Executive Compensation  I received numerous messages over the last year from Nav Canada employees who told me of the fear of losing their jobs. The current government is not capable of understanding what it is like for middle-class Canadians to earn a decent living without relying on a huge payout on the backs of taxpayers. Last week, we found out that Air Canada doled out more than $10 million to executives, with Canadians' money, as a result of the government's incompetence to negotiate an agreement that excluded the distribution of executive bonuses.

Business of Supply  The government also recently expanded access to the first-time home buyer incentive to make sure more middle-class Canadians in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria and cities of the like can benefit from this support. The program reduces a first-time home buyer's mortgage payments to make buying a home more affordable.

Business of Supply  Speaker, the irony with the government is that it purports to spend more addressing affordability than any other government in the history of Canada, yet never before has the dream of home ownership been harder to attain for average middle-class Canadians and people working hard to join them, as we have heard a thousand times from the government. It has never been harder for them to enter the housing market and provide the security, stability and economic opportunities that come with home ownership.

Airline Industry  Before the member criticizes us too harshly, I would ask her to take a look in the mirror, because her entire caucus voted against the measure we put in place to raise taxes on the wealthiest 1% so we could cut them for the middle class. Canadians know that our government has been there for them from the very beginning, and we will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to get them through this public health emergency.

Housing  If this is truly the case, was it the intention of the government to drive home prices out of reach for the average middle-class Canadian?

Business of Supply  My colleague is quite right. However, I want to stress that having more social housing also helps middle-class Canadians who are looking to buy a house, because it cools the overheated real estate market in general.

International Trade committee  What I would say to Canadians, and particularly those workers in the forestry sector, who are middle-class Canadians, is that we will continue to work very hard on their behalf. We will do that with our American partners, and I will continue to pursue this work with the Canadian industry, just as we have done from day one.

Income Tax Act  Rather than asking Canadians to subsidize the spending of Canadians who can afford a home security system, our government has undertaken in the last few years to eliminate poorly targeted, unfair and inefficient tax exemptions and has committed to undertaking another tax expenditure review to ensure this process continues. The government has cut taxes for middle-class Canadians, raised them for the wealthiest 1% and increased benefits for families and low-income workers. Our government has also improved tax fairness by closing loopholes, eliminating measures that disproportionately benefit the wealthy, and cracking down on tax evasion.

Housing  Last week, the new head of CMHC, Romy Bowers, said that the government's national housing strategy would not be enough to address affordability because the government had done nothing to engage the private sector in the construction of affordable housing and housing for middle-class Canadians, which the government purports to support. Romy Bowers said that the biggest impediment to affordability was addressing the supply issue we faced in Canada, which was not addressed in the last federal budget.

Industry committee  The Steelworkers believe that it is the role of government, the role of all of you, to protect all middle-class Canadians. Retirees who have defined benefit pension plans are all members of the middle class. The 2019 budget introduced by the Liberals spoke expressly about a desire to protect pension plans.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  It is estimated that hard-working individuals will save just under $300 per year, while middle-class Canadian families, on average, will save $600 per year. That is $600 for middle-class families to spend on groceries, kids' after-school sports or arts programs, or to put away as savings for their kids' education.

Human Resources committee  For many years, there has not been growth in purpose-built rentals in Canada, and the RCFI program was developed specifically to provide new rental housing for middle-class Canadians versus people at lower income levels. I know that when you're actually looking at the rents that are being charged for RCFI projects, it's important to compare the rents not to the market in general but to the rents for new buildings that are being constructed.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  As someone who has prepared thousands of tax returns over the last 30 years, the vast majority of them for middle-class Canadians, I can assure this House that this is simply not true. I could provide example after example of people whose personal income taxes have in fact increased substantially since 2015.

The Budget  It is about meeting the urgent needs of today and about building for the long term. It is a budget focused on middle-class Canadians and on pulling more Canadians up into the middle class. It is a plan that embraces this moment of global transformation to a green, clean economy. This budget addresses three fundamental challenges.

Finance committee  Bill C-30 is an essential piece of legislation that, once enacted, will allow us to implement our plan to finish the fight against COVID, create jobs and a swift recovery from the COVID recession and lay a foundation for robust, inclusive, green, long-term economic growth. This budget is about helping middle-class Canadians, helping workers and helping more Canadians to join the middle class. It is about embracing this moment of global transformation to a greener, cleaner economy. It is a plan that will help Canadians and Canadian businesses heal the wounds of COVID and come roaring back.