The Budget  Mr. Speaker, Canadians asked us to do two things in the last election. They asked us to help the middle class, and they asked us to grow the economy. We have started out by helping the middle class. We are putting more money in the pockets of people who faced a generation of not getting enough money in their paycheques.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of our budget. A few months ago, Canadians asked us for two things. They wanted us to make things better for the middle class and grow the economy. We started with our programs to grow the economy. That is our fiscal plan. It is very important to invest now because interest rates are very low and we can take steps that will make things better for future generations.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, our investments are important for future generations. It is very important to invest in infrastructure. We are going to start with a few funds: $11.9 billion over the next decade, plus $2 billion over the next three years for universities and colleges, and an additional $3.4 billion for federal infrastructure.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of the budget we put forward for Canadians. We are particularly proud that we have been able to live up to our promises to middle-class Canadians. We started on January 1, by reducing taxes for nine million Canadians and putting more money into their pockets each and every paycheque.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, after 10 years of low growth, Canadians elected a new government. They asked us to do two things: to help the middle class, and to grow the economy. We are so proud to start down the path of growing the economy. We are making investments in infrastructure. We are developing an innovation agenda that can make a real difference for this generation and future generations of Canadians so that they will have a better future for themselves and their families.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for her question because it gives me another opportunity to say how proud we are of our budget, a budget that is helping middle-class Canadians across this country. We started by helping nine million Canadians with tax reductions. More importantly, we are moving forward on helping nine out of ten Canadian families with children, with an average of $2,300 more per year.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, as I said, the Canadian people asked us to do two things: help the middle class and grow the economy. Our plan to grow the economy will make a significant difference for Canadians. We are making new investments into the economy that this year will be roughly $11.5 billion and almost $15 billion next year.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of our employment insurance policies. We made some very important decisions for Canada. We started by making a change that will allow people who need employment insurance to qualify with fewer hours than before. Furthermore, we decided to give quicker access to employment insurance in 12 regions across Canada that have higher unemployment rates.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of our budget. Five months ago, Canadians asked us to do two things: help them and their families and grow the economy. Today, we started to keep our promise by doing things for the middle class. We already cut taxes for the middle class. By doing so we are helping nine million Canadians.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, the member's question gives me the opportunity to say more about the Canada child benefit, which is an important policy that is going to fundamentally change the situation of families in Canada. Canadians asked us to help the middle class, and we are delivering on that.

The Budget  Mr. Speaker, I think this is a wonderful day for Canadians. We are very proud of the budget we put forward to help Canadians. It is only five months ago that Canadians elected the government and asked us to do two things. They said, “Help me, my family, and grow the economy”. That is exact what we are doing with this budget.

The Budget  moved: That this House approve in general the budgetary policy of the government. Mr. Speaker, I rise before this House today to table budget documents for 2016, including notices of ways and means motions. The details of the measures are contained in these documents. I am asking that an order of the day be designated for consideration of these motions.

Poverty  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Davenport for her question. I share her concerns. My riding of Toronto-Centre has a very high child poverty rate. In the 2016 budget, we will introduce our Canada child benefit, which will help give hundreds of thousands of children and nine families out of 10 a better future.

Finance  Mr. Speaker, the only people who think the Conservatives had a surplus are the Conservatives themselves. A month, two months, six months, that is not a year. For 2015-16, we will have a deficit. That was our plan from the start. We will invest to grow the economy. That way, we will be better off in the future.

Finance  Mr. Speaker, as I have said repeatedly, we have a plan to grow the economy. We started with tax cuts for the middle class, which will help nine million Canadians across the country keep more money in their pockets this year. We will add to that other measures included in the budget.