Mr. Speaker, it is certainly a pleasure to comment for a few minutes this afternoon on the budget that was presented this week.
I want to start by passing on the comments that I made to members of the press in my riding when I spoke to them on budget night. When asked what my reaction was I said it was one of excitement because this is not the first budget that I have seen. I certainly have not been present for the considerable number that some members in the House have, but this is the seventh one.
This budget fulfils the expectations and hopes for the majority of Canadians. I have been telling my constituents for the last number of weeks and months as they offered suggestions to the government that our challenge was to meet the requirements out there with fair and equal treatment for everyone along with being effective. We met those criteria.
We know that two situations in Canada today are clouding the issue. One is the uncertainty of the future of the province of Quebec. I am pleased to say that the majority of the people in Prince Edward-Hastings say: "My Canada includes Quebec".
Fortunately for all of us, more and more Quebecers are realizing that every day and they have every reason to. More and more Quebecers are realizing that a strong central government is what is good for this country and what is good for everybody. All of us will be better off as Canadians and as human beings if we are part of the family we call Canada.
The finance minister pointed to the second cloud which is the debt and the deficit. I do not have to remind anyone of the size of that: over $500 billion in debt, a $42 billion deficit a year ago, some $80,000 a minute to cover the interest on it, and I could go on.
I need to say no more in emphasizing the fact that the government has a tremendous challenge. Our country has a tremendous challenge. This challenge can only be successfully met with competence, compassion, reform and hope. We made a great step toward that on Monday night with the budget.
We have been honest with Canadians by saying that we too know there is a lot more yet to do. What we did on Monday night was done by pushing the needed measures as close to the edge as possible and doing it without playing havoc with the economy which is growing at a faster rate than just about any other country in the world. Certainly it is the fastest of any of the G-7 countries. Things are on the move. Perhaps they are not moving as fast as we would like but they are certainly on the move and they are going in the right direction.
We knew we were being watched. We were being watched by the international community, by the money markets, the domestic financial institutions, the domestic money markets, the business community. We were being watched by everyone, including all Canadians.
We did what was needed but we did not enjoy it. I can say we did not want to do it because it is not nice to say that we are going to reduce employment, that we are going to have to make some changes. When I say we did not want to do it, it was not because it did not need to be done. It did need to be done. As the Prime Minister has said so clearly and so often, we did it because it was necessary.
It reminds me of some advice I gave to the finance minister leading up to the budget and the slogan used by the prominent company, Nike: Just do it. And we did it. We did it by making $7 worth of cuts for every $1 increase in revenue. We did it after
having listened to Canadians in the greatest consultation process that has ever taken place leading up to a budget.
We did it without increasing income tax. We did it without taxing dental and employer provided medical plans. We did it without making many changes that would affect to any great extent registered retirement savings plan contributions.
We did it without taxing lotteries. Many people thought we would. A number of people said not to tax lottery winnings. I told them that if they were to win a million dollars and had to pay tax on it but did not want to, I knew some people who would take their ticket for them.
We did it without changing the capital gains tax for small business and farmers. In so doing we again recognized the importance of small business and farmers in the Canadian economy.
Yes, we did it on the revenue side by increasing the tax on gasoline 1.5 cents a litre. I think that is fair and equitable from coast to coast. We also did it by cutting the size of government. Yes, I recognize that people in Prince Edward-Hastings riding in the civil service will have to contribute and will be contributing.