Jason Kenney

[Poverty, November 19th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, obviously all Canadians and all parties want to continue to alleviate child poverty, and we hope to one day eliminate it.

However, there is good news. The low-income rate for children has declined significantly from a peak of over 18% under the Liberal government to 8.5% currently. That means that there are over 700,000 fewer children living in poverty.

Here is what UNICEF had to say on the subject:

If Canada is faring better than other western countries in this regard, it is due to measures that are favourable to families, like tax credits, fiscal measures and benefits that are maintained or put in place to counter the effects of [poverty].

[Employment, November 18th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, first, Jack Mintz actually supported this government's job-creating EI premium payroll tax cut.

Second, I have to correct myself. I said earlier that we provided Canada apprenticeship grants to over 100,000 young Canadians. In fact, the real number is over 500,000. I apologize.

The member suggests that we should provide paid learning opportunities on the work site. That is exactly what we are doing through the new Canada job grant, which is being implemented by all 13 provinces and territories. Why were the Liberals against the Canada job grant?

[Employment, November 18th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, what a tragedy to see the member for Kings—Hants now resorting to quoting a union-NDP think tank. That is the same member who used to support income splitting. He used to support lower taxes. Now he supports more reckless spending and endless deficits, the kinds of policies that lead to killing jobs.

This government has brought the federal tax burden down to its lowest level in 60 years. We have helped provide training opportunities to over six million young Canadians. We have created the apprenticeship incentive and completion grants and the Canada apprenticeship loan. We are doing more than any government to support youth and find them employment.

[Employment, November 18th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, happily, the youth unemployment rate in Canada is significantly below the average in the developed world. It is below the average of what it was under the previous Liberal government. This country has seen significant job creation, over 1.2 million net new jobs since the global economic downturn.

We are making significant enhancements to help young people get employed, including promoting apprenticeships. There are actually skills shortages in this country in many occupations, and we are trying to encourage provincial educators and training programs and employers to invest more in youth training so that young people can go into well-paying lifetime careers, for example, in the trades, through the apprenticeship incentive grant and completion grant, of which we have delivered more than 100,000.

[Government Advertising, November 18th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the hon. member is absolutely wrong. We clearly need to inform Canadian families that they can receive a new universal health care benefit for children between the ages of 7 and 18. This is one of many changes which, together, will provide $1,200 in tax relief for each family. Every family with children under the age of 18 will receive tax benefits because of these changes. Canadians need to be informed of the significant benefits they will receive as a result of all these changes.

[Government Advertising, November 18th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, only the NDP could refer to a massive tax benefit for working Canadian families as a binge, a benefit that would provide up to $2,000 of direct tax relief for families, treating families as an economic unit, that would increase the universal child care benefit provided to children between the ages of 7 and 18 from $1,000 to $1,700 a year. Together these constitute a total net benefit of over $1,200 for the average family. Four million families, 100% of families with kids, are going to benefit from this government's package.

[Taxation, November 17th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I think the question was criticizing the platform the member was elected on. The electors of Edmonton—St. Albert sent him here to fight for income splitting, not to argue against it.

In terms of broad-based tax relief, that is exactly what the government has done with over $200 billion in tax relief, saving the average family $3,400 a year—that is before this most recent tax cut—bringing the total federal tax burden down to its lowest level as a share of our economy since the 1950s.

We are expanding the horizons of human freedom by reducing taxes, and we are proud of it.

[Employment Insurance, November 17th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the hon. member is totally wrong. One-third of the members of the Social Security Tribunal of Canada speak French. That is higher than the percentage of the population that speaks French. We are making sure that we have a high percentage of decision-makers on the tribunal who speak French and can provide services in both official languages.

[Employment Insurance, November 17th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I will take that as an indication of the NDP's support for the budget implementation act, which proposes that we hire additional Social Security Tribunal members so that we can more speedily render decisions.

I am pleased to inform the House that as a result of the process of reconsideration of employment insurance refusals being done by officials in my department, we have decreased by approximately 90% the number of those refusals that are going for adjudication at the tribunal. A faster process means better results for Canadians. That is what this government is delivering.

[Child Care, November 17th, 2014]

In fact, Mr. Speaker, through our record transfers to the provinces, the Canada social transfer, we have helped to lead to the creation of even more daycare spaces. The family tax cut plan involves an increase of $1,000 in the child care tax credit.

However, the NDP plan on child care is this. It wants to tax 100% of families with kids in order to provide a subsidy through union-run daycare for 10% of families. Our approach is to recognize the choices made by all parents, all families, all four million of them, not just 10% of them.