House of Commons photoWon her last election, in 2019, with 47% of the vote.
Older Workers May 18th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows that this issue has broad implications for a lot of people right across this country. That is why we are going to make sure that the decisions we make are based on a broad range of consultations. As well, they are going to meet the needs of older workers while respecting the value of taxpayers' dollars.
Older Workers May 18th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, as was announced in budget 2006, we are very pleased to recognize the contributions of older workers and the need to, wherever possible, keep them in the workforce, whether that is through retraining or mobility methods. That is why I was so pleased when the Prime Minister announced that we will be conducting a feasibility study into ways to assist older workers.
Employment Insurance May 12th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member should be aware, the government does place a high value on our workers. They are the ones who make us competitive. They are the ones who make us productive.
That is why I was pleased to meet with several of my opposition colleagues to discuss these pilot programs. There are several, but as I explained earlier to members opposite, a pilot program is just that. It is a trial. It is not a long term thing. It is to try to see if things will work before we make them permanent. We need to evaluate them and get the facts.
The Budget May 8th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, there were several inaccuracies presented by the hon. member.
For starters, there was money involved in the budget to meet one of our top five priorities. That is working with the provinces to reduce wait times. The hon. member should know that is a provincial issue, but we want to help with that.
The member should also understand, in issues such as home care, that too is a provincial jurisdiction. She mentioned cuts in health care funding under Mike Harris. If she wishes to check the facts, Mike Harris actually increased health care funding in Ontario from roughly $16 billion to $28 billion while in office. If that is what she calls a cut, I want more cuts such as that.
The Budget May 8th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is absolutely right. The provision of child care services does fall within the provincial jurisdictions and that is where the standards are maintained and where compliance has to exist.
We believe that the role of the federal government is to make resources available to parents so they can improve and access their choice in child care. We are providing $1,200 a year so parents can access whatever form of child care they need. We are also creating spaces so if parents need to access them they have that option.
Obviously, being a provincial jurisdiction, each province will be responsible for ensuring that its unique standards, whether they are formal, informal or going so far as accreditation, will be met. Anyone creating spaces under this program will necessarily have to follow the rules of the province in which they are located.
The Budget May 8th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, a lot has been said in the House and outside the House about this budget. Unfortunately, a lot of it is very misleading misinformation. For example, there has been talk about how the working poor and the poor will not benefit from our tax cuts.
The Conservative Party's tax cuts are the broadest, the most comprehensive and they exceed the tax cuts provided by the previous government in not one but four budgets.
By cutting the GST by 1% , the government will be providing a 1% cut in the taxes on expenditures that affect even the poorest. One-third of Canadians do not pay taxes. They will benefit from the cut in the GST. They would not benefit from the middle class income tax cuts that the previous government wanted. They will benefit from our cuts.
The Budget May 8th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, the hon. member for Langley, for sharing his time with me today.
Canada's new government campaigned on the items in this budget. Happily, Canadians gave us a mandate to implement our platform and we are now delivering on our commitments.
The budget provides some $11.7 billion in total direct federal support to families in 2006-07 alone. The vast majority of benefits will go to low and middle income families.
I want to emphasize that the budget addresses a broad range of issues. Our support for child care has received most of the attention, but the budget invests in Canadians of all ages and stages of life and in many different circumstances. I will talk about some of those in a few minutes.
The hallmark of the budget is the five priorities in the Speech from the Throne. One of those five is to give parents a choice in child care. Our budget provides for a new universal child care plan that provides benefits directly to families and supports the creation of new child care spaces.
The new universal child care benefit will go directly to the parents of Canada's 2.1 million preschoolers. It will provide $1,200 a year for each child under six to help parents choose the options for child care that best suit their family's unique circumstances.
We hope for swift passage of the budget and urge all parties to vote for what Canadians want and expect. Parents across the country want our universal child care benefit and are looking forward to receiving their first monthly cheque of $100 for each preschool age child this July.
The universal child care benefit is only one of two components of our universal child care plan. We know that many parents want formal day care and that the demand for these spaces exceeds the current supply. The budget sets aside $250 million per year beginning in 2007-08. We will create with that money 25,000 new spaces each year.
We want community associations, not for profit organizations, parents, and businesses both large and small to come up with ideas for child care spaces that make sense for them. In the coming months we will consult on the child care spaces initiative with the provinces and territories, employers and other stakeholders on ways to implement our spaces initiative.
In addition to helping all parents with their preschool age children, our government is following through on our commitment to help address the skills and labour shortage. To do this we have introduced several new measures.
First, we will introduce a new apprenticeship incentive grant. It will provide a cash grant of $1,000 per year to apprentices in the first two years of an apprenticeship program in one of the red seal trades. This grant will promote the entry of new labourers into the trades.
Our budget also encourages employers to hire new apprentices through an apprenticeship job creation tax credit. Eligible employers will receive a tax credit of 10% of the apprentice's wages to a maximum of $2,000 per apprentice per year for each of the apprentice's first two years.
