Jason Kenney

[The Budget, November 17th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP union-run, government-knows-best daycare scheme is anything but universal. Its own plan says it would only benefit 360,000 Canadian households, less than 10% of families with kids. Compare that to this Conservative family tax cut plan that provides a net benefit to 100% of families with children under the age of 18, with an average benefit of $1,200 a year.

The NDP plan does nothing for rural parents, it does nothing for parents who are on late night shift work, it does nothing for parents who choose to give up some income to work at home with their kids. We are supporting all of those parents.

[The Budget, November 17th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, only the NDP could say that every Canadian parent with children is among the wealthiest few. There are four million parents with kids. One hundred per cent of Canadian families with children, including single moms and dads, all of them, will receive a significant benefit from the family tax cut, with an average benefit of $1,200 a year. Maybe for the NDP that is just walking-around money, but for Canadian families that means they will be able to do more to take care of their kids and do the most important work in the country as parents.

[The Budget, November 17th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is sad to hear the Liberal Party attacking families with children. The changes we have put in place will benefit 100% of the over four million Canadian families with children.

Let us not forget that it was the Liberal Party that opposed our GST cuts, which benefited all Canadians. All 35 million Canadians saw a decrease in the taxes they pay. Thanks to this government, Canadians are enjoying the lowest federal tax burden this country has seen in 60 years.

[Employment, November 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this government has made record investments in encouraging young Canadians to pursue great vocations in lifetime careers in the trades. That is why we created the apprenticeship incentive grant of $2,000 a year for those who enter the trades and the apprenticeship completion grant, which provides another $2,000 when they complete their training. We have provided these grants to thousands of young Canadians.

We have also provided the employer tax credit for hiring apprentices, the tool tax credit, and most recently, the Canada apprenticeship loan that provides interest-free financing to apprenticed students, because we believe that apprentices are worth every bit as much as—

[Child Care, November 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has the highest rate of female participation in the labour force in the G20.

What the member is suggesting really describes the NDP mentality. The NDP does not believe that dads and moms who spend some time at home with their young kids to raise them are in the workforce. We could not disagree more profoundly. They are working. They are working to raise their children and they are making sacrifices very often to do it.

This is the problem with the NDP approach. It denigrates those families and their choices. It says that they are not working. It says that they do not deserve support. It wants to attack those families and force them to take only one option, and it is wrong.

[Child Care, November 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is implying that mothers and fathers who stay at home are not workers. We disagree. On the contrary, we know that fathers and mothers who work with their young children at home are important and productive workers who help future generations grow. That is why we fully support the parents of four million families with children with the large number of reforms we announced last week.

[Taxation, November 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the opposite is true. In fact, the remarkable support for families announced by our Prime Minister last week will deliver $1,500 in benefits to a single parent on an income of $30,000 and will deliver $1,000 in benefits to a single parent with a $50,000 income.

This is the only plan being proposed in this Parliament that benefits 100% of families with children, over four million Canadian families, with a focus on low and medium income families. It is why we have now seen child poverty at its lowest level in Canadian history. The Liberals would take this back. They are wrong.

[Taxation, November 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the package that he critiqued at that time was a package with no limit. This has a $2,000 limit on the benefit of income splitting. It benefits nearly half of the families with kids, and the overall package benefits 100% of families with kids. Two-thirds of those benefits go to low and medium income families, an average benefit of nearly $1,200, which the Liberals would take away.

Let us not forget, that very member stood in this place and called for income splitting because he said that the current tax code was unfair to single income families. He should listen to his own advice.

[Taxation, November 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, two-thirds of the families who will benefit from these changes will be low and modest income families.

The Liberal Party's policy is clear: it wants to take away all these tax cuts, advantages and benefits for children and families, just like it wants to take income splitting away from seniors. We are there to support Canadian families and their choice. We do not do things the way the Liberal Party does.

[Taxation, November 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it benefits an enormous number of those with children and they are who we are focused on.

I want to remind the leader of the Liberal Party of his own finance critic's commitment, the member for Kings—Hants, who said in his 2003 leadership platform that the tax system that treats single incomes and dual incomes identically should be ended in order to stop penalizing Canadian single-income families.

This is about fairness. This is about treating families as an economic unit. This is about ending discrimination against some families who make sacrifices for their kids. We support the choices of Canadian parents.