Madam Speaker, I have to wonder what the hon. member who has just spoken has been reading, where he gets his information and why he is referring to what he believes to be a currency crisis or something like that. It is that kind of irresponsible talk on the part of hon. members which could do damage to the economy of this country.
Luckily for all of us, and I will put it as kindly as I can, very few people, if any, would believe what the hon. member has just said. That is why it likely will not do any damage. I could put it a bit less kindly but I will not.
The budget tabled in this House on February 27 by the hon. Minister of Finance provides for the most stringent measures ever adopted by any government in the last 50 years. During the last election campaign, we promised the Canadian people in the red book that we would reduce the deficit to 3 per cent of GDP by 1996-97. That is what we are going to do. Not only that, but we will probably do more: we will reduce the deficit even more vigorously than we announced.
Second, as you know, the deficit will be down to 1.7 per cent of GDP the following year and, who knows, Canada may even have a balanced budget one or two years later.
We in the Liberal Party have managed to do in a few years what the Tory government was never able to do during its nine years in office. During those nine years, Tory ministers made annual fiscal projections about Canada's deficit. Not once did the Tory government ever meet its objectives.
We have brought down two budgets. After the first budget, we not only met our objective, we exceeded it. Of course, the second budget was tabled only a few weeks ago, on February 27 to be exact, and we are still putting in place the measures needed to meet requirements.
Total savings over the next three years will be $29 billion: $5 billion in 1995-96, $10.6 billion in 1996-97 and $13.3 billion in 1997-98. Reform members just told us that no money would be saved. That could not be further from the truth.
Take a good look at some of the cuts that were made. We will have reductions, in departmental budgets for example, totalling $3.9 billion in 1995-96, $5.9 billion in 1996-97 and $7.2 billion in 1997-98. The public service will be reduced by some 45,000 positions. Of course, as a member of the party elected in the National Capital Region, I am not thrilled to see some of my constituents lose their jobs. But if we had not taken these harsh measures, that will work and have indeed worked so far, we would be much worse off in the future.
Subsidies to business will be reduced by some 60 per cent. That is a major reduction.
Only major banks are hit with tax hikes. Other businesses were almost all spared, except, of course, for the fuel tax, which increased by 1.5 cents per litre. That is the only new tax that will affect most of my constituents, generally speaking.
Some Bloc Quebecois members say that this budget is way too severe or something to that effect. Members of the Reform Party say it is not severe enough. Could it be that these two groups are at one extreme and the other? Could it be that the middle ground is what is reasonable? Could it be that the middle ground is the belief of Canadians and also the program on which we were elected? I say it is so and it is not just me. Let me read what some other Canadians have said.
Here is what Jayson Myers of the Canadian Manufacturers' Association said: "I am impressed. I applaud the minister for what he has done". That is a quote from this business leader. Reform Party members pretend they know what is good for business. Let us listen to another one.
"This is a good budget", said Ghislain Dufour, president of the Conseil du patronat du Québec. Again, this is from someone who ought to know what he is talking about.
This statement is by Fred Ketchen, chairman of the board of the Toronto Stock Exchange, probably not a bleeding heart socialist. He says: "A responsible, a fair, a realistic and even a humane budget".