So we'll be in good shape when the next crisis happens, as we were in good shape when the last crisis happened.
One of the challenges that some countries in the world are facing now, when we again have a time of some economic uncertainty, is that because they have accumulated deficits year after year, and therefore have accumulated a very large public debt, their room to move is limited. In the budget in January 2009 we were able to bring in a large stimulus program federally. I thanked the provinces for joining with us in that. This federation worked very well during the last recession, where together we provided stimulus of 4% of GDP, which is what we all agreed to do at the G-20 summit in Washington in November 2008.
This is important, but part of the economic action plan was always that we would return to balanced budgets. If you go back and look at the budget in 2009, it's set out there. We're on track now in the medium term to go back to balanced budgets. The deficit this year is roughly 40% less than the deficit last year. We need to stay on this track so we'll get back to balanced budgets in the medium term. It puts our country in a position of strength in the world, where we can resist when crises come to our country from outside.