Minister responds to critical column

Re: Trudeau’s ‘sunny ways’ come at cost for poor, Opinion, Nov. 11

Our government made a promise to middle-class families that we would lower their taxes and make sure everyone pays their fair share. The first thing we did was raise taxes on the top one per cent of Canadians so we could lower them for the middle class.

That’s why I was surprised to read Licia Corbella’s recent article, as I found it to be misleading because the recent Fraser Institute report quoted did not take into consideration the impact of the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) nor the reduction in personal income taxes.

We launched the CCB to provide increased support for those who need it most — low- and middle-income families.

This benefit puts more money in the pockets of nine out of 10 families, helping lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.

In my Calgary-Centre riding, 5,200 CCB payments are now going toward 8,200 children every month. This means money back in the pockets of parents, tax-free, for books, skating lessons or warm clothes for winter. And next year, we are making even more increases to the CCB to make sure it keeps pace with the rising cost of living.

This extra money in parents’ pockets had an immediate effect on our economic growth. Canada now has the fastest growth in the G7, giving us more flexibility to reinvest the benefits of that growth in the middle class, and those working hard to join it.

Our government has put in place a plan to grow the economy and strengthen middle-class families that is working. We need to make sure everyone benefits from the growth we create, not just the wealthy few. Kent Hehr, Federal Minister of Sport and Persons With Disabilities