Madam Speaker, it is a real opportunity for me to participate in this debate and to share with my colleagues on all sides of the House the activities that my departments and agencies will be doing over the next 12 months and for the next three years.
I want to take this opportunity to congratulate my colleague, the Minister of Finance, who tabled the budget here on Monday of this week, which addressed a number of fundamental problems that the Canadian government has been faced with not only for the last year and half but for the last nine or ten years.
I want to congratulate my colleague, the Minister of Finance, on facts which are indisputable. For instance, over the last year there have been 433,000 jobs created in this country. The unemployment rate has fallen by 1.7 per cent. I think all members will recognize that although that is encouraging it is certainly not enough. However, it is a positive indicator.
Exports are at a record breaking level, something Canadians ought to be proud of. As we export our products it means additional investment for Canadians and thereby jobs for Canadians whether they are in New Brunswick or in other parts of Canada, including Ontario and western Canada.
Inflation is the lowest in three decades, another factor that ought to be taken into consideration. Canada had the best economic growth of any major industrialized country in 1994. Canada is set to have the best job creation record and the best economic growth record of the G-7 countries in 1995.
If that is not an indication of support for the Minister of Finance and the plan that he put before Parliament in 1994, as he did here on Monday evening, I do not know what further affirmation one could get to say that we have the full confidence in the Minister of Finance and the plans he has laid before the people of Canada.
I think many members would recognize that I do not like to be partisan in debate, and therefore I will select a quote from a newspaper today which I believe stated that 78 per cent of the people in Ontario, the largest province in this country, supported unequivocally the budget of the Minister of Finance.
This budget, as I have said both privately and publicly, is a tough budget because it affects the lives of a lot of Canadians. In my own departments and agencies there are some substantial reductions. I offer to the House, as I believe I did on a previous occasion, that there would be substantial cutbacks in Public Works and Government Services Canada. Over a three-year period my department will contribute toward reducing the deficit in that particular department in excess of $350 million. There are 5,263 employees who will be dislocated as a result of this federal budget. Those who have the audacity to suggest that kind of measure is not a tough measure are missing the point.
I realize I only have a few moments but I want to share with the House a couple of important features of the budget, particularly in my Department of Public Works and Government Services. Canada Mortgage and Housing is reducing its expenditures in order to contribute toward the deficit. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency over a three-year period will reduce its expenditures by $173 million with person years being displaced.
The Royal Canadian Mint will try to contribute to increasing the revenues for the Government of Canada by the introduction of the $2 coin and by reducing the composition of the different coins, thereby providing additional revenues.
I know members wish-