Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to reply to the hon. member, because he started by saying that he did not think this was a courageous budget. He gave three examples which, I suppose, are his three major concerns, namely the GST, the pension plans and personal income tax. The last point raised by the member was the impact of the cuts to agricultural subsidies.
I am convinced that in the riding of Vaudreuil, and elsewhere in Quebec and in Canada, the three points raised by the hon. member are not unanimously perceived as the three major issues. The main concern is government spending and the lack of flexibility resulting from a debt accumulated over many years and which is very costly in terms of its financing.
As you can see in the budget, in spite of cuts of $29 billion over a three-year period, the interest on the debt will increase by roughly $7 billion. This is a courageous budget because, for the first time, a Minister of Finance meets his own objectives in terms of the debt reduction. This is a first in the history of our country.
For the second year in a row, the government has not increased personal income tax. The hon. member forgot to mention that point. As for the pension plan, the member is well aware that we introduced a bill which will be voted on in April.
When it comes to agricultural subsidies, the Bloc Quebecois always tries to compare the East to the West for political expediency. It must be mentioned that, in the West, the subsidy was completely eliminated. The farmers were deprived, without notice, of subsidies amounting to $560 million. This is why a transition period and a compensation are provided. In Quebec and in the East, we are only talking about an annual reduction of 15 per cent, over a two-year period. It is better to get 70 per cent than nothing at all.
In reply to the hon. member's question, I think this is a courageous budget because we tried to be fair. We did not ask more from the provinces than we were prepared to give. We did not ask the small and medium size businesses to do more. We tried to be fair and this is why the budget was well received across Canada, and even in Quebec.