Income Tax Act  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today. I want to begin by acknowledging my hon. colleague across the way, who said: Does the government have a plan? I can assure the House that the government has a plan. We first reduced taxes. I cannot believe that the hon. member would be a

Income Tax Act  Mr. Speaker, I am sure my colleagues on the other side will appreciate that we have a plan. We started by reducing taxes in December. We are going to put the Canada child benefit program in place in the next budget, and we are going to make historical investments in our infrastru

Finance  Mr. Speaker, I remind my hon. colleague opposite that we inherited a deficit of more than 150 billion Canadian dollars from the Conservative government. We have a plan to grow the economy and we have already started. We will respect three key principles: we will keep bringing the

Finance  Mr. Speaker, I would like first to apologize. I did not see that you were rising. The hon. colleague said there was a surplus. Actually Canadians know about the $150 billion deficit that he left us. We have a plan to grow the economy. We started the process in December by lo

Finance  Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague. The government wants to ensure that household finances remain strong and that household debt is manageable. We are obviously monitoring the household debt ratio and many other indicators. The government recently took action by requiring lar

Finance  Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to report that, with the Minister of Finance, we went from coast to coast and met with thousands of Canadians. Canadians have asked us to invest in innovation, productivity and to look at infrastructure and exports. I am pleased to report to the Hou

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to speak here today. I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his very important question on seniors and our middle class. The previous government's plan to nearly double the tax-free savings account, or TFSA, contribution limit would have helpe

Taxation  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question. That is precisely what we are doing. We are investing in the middle class. What my colleague said is not exactly true. In December, we cut taxes for the middle class. What we did fulfills one of the many promises that we int

Cédrika Provencher  Mr. Speaker, in December, the remains of Cédrika Provencher, a young girl kidnapped in 2007, were discovered in my riding, Saint-Maurice—Champlain. I offer my deepest condolences to her family and friends and the entire community, which has been shaken by this unspeakable crime.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Mr. Speaker, first of all, I am pleased to congratulate you on your election. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the voters of Saint-Maurice—Champlain, a riding that is bigger than Belgium, for putting their trust in me. I would like to congratulate my colleague