The budget also delivers on our campaign commitment for a new tools tax deduction worth up to $500 per year that will help apprentices and trades people pay for the cost of their tools.
These are the first steps in our longer term broad based agenda to respond to the concerns of employers, unions and workers who recognize the great need for more skilled trades people right across Canada.
We will also be consulting with the provinces, territories and other stakeholders on the creation of the Canadian agency for the assessment and recognition of foreign credentials. The agency will offer preassessment of international credentials and experience. On the basis of the advice that we receive, we will move quickly so that new Canadians can quickly put their skills to work for their benefit and for ours.
Because students are our future leaders, this budget introduces several new measures to help young Canadians get the education that they need. We want to make post-secondary studies more affordable for Canadians. The budget invests up to $20 million annually to increase direct support to students and their families through the Canada student loans program. We will expand eligibility for student loans through a reduction in the expected parental contribution starting in August 2007. We have also introduced a textbook tax credit of $65 per month for full time students and $20 per month for part time students. While these tax reductions are modest, we know and understand that every little bit helps.
Our government also believes that hard work deserves to be rewarded. Our brightest young minds deserve to keep their hard-earned bursaries and scholarships. That is why our government is eliminating federal taxes on scholarship and bursary income.
While direct assistance to students is important, our government also recognizes that improving access to post-secondary education requires more than loans, grants and bursaries. The institutions themselves must have the capacity to support the growing number of students. That is why we are establishing a one time post-secondary education infrastructure trust fund. The budget provides $1 billion for the provinces and territories to support urgent investments in infrastructure and equipment such as better classrooms and libraries, laboratories and research facilities, and to purchase new technologies and training equipment.
The demand for new skills and technologies sometimes displaces older workers. We made it clear that we will stand up for older workers. We recognize the important contribution that they make to the labour market. We are committed to finding ways to help them and will evaluate several options for assistance. Personally, I look forward to working with members of the opposition in addressing the needs of older workers.
While assistance to human capital is important, our government also recognizes the need for investment in housing infrastructure. We are determined to help make quality housing more affordable and available for Canadian families, particularly aboriginal Canadians and people living in Canada's north. To this effect, our government is investing $800 million in affordable housing to help provinces and territories increase the number of safe and affordable housing units. In addition, the budget provides up to $300 million to provinces to address immediate pressures in off reserve aboriginal housing and up to $300 million to territories for affordable housing in the north.
Canada's seniors could also use their government's support. That is why our government is following through on our commitments to double the pension income credit from $1,000 to $2,000 in 2006. This will benefit nearly 2.7 million seniors with pension income and will remove approximately 85,000 pensioners from the tax roll.
Our government is also addressing the needs of some 3.6 million Canadians living with a disability. Effective this July, we will increase the maximum annual child disability benefit to $2,300, up sharply from $2,044. We are also extending eligibility for this benefit to virtually all families caring for a child who is eligible for the disability tax credit. This is good news for families struggling with the challenges of providing for the needs of their family members with disabilities.
Our government is following through on our campaign commitments. We offered Canadians a platform of hope and of change. Canadians voted for this change and we are now proud to follow through on our commitments. I urge all hon. members to support the choices of Canadians and to join me in supporting this budget.
Older Workers May 5th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased yesterday when the Prime Minister announced in the House, “In the budget there is a fund related to the forest industry of about $100 million for this year to help older workers. We are examining our options”.
I am pleased to say he also announced that during the budget we will be conducting a feasibility study on this very issue. I look forward to the hon. member's participation in that process.
Business of Supply May 4th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I am surprised the hon. member for Trinity—Spadina would be arguing about us giving parents more money. This is something for which she has advocated for a long time, and that is what we are doing.
Historically, parents have not been given money for child care, not one cent. We are offering $1,200. That is the choice the hon. member has and will have when this comes to a vote. She can support $1,200 a year for each child or she can vote against it and vote for giving them nothing. That is the choice: $1,200 a year or nothing.
I hope, for the sake of parents and children across this country, that she chooses $1,200.
Business of Supply May 4th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, in many ways our children are our greatest natural resource.
Our program is designed to provide three things: support, choice and spaces. It is not the role of the federal government, constitutionally, to provide 100% child care.
We believe that our role is to provide the parents with the support they need to get the choice that meets their needs, the choice in child care, and we will do that in two ways. One way is through a $1,200 a year universal child care allowance for parents of every child under the age of six. That will help them with affordability to access programming.
As Leslie Wilson, who is the vice-president of the large Canadian day care program, Wee Watch, said the affordability of licensed care has always been a sticking point. For parents currently planning day care for their children, that $1,200 appears to be bridging the gap between the cost of our services compared to unregulated care.
We are talking about spending more than twice as much on our child care program than any previous government has even promised, much less delivered. There is a lot more money going into the system. That money will be there to support the choices parents make. Whether it is formal day care or stay at home, the money will be in the system to make it happen.