"What about Yukon", somebody asks. Yukon is the same.
I am not saying that New Democratic governments always work super well everywhere, just like I do not think anybody here would say the Tories or Liberals-Reform has a short record so far-essentially work everywhere. I am saying that we have to look around for models of excellence in which people actually have done the job well. I am saying that British Columbia is doing it well, just like the New Democratic and CCF governments in Saskatchewan have done well over the years.
I want to acknowledge the point made by my hon. friend. To do this properly one must manage debt and deficit.
How do you do that? Ralph Klein is trying one approach. It does not seem to be working. The Tories before him I guess tried that. He is trying some more cut, cut, hack, hack, seeing if that works. So far it has not worked.
I was here for the nine years that the Progressive Conservatives were in office and they said they tried that approach. The situation has never been worse in this country. We have over a half trillion dollar debt. Obviously the people of Canada want to try something totally different.
The province of British Columbia is doing it a bit differently. It has cut back on all sorts of unnecessary government spending. It also acknowledges that there is something called government investment. It is investing in a variety of areas such as the development of high tech firms, training highly skilled technicians, putting money into scientific research and development through to production. In other words, it is recognizing that there is government money to put into investment and government money to put into simply spending and that has to be cut. It has done that.
As a result I am pleased to say that probably within another two years there will be a balanced budget in that province, the only province in Canada. I say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I am not saying that everything that it has ever done has been perfect. We would not say that about any government. However, when it comes to managing the economy it seems to be working better than any place else in Canada.
I say to my hon. friend that I think his question was good. It was not really a question, I guess. It was simply would I agree. Largely I would agree.
To tie equalization in in terms of the fiscal management of provincial governments, I think that was the question, is worth some merit. Perhaps it is the kind of thing I would like to see discussed more in committee to see what the implications of that would be, particularly for some of the very poor parts of Canada. I do not want to name those provinces, but I think there would be some provinces that would have a very difficult time without substantial equalization in a whole variety of programs. It probably is sufficient for my hon. friend to say that they are doing a good job.