Candice Bergen

[Child Care, May 12th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, we are helping all families by increasing the universal child care benefit and the family tax cut.

What the opposition has to offer is tax increases and removals of programs like the universal child care benefit, the family tax cut, income splitting for seniors for and for families. They want to increase taxes on every sector of our economy.

How will that help families that are in need? It will not help them. We know what families have come to count on under the Prime Minister and under this government. It is low taxes and it is money in their pockets.

[Child Care, May 12th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, that member is wrong. It is actually our policies, policies like the universal child care benefit, that has helped lift 80,000-plus children out of poverty during some of the most difficult times. That is why we have expanded it and increased it.

We believe that not only is it is a great tool to help lower and middle-income families, but it gives all families support across the country.

We believe that whatever the choice is in child care that families decide on, they deserve support, whether in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg, right across the country. Every family deserves support for their child care choices.

[Canadian Heritage, May 12th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, to mark the exciting birth of Princess Charlotte, we are thrilled to announce that the Government of Canada will be donating $100,000 to the organization Immunize Canada to help promote the use of life-saving vaccinations across the country. The Royal Family has always been engaged when it comes to the health and well-being of Canadian children, so this is a very fitting gift to honour the princess.

We are also giving the princess a Canadian-made snowsuit in honour of our being a northern country.

On behalf of all Canadians, I want to congratulate the Royal Family on the birth of Princess Charlotte.

[Infrastructure, May 12th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to explain it to the member. When the mortgage is paid the mortgage ends and one stops paying the bank the mortgage payment.

We have listened to the not-for-profit providers. They have asked that we give them this ability. We announced $150 million. They are thrilled about it. We are excited because they can keep providing housing and we can help by keeping taxes low, supporting those who are vulnerable and working with provinces on housing needs.

[Taxation, May 11th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, one thing families should know across this country is that if the Liberals had the chance, they would cut the universal child care benefit. They think that families would spend that money on beer and popcorn. We know the NDP would also cut it, because they believe that only certain families deserve support. We believe that all families with children deserve support, and that is why we are delivering on the family tax cut and the expanded and enhanced universal child care benefit.

Families, about 200,000 of them, do need to apply. We have extended that date to May 15 so that they can apply. They will receive the benefit, because it is their money. We believe on this side of the House that Canadians deserve the benefits they should be getting.

[Child Care, May 5th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, what we recognize is that families across the country have a variety of child care needs. We refuse to dictate to Canadian families how they should be looking after their children. We refuse to say that, if they are not using a licensed daycare spot, they do not deserve support. That is not what we are saying. That is what the NDP says.

What we are saying is that every family in the country with children deserves support. That is what we are delivering in tax cuts, in direct benefits, and in other tax benefits, like our child fitness tax credit. We are supporting families. We are supporting their right to choose how they look after their children.

[Housing, May 4th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, we have already done that. In fact, in our most recent budget we announced a measure whereby co-op housing and not-for-profit housing can renegotiate their mortgages so that they can continue to provide affordable housing to the people they are serving.

The NDP has no plan to help people with housing. All it wants to do is raise taxes. It wants to raise taxes on every sector in the Canadian population. That does not help those who are vulnerable. It does not help those who are trying to make more money, get better skills, earn more money so that they can afford the housing in their region. We want to help every single Canadian family, including those who are vulnerable.

[Housing, May 4th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the list that the member is referring to is a list of people, many of them in housing, looking for a less expensive rent. Certainly, we support the Province of Ontario if it wants to use its investment in affordable housing money to help subsidize cheaper rent for those individuals. We also have people who are homeless. We have our homelessness partnering strategy to address that need.

We are making life more affordable for middle-class Canadians so that they can afford the rent and the housing in the regions that they live in. That is increasing the universal child care benefit for all families with children under the age of 18, that is family tax cuts, as well as supports for families who are vulnerable.

We will continue to make smart investments and help the provinces so that Canadians can live in affordable housing.

[Taxation, April 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Wild Rose is correct. His constituents need to be worried about the NDP and the Liberals and what they would do given the chance.

We are giving benefits to every family with children in this country. What the NDP does is insult families when they do not use licensed daycare, and 90% of them do not. We respect what families decide to do in terms of looking after their children.

That is why we are giving every family with kids $160 for each child under the age of six, $60 for every child over the age seven, because we believe that money belongs to Canadian families, not to bureaucracies, not to unions, not to government coffers.

[Taxation, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Calgary Centre is correct. We do know that families who have older children do incur costs in raising those children, That is why we want to give them their money back and put it back in their pockets.

Recently, I was in Newmarket, Ontario. I met with high school students and their parents. Those parents were thrilled about the expanded universal child care benefit. It will give them $720 for each one of their children who is in high school, which is a huge benefit for them. They are also thrilled that we have doubled the children's fitness tax credit and have made it refundable, because a lot of those kids are involved in sports activities.

We are giving money back to parents. They want to raise taxes.