of the board of the Peel Children's Aid Society. One of our major challenges was how we could get our kids in care adopted by families. Adopting children out of the children's aid system is challenging enough. These are very vulnerable children who are in the care of our local children's aid societies. I have to say, if we can improve the financial ability of families to adopt those children, and other children, but certainly those most vulnerable children, into a loving and welcoming new family home, that is one of the most important things we as a government could ever possibly do. I am very proud about that initiative in this budget.
We are exempting acupuncturists and naturopathic doctors' professional fees from the goods and services tax and harmonized sales tax. The budget would expand the list of eligible expenses under the medical expense tax credit to include costs associated with service animals that are specially trained to assist individuals with severe diabetes, such as our diabetes alert dogs, as well as amounts paid for the design of an eligible individualized therapy plan.
We are enhancing access to employment insurance sickness benefits for claimants who receive benefits for critically ill children and compassionate care benefits.
The budget sets forth a renewed investment in infrastructure. I want to say how proud I am of our government for renewing the build Canada fund for 10 years. I come from the city of Mississauga. We know infrastructure is important and investing in our urban areas is crucial. Our government has made the largest commitment to infrastructure in the history of our country. We have a true partnership with provinces and municipalities, treating them as equal orders of government in the important work of investing in our communities and in our cities. The budget does that.
The last item I will talk about, because it is one of my passions from my previous life, is housing. The budget commits to the five-year renewal of the affordable housing initiative and the homelessness partnering strategy. Adding those two together, that is almost $2 billion over the next five years.
This is a good budget. This is an excellent bill. I encourage all members of the House to support it.
