Madam Speaker, no pain no gain is the watchword of today. Not only this government, but businesses have had to cut back. They have had to make the transition to be competitive and now the onus is on government. We have accepted the challenge. This is a watershed in budget. This is a turning point in financing for the government. That is because the people of Canada have asked us to deal with this. It is mandatory.
We are moving into the 21st century. We know we will create the jobs not through government, not through subsidization, but through the private sector. Small business is the backbone.
Nova Scotia is not unlike Quebec. We have so much similarity. Historically, we can go back to a time when Quebec was known as Nouvelle-Écosse. This is so important to us because it is the very backbone. In Nova Scotia with a population of 900,000 we have some 90,000 small businesses. That is one in ten. That is growing in Atlantic Canada, the highest in the country. That is because we are taking the prudent steps to deal with the deficit. We will go through the pain but there will be gain in the end.