Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak to this supply day motion. It allows me to review a very important policy paper concerning the government's economic strategy that the Minister of Finance presented to the Standing Committee on Finance just last week.
Obviously the member proposing today's motion must have been occupied elsewhere when the Minister of Finance tabled "A New Framework for Economic Policy" on October 17. Perhaps the length of the document, 87 pages, was too much for him to absorb. He may still be waiting for the Cole's notes version. I know on their side of the House it is all about simple problems with simple solutions that pop into their heads, so they must be right.
If I appear a little sarcastic, frankly that is the only reasonable response to a motion that calls for the government to table "a clear statement of its vision of the role of government in the economy". That comprehensive statement has already been tabled. It made headlines across the country.
If the hon. member or any Canadian phones the distribution centre of the Department of Finance, the phone number is 613-995-2855, a copy will be provided immediately.
I suspect if the hon. member takes the time to study this document, which he has not apparently, he will appreciate its significance. Canadians have seen only too often what happens when a government implements policies without clear guiding principles. The result is like building a house without a blueprint. It is chaotic, it is costly and the roof leaks.
Canadians deserve to know the principles which guide the Canadian government. That is why this government has set out the framework for the economic policies we intend to build upon. This paper, "A New Framework for Economic Policy", is a clear statement of objectives that will guide what the government will do and what it will not do. It provides the very vision that the hon. member wants Canadians to debate.
Before I get into details, let me set the scene by describing the underlying principles of the framework. This government has one overriding goal: jobs and economic growth. While a strong economic recovery has taken hold, the fact remains that our unemployment rate is too high with Canadians paying a tragic price. That price includes lower government revenues and higher costs, problems that contribute directly to the deficit dilemma they are so concerned about and we are concerned about.
Sound economic policy and good social policy are linked. Sustainable social programs depend on a sound economy. Canadians need more jobs and better jobs. Jobs create dignity and wealth and enable us to sustain our commitment to social justice.
Common sense suggests, and the hon. member must agree, that a country that is to continue to care for its citizens must be a
country that pays its bills. That means living within our means and creating jobs through economic growth.
The fact is the logic and approaches of the 1960s simply are no longer good enough in a 21st century arena. We cannot afford them and we will not succeed with them. Previous generations responded to the challenge of their times by building the physical and social infrastructure of Canada. We have a similar challenge and our own responsibility to create the infrastructure for our times and for that of our children, the infrastructure of ideas and innovation.
It is innovative combinations of people, capital and ideas which will place us at the cutting edge of economic change and growth. Working people harder and making government meaner is not the key. Working smarter and making government more effective is what Canadians want and need. To work better and smarter the very nature of government itself must change. The time is long past when governments can or should do everything.
We need a partnership that gives responsibility to those who are best able and suited to do the job, be it government, business, labour or the volunteer sector. That requires a government that knows where its true potential lies and what its real limitations are.
There is a difference between Liberals and the member who sponsored this motion. We believe government has a role to play as catalyst, as facilitator setting goals and monitoring performance. I believe government should get out of the way but not stand aside. That is Liberalism for the 1990s.
Like countries everywhere Canada must adapt to the powerful trends that are shaping the global economy, the global financial market, the dynamic growth of economies in the Pacific rim and parts of Latin America, South America, and the impact of information technology. Each of these has dramatically increased the competitive stakes. The bottom line is clear, to become more competitive Canada must become more productive.
Productivity is about how well ideas, workers, resources and investment are brought together in a country's economy. Productivity is about ingenuity, about better management, paying attention to the common sense of workers. Productivity growth is the basis for a better standard of living for every Canadian.
Some Canadians fear that productivity is a code word for fewer jobs, greater hardship. They are mistaken. History shows the compelling relationship between productivity and employment. Between the fifties and early seventies productivity growth was high, averaging 2.3 per cent. During those decades unemployment was low and incomes rose at a steady pace. The picture changed from the seventies to the nineties. Productivity dropped by more than half, unemployment soared and the growth in incomes slowed to a virtual halt.
How do we improve productivity? First, we improve skills. We must become more innovative and provide a welcoming climate for investment. We must remove the disincentives we have created for business and individuals, disincentives that hold us back because they encourage dependence or block opportunity.
There is another critically important imperative for a more productive, prosperous Canada, as our framework paper emphasizes. We must get our fiscal house in order.
