Debates of March 10th, 1998

Sarmite Bulte Parkdale—High Park, ON

Mr. Speaker, it is truly a privilege and honour to rise this evening to speak to the first balanced budget since 1970.

While the credit undoubtedly goes to the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister for their vision and leadership, primarily first and foremost it must go to all Canadians. Without the partnership that existed between the government and Canadians from coast to coast in our first mandate and our subsequent re-election on June 2, a balanced budget would not have been possible.

Some other good news from the budget of 1998 is a guarantee of consecutive balanced budgets for 1998-99 and 1999-2000.

While hon. members from across the floor may disagree with aspects of the budget, they must accept at the outset that a balanced budget is a good start. Many of my colleagues have talked about the wonderful aspects for education the budget gives our youth in retraining and the vision of the budget as an educational budget.

I would like to concentrate in my 10 minutes on actually talking about the government's renewal of the arts and cultural industries in Canada. I submit that the budget already sets the stage for dialogue about the strategic reinvestment in our arts and cultural industries. In the budget it is clear that we are again promoting Canadian culture.