That is a very important question, and I would say that spending has increased quite substantially over the last several years in the federal government. Spending was up over 6% last year. The government has put an important priority on fiscal balance and ensuring we have restored, expanded, and enhanced transfers to the provinces where we have shared priorities, such as social housing. Some very important and substantial increases to the transfers in the 2007 budget were maintained in the 2008 budget. Transfers to the provinces for shared priorities, which are key to the funding you've identified, now represent over 20% of the federal government spending.
So I think that's an important start to your question. I'll let Louise expand on it in a moment. I'll just make one other point.
I think it's really vital to see the fall economic statement and this budget in the context of the current global economic and financial market uncertainty. We're trying to structure the right circumstance to maintain the overall health of the Canadian economy. We had 15 years of uninterrupted growth and some huge progress. I think there are some important questions about the relative gains from that, but there have been really important gains for all members of society. It's especially important for those who would be most vulnerable in a downturn that we remain vigilant to that broader message.
So it's not just the individual budget initiatives we have to maintain. What we are preoccupied with now--and we have been for the last year--is how to maintain the progress we've made to protect all Canadians, and particularly the most vulnerable, from a downturn in our economic circumstance. That is an important overlay to what we're about. The transfers to the provinces for maintaining and expanding these vital programs are another important part. These were really complements to it.
I'll ask my colleague, Louise Levonian, to expand on that program.