International Trade committee  Do you see any negative impacts of the TPP on an average middle-class Canadian?

International Trade committee  We hear that you feel that this would maintain the jobs here in Canada and, of course, it's hard to see how a Canadian business would be disadvantaged in the TPP, but we've had others present here and explain to us how Canadians would be disadvantaged in the TPP. While businesses may be a beneficiary of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, average middle-class Canadians and lower-income Canadians would actually end up having to pay more for pharmaceutical drugs. There would be implications for them. I did read one of your articles, Mr. Sookman, in which you said, “The costs of being left behind could be staggering for Canada in the long term.”

Finance  For 10 years, there was no investment in public transit, in green infrastructure, or in anything to tackle climate change. Canadians elected a government that is ready to invest in the future, in middle-class Canadians so that they have more money in their pockets, and in families. These kinds of investments will create growth, which was neglected in Canada by the previous government for the past 10 years.

Finance  Speaker, we are moving forward with a plan that is going to make a real difference for Canadians. It starts by helping middle-class Canadians to have better lives. It started with tax cuts and a move forward with the Canada child benefit that will really improve Canadians' lives. Cheques will be starting this July. Then we are going to move forward with investments that will make a real, long-term difference in the productivity and the strength of our economy so that in the future we will be much better off than we were in the last decade under the last government.

Finance  This means that we will now take action to grow the economy. That is how we plan to help improve the lives of middle-class Canadians.

Excise Act, 2001  However, sadly, many of us on this side will be unable to support this bill. The Government of Canada is focused on helping middle-class Canadians have more money in their pockets so they are able to save for retirement and provide for their families. We know the single-best thing we, as a government, can do for Canadian businesses, including our spirits industry, is to create a strong economy with a strong customer base, a strong consumer base, a middle class that feels confident about the present and the future, and is on a secure financial footing.

International Trade committee  I would tend to agree with you. I think the real risk is to quintessential middle-class Canadian jobs. When you're talking about entry-level, low-skilled employment, as we grow as an economy—and every economy as we industrialize—we stop doing the rudimentary things that are entry-level economic activities.

International Trade committee  If we're easing the restrictions, it stands to reason that it will be easier than it has been. That's why we're here before you today. There's a real impact on hard-working, middle-class Canadians. We need to protect against that.

International Trade committee  Construction has one of the highest multipliers in the economy at about 1.7. Those dollars make a difference. When our middle-class Canadians are working, they can buy homes, they can buy cars, and they can invest in goods and services, exactly as the presenters sitting beside me are offering to them. They can educate their children, and they can even put away a little bit for retirement.

Instruction to Committee on Bill C-2  In addition to that, when we run the numbers on this particular tax cut and calculate the average savings that this tax cut would provide to the average so-called middle-class Canadian, it works out to about $540 annually. That is from the numbers that were provided by the government's own finance department. If we take that $540 and divide it by 365 days in a year, that ends up being about $1.25 a day.

Health committee  As our economy shifts into an age where old models of employment become increasingly rare, old models of benefits are also disappearing. It's important to understand that many middle-class Canadians either don't have good drug coverage or are at risk of losing their drug coverage in the modern Canadian economy. That's the private drug plans. They're not working well for Canadians.

Health committee  The pharmacare reforms that Canada needs, therefore, require the truest test of political leadership: ability to champion the legitimate but diffuse interests of ordinary Canadians, dare I say middle-class Canadians, over the concentrated and thus powerful interests of specific actors. This is not to say that governments that take action won't find support from the Canadian public. On the contrary, the 2015 Angus Reid Institute survey mentioned earlier found that 87% of Canadians support adding prescription medicines to our publicly funded Canadian medicare system.

Small Business  All of it, absolutely all of it, supports small and medium-size businesses, their consumers, the middle-class Canadians who own them, and the people who work hard for small business.

International Trade committee  I also feel a lot of pressure, since I'm one of a couple of individuals selected not because I represent someone, but just because I wanted to come and speak to you as an individual. I also have a Ph.D. in ecological economics, so maybe I'm not just an ordinary middle-class Canadian. I'm associate faculty at Royal Roads University. I also prepared a written submission but didn't have time to get it to you to have it translated. You'll get that eventually.

Taxation  Speaker, I would invite my hon. colleague to read the budget in its entirety, because actually this budget is a budget for middle-class Canadians and Canadian families. We are the government that reduced the taxes for the middle class. Nine million Canadians are paying less tax as of January 1 because of this government.