Pensions  Mr. Speaker, the only plan the New Democrats and the Liberals have for seniors is to increase taxes. Seniors have worked their entire lives. They do not need to be penalized with more taxes. That is why we have taken 380,000 seniors off the tax rolls by increasing the amount they can earn without paying taxes.

Pensions  Mr. Speaker, Canada's seniors have worked hard all their lives. The last thing they need is a tax increase from the Liberals and the NDP, both of which have promised to eliminate pension splitting and bring in a carbon tax that would raise the price of all the household goods and heating and utilities that seniors have to pay and would push them back into poverty.

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, today I was at the Sandy Hill Child Care centre celebrating the legislation we will introduce Friday to increase the universal child care benefit, those monthly cheques that people get, to almost $2,000 for preschoolers and $720 for kids 6 through 17. The Liberals and NDP have voted against these initiatives in the past.

The Economy  Mr. Speaker, it is called the low-tax plan for jobs, and it is working. There were 1.2 million net new jobs, with 85% of them in the full-time category and two-thirds of them in high-wage sectors. The Liberal plan is to raise taxes on those who create jobs and to raise taxes on middle-class families.

Pensions  Mr. Speaker, of course, we want to help pensioners and anyone who chooses to work longer. First of all, we lowered taxes for all seniors. By being able to keep more of their money, seniors have more freedom and choices regarding their finances. Second, we created the tax-free savings account, which allows seniors, and in fact all Canadians, to save money and get better returns without paying income tax to the federal government.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, the NDP and Liberals' only plan for jobs is to raise taxes on people who create them and on people who work. Our plan is working. There are ways of measuring it. The first is job growth. We have 1.2 million net new jobs since the recession. There is another way, which is to measure job quality, meaning after-tax, after-inflation wages, and they too are up by 10%.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, the only idea the NDP and the Liberals have come up with on the jobs front is raising taxes for job creators. We on this side of the House are working to reduce taxes, boost training for in-demand jobs and sign free trade agreements that create demand for our Canadian products.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, the member could not be more wrong. First, on the global scale, we have 1.2 million net new jobs, 85% of them full-time and two-thirds of them in high wage industries. As it relates to youth, we have helped students by removing the Liberal tax on scholarships and also by bringing in a tax credit to help with the cost of textbooks.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, young people in this country understand what the Liberal leader fails to understand, which is that budgets do not balance themselves. Young people understand that they need jobs in high-demand industries. That is precisely why we brought in 500,000 Canada apprenticeship grants, which are helping hundreds of thousands of young people get certified in Red Seal trades for which there are plenty of employers crying out for young people to hire.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, we have a plan; it is called the low-tax plan. That is precisely why the Liberals cannot recognize it, because they cannot recognize anything called low tax. Their only idea on jobs is to raise taxes on people who create them. That is the equivalent of thinking that a budget will simply balance itself.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should tell his leader that budgets do not balance themselves. It takes hard work and discipline to do that. On jobs, we have a three-T plan: trade, training and tax cuts. Guess what? It is working, and 1.2 million net new jobs have resulted from lower taxes, increased trade and more training for our young people so they can realize their full potential in our economy.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, our reforms seek to ensure that Canadian jobs go to Canadians and that the temporary foreign worker program is used as a last resort to fill needs that Canadians are not available to meet. That is why we limited the percentage of work for which a company can find temporary foreign workers.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my excellent parliamentary secretary for his work on this and other important files. Over the last 10 years, we have increased the efficiency by 42% in the EI program. Two-thirds of claims are now fully or partially automated. The result is that now the majority of EI claimants receive their pay within 28 days of making their claim, and that number is on the rise.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, the worst thing we could do for jobs is to follow the Liberal plan to increase taxes, which is the only thing the Liberals have offered. That would make it more difficult for business owners and families, both of whom know that the Liberal leader is completely out to lunch when he says that the budget will balance itself.

Employment  Mr. Speaker, the only plan the Liberal Party has for jobs is to increase taxes. The companies that hire and the workers who do the work know that the budget will not balance itself. Our job creation plan has already created 1.2 million new jobs, 85% of which are full-time positions.