Raising a family, while rewarding, is a tough job at the best of times. Yet right now, the global recession has been causing even more stress for many hardworking families. For some, holding down a job while trying to find enough money to pay the bills and raise happy, healthy children is now even tougher.

Our Government understands how difficult day to day financial decisions can be for Canadian families. This is why, through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, we are delivering targeted solutions to help make life a little easier for families and workers.

Every parent dreads having to walk in the door and face their family after having lost their job. For those who have become unemployed due to the global recession, our Government is introducing new Employment Insurance measures. We are extending benefits by an additional five weeks, to a maximum of 50 weeks; and are looking at doing even more for many older workers who have been paying into the system their whole lives. Canadian workers, therefore, won't have to worry so much about the bottom-line and can now focus on finding new jobs and developing new skills.

Canada’s Economic Action Plan is also delivering lower taxes for all Canadians. By increasing the basic personal income amount and increasing the upper limits of the two lowest tax brackets, our Government is helping Canadian families hang onto more of their own hard-earned income. This is building on our previous action to lower taxes, including fulfilling our 2006 election promise to cut the GST from seven per cent to six per cent to five per cent.
 
In addition to those measures, our Government is helping to reduce the burden for many lower-income families. Families can now earn almost $1,900 more, while still being eligible to receive the maximum child benefit. This means eligible families with two children can receive up to an additional $436 in increased benefits to help out with family priorities.

We are also delivering practical help that families can see and use every day. Through the new and very popular Home Renovation Tax Credit, households can get back up to $1,350 on their 2009 tax return if they spend between $1,000 and $10,000 on eligible home renovations before February 1, 2010. Not only is this helping families invest in their homes with renovations like new kitchens, bathrooms or decks; it also means that more Canadians are helping to create more jobs, sometimes literally in their own backyards.

The global recession has created many challenges that are affecting all of us. However, through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, our Government is continuing to deliver real action that will help hardworking Canadian families make ends meet today, and have a stronger future tomorrow.