Let me turn now to the objective for jobs and growth the government has set out in "A New Framework for Economic Policy". There are five key areas which we must focus on. I will be interested to hear if the hon. member opposes any one of them.
The first is helping Canadians acquire skills, the skills to get jobs, keep jobs and find better jobs. The facts are clear. Jobs for people with high school education or less are shrinking while jobs for those with beyond high school education are growing. In fact projections show that almost half the new jobs created during the nineties will require more than 16 years of education and training combined.
I should add that there is a particular element of this challenge that engages small business. They do not have the resources that large firms have to help employees acquire the new skills that the information age demands, much less basic abilities in literacy and numeracy. Small business depends on a public education system that is doing its job.
In terms of education, the challenge in Canada is not money. We spend more on education than just about every other country. What we need are better results. Individuals, employers and government must co-operate and share responsibility in improving education and training.
The second part of our framework is encouraging Canadians to adjust to change. Economic progress depends on a willingness to embrace new opportunities. It is our view that protecting and subsidizing business is almost always the wrong way to go. For that reason the government may change the entire approach to subsidies.
Equally, we believe regional economic assistance should focus on genuine opportunities such as tourism that have great potential to be self-sustaining. Government should focus on winning industry sectors, not specific enterprises. Government has not been terribly good at picking individual winners.
At the individual level the existing unemployment insurance program must be changed. It is bad economic policy today and bad social policy. We intend to take measures to bring it back to what it was, insurance, and to create programs that foster job readiness.
Further, we believe high payroll taxes are nothing more than a tax on hiring. We have taken steps to reduce UI premiums and will do more in the future.
The third element of our framework is getting government right. Our attitude is straightforward. It is time to make choices. We must eliminate or reduce lower priority activities and target scarce resources to the highest priority programs, helping those in need, ensuring that people get the training and the opportunities they require.
We are also trying to drain the swamp of federal regulations which costs Canadian businesses tens of billions of dollars each year. Regulatory reform has the potential to increase productivity, stimulate investment, create more cost efficient government. We have reviewed more than half of the 3,000 regulations on the book. We have eliminated more than one quarter and left another one quarter in place. The rest are in the process of being revised and examined.
Providing leadership in the economy is the fourth objective. While the private sector creates jobs, the government has a clear role in creating a healthy economy which gives the private sector the confidence to add jobs.
In our knowledge based economy success depends on skills and innovation. The government can contribute by gathering and disseminating information and ideas about technology and new markets. As well, it can play an important role in bringing businesses together, something that is critical in an economy where many new firms are small and highly specialized.
One priority is to do more to harness science and technology in order to improve productivity and growth. Government can help by building better links among industry, universities and government labs. It also has a particular role in making sure small business benefits from the latest know-how in the high technology sector in particular.
Trade is another area where government involvement is essential for success. Today more than ever Canada is an exporting nation. It is vital that more companies become exporters and that we look beyond our traditional markets to the emerging economies of Asia, Latin America and eastern Europe. Here the government can help by providing more information and ensuring that small business has access to export financing. We must work toward an end to export subsidies by foreign countries. Until that day we must do what is necessary to ensure that our exporters can compete with foreign competitors.
The fifth and final objective is absolutely essential to the others. We must create a healthy fiscal and monetary climate. If we do not, as the finance minister told the Standing Committee on Finance, we will fail at everything else. That is why we have staked out a firm commitment to bring the deficit down to 3 per cent of GDP by 1996-97, effectively cutting it in half from its present level. That is why we have also made it clear that this deficit target is an interim step in meeting the ultimate goal to eliminate the deficit completely.
It would be absurd to claim that a single policy paper has all the answers to secure Canada's economic future. Other papers on specific issues are being completed. I suggest that no government in recent memory has demonstrated our commitment to providing Canadians with factual, accessible information on its economic principles, its strategic agenda and the fiscal situation.
Examples include not only the framework document, but its companion financial update entitled "Creating a Healthy Fiscal Climate". There is also the first ever annual financial report of the Government of Canada that was released earlier this fall as suggested by the Auditor General. To me and I hope to all Canadians the evidence is clear. Our government has a vision of the role of government in building a more prosperous nation.
The hon. member opposite would better serve his mandate and the interests of the entire nation by providing meaningful alternatives, if he has any. Motions calling for statements that already exist do nothing but pass our time. Let us dismiss this motion and get on with the real business of future building.