Mr. Speaker, I find it interesting to speak following the slash and burn speech I just heard. Let me say to the hon. member that this government instead of just listening to the IMF and taking its direction, listens to the Canadian people and tries to meet their needs through the budget that we propose.
I will begin by thanking the members of the Standing Committee on Finance for their efforts in terms of holding prebudget consultations across the country. On November 27 the finance committee conducted prebudget hearings in my province of Prince Edward Island. That gave the opportunity for many island groups and individuals to present their views on the direction the government must take when designing the 1996 budget. Their views will certainly assist the committee in preparing its recommendations for the minister. I want to thank those islanders who took the time and the effort to think through the briefs and to present them.
There is no question about it the round table in Charlottetown put forward many views and recommendations from all sides of society. It is crucial that the government listen to what those presentations said. We had to find a balance between the massive job of deficit reduction and our social obligations to all Canadians. I would like to quote a couple of remarks from those presentations because they do differ from the left to the right of the political spectrum.
The Charlottetown Chamber of Commerce put forward its position that "the deficit must be reduced more rapidly with tough but attainable targets being clearly set out and achieved". They do go on to say though that "the entire program could take over 25 years. Given that we have had 20 years of overspending to arrive at our present position, such a time frame for debt elimination is both appropriate and manageable". As well, the chamber of commerce suggested four points: continuation of privatization; harmonization of the GST and PST; doing away with jurisdictional overlaps; and changing the annual filing system to perhaps two or three years in order to save money.
A different presentation from the opposite side of the spectrum came from John Eldon Green. He said: "I am not one of those who believes the new disentanglement can be achieved according to the rapid schedule of the finance minister or those around him, or indeed of the entire financial community in Canada. I would get out of debt the way we got into it, slowly, gradually and over the long term. What is now being attempted is entirely counter to the creation of an environment for jobs and growth", from his point of view.
Mr. Green went on to say: "The issue for me is: How much money is there in Canada and what is an appropriate amount to be left with the people, allocated to governments and devolved to other countries? Our borders have to remain open to business, but I have trouble seeing the jobs and businesses of people around me being sacrificed in the cause of global business and undertaxed profit. However I do not know the numbers but then no one in Ottawa these days seems to know anything but". I think it is a valid point.
The view of priorities that governments should set for themselves is not disputed. We as a government must also recognize
that if they are achieved at the expense of social programs on which all Canadians depend, then this quick fix is much too high a price to pay.
There are basic programs that benefit all Canadians as well as the business community: educational programs, medicare, et cetera. Yes, these programs do cost money but we can have a debate on whether it is a cost or an investment. I see these kinds of programs that this government is pursuing as an investment in the people of this country to ensure that they have the means by which to work in the job community in the future.
In fact many of these programs that we have as a Canadian government today are an asset to the business community in terms of its members being able to compete abroad.
We must maintain the level of social programs we currently have. They are one thing that unites us as a country and why this country is recognized as the best country in the world in which to live.
The approach taken by the minister to date has been a reasonable one. The minister's statement last week showed the progress we are making. Some, like members of the third party we just heard, like to blow the deficit out of proportion. Somehow they disregard the needs of people. They like to blow the deficit out of proportion and negate the progress we have made. Clearly, we have made progress.
The 1994-95 deficit was $400 million lower than predicted. We are on track to reduce the deficit to 3 per cent of GDP by 1996-97 in a timely and reasonable way. In my province in November 1995 the unemployment rate fell to 12.2 per cent, down more than 6 per cent from the 18.5 per cent when this government took office. Retail trade has strengthened through 1995 and outperforms by far the national level.
Given that kind of progress, we now must undertake and make a much greater effort to better balance the social side of the equation. Yesterday's announcement by the Minister of Human Resources Development is a move in the right direction in terms of increasing child care spaces in the country.
In terms of the social and tax balance on the tax expenditure side, a loss of tax due to a tax break either to corporations or to the wealthy is as much a cost as the direct expenditure of dollars under government programs. To date, governments at all levels have tended to target the direct expenditures and too much have ignored the tax expenditures. It is very important in this budget to try and balance that.
I know it is not easy in the face of the current attitudes that are prevalent throughout the country and throughout the world. I want to quote from Peter Newman's book, The Canadian Revolution :
"The values of the marketplace have infiltrated every institution in Canada: the family, the church, the legal system.... Anti-human, commercial values are dominating every sphere of life. Now that we're coming into economic hard times, the sense of each man for himself-save your own skin, get whatever advantage you can-is going to sink public spiritedness and make it much more difficult to preserve our sense of obligation to community".
I make that point to stress the kind of attitudes that are out there at the moment. Those are the kinds of attitudes that are coming from the Reform Party. Real leadership by the government in the face of that hard nosed attitude is required. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance mentioned earlier the action necessary which the government is taking to address the concerns of people.
The employment insurance proposal was one that was mentioned. I do want to point out that I hope two measures in that bill can be changed. One is the intensity of work rule and the other is the calculation of the benefit base. We must ensure coming out of this budget and the policy objectives of the government that the seasonal industries do have the opportunity to grow and prosper.
In conclusion, let me quickly list some of the initiatives I would like to see furthered in the next budget.
We must start to develop a program that deals with child poverty. Expansion of the infrastructure works program should also be considered. That has been an excellent program. In fact, it has put in place a base for businesses to develop and grow.
The major industries in Canada are still the natural resource industries. Although we hear much about the knowledge based industries and the technological highway, it is important that we not ignore those natural based industries: agriculture, fisheries, forestry and mining.
As well, we need to enhance and strengthen the ability to market products internationally. We need to renew our commitment to the great marketing institutions across this nation, the Canadian Wheat Board and the supply management boards which have brought prosperity to communities and continue to contribute to the balance of trade.
We need to continue to maintain and strengthen our regional development programs and, in my area, specifically, ACOA. I will make one point on ACOA. Since 1993, ACOA's programming and partnering with the provinces and the private sector has created and maintained over 46,200 jobs. It has assisted 5,300 businesses. It has a proven track record in small and medium size business development.