On Parliament Hill

As the Member of Parliament for Provencher, I am proud to look back on 2013 and see that our Conservative Government has continued its hard work supporting job creation, economic growth and long-term prosperity for Canada.

Indeed, Canada’s overall job growth record since the depths of the global economic recession remains the strongest among all G7 countries. Our Government’s plan for jobs and growth has helped contribute to the creation of approximately one million net new jobs. And we’re on track to keep creating jobs and balance Canada’s budget in 2015.

But we recognize that the global economy can be volatile. We sympathize with those who are still struggling to find a job, and we realize we are not immune to what happens outside our borders. That’s why we’re sticking to our plan – Canada’s Economic Action Plan – to stay focused on long-term prosperity for Canada.

Our Government is continuing to invest in public infrastructure through the new Building Canada Plan.  Communities are the lifeblood of our country and our economy, which is why it’s important that they have high-quality infrastructure. As a part of Economic Action Plan 2013, this new Plan represents the largest federal investment in job-creating infrastructure in Canadian history. One of its key components is the Community Improvement Fund, an innovative infrastructure funding project that gives Canadian municipalities the freedom to invest in the infrastructure that is important to them. Rather than a one-size-fits-all, big-government solution, our Government is helping give municipalities greater flexibility with investment dollars so that they can improve their standard of living as they see fit.

Another top priority for our Government is support for families. We’ve lowered taxes over 150 times, saving the average family of four over $3,200 a year.  These tax savings help families to not only make ends meet, but to save for the future.

We are also removing tariffs on imports of baby clothing and eligible sports and athletic equipment to ensure the prices that Canadians pay are more in-line with those paid in the United States.

All of this is on top of previous action our Government has taken to support families, including delivering the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit and the Children’s Arts Tax Credit, which help with the costs of enrolling children in sports and artistic activities respectively. We also delivered the Universal Child Care Benefit, offering more choice in child care by providing families with $1,200 per year for each child under age six.
Our Conservative Government will continue to keep taxes low and deliver support for families.

Finally, Canadian seniors have supported their families and their community faithfully over the years. That’s why our Government is proud to support and protect our seniors.

When we first took office in 2006, one of our first initiatives was pension income splitting. This innovative measure allows seniors to split their pension income with their spouse or partner and keep their taxes low. Our government also delivered the largest increase to the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) in 25 years. This move provides single seniors an additional $600 per year and senior couples $840 per year.

We’ve also taken steps to help better protect seniors from physical and emotional abuse by passing the Protecting Canada’s Seniors Act, which helps ensure that those who take advantage of the elderly will face tough penalties.

While much has been accomplished and we are heading in the right direction, there is still more work to be done, both federally and right here in Provencher. My priority is that your thoughts and concerns will be heard in Ottawa and that Provencher continues to have a strong voice in Ottawa.