Madam Speaker, I commend the hon. member for Parry Sound-Muskoka. As a fellow member in the northern Ontario caucus under his chairmanship I know he is an excellent member of Parliament for his riding. In his short but effective speech over the last few minutes we have seen a side of the member which is not surprising but is very inspirational. I would like to tell the member publicly that his comments were right on the mark. He said many very important and true things.
I will reiterate something which the hon. member said, and I may be paraphrasing him. We have our Reform colleagues and thankfully they are not the official opposition. His apology should have been to Canadians, not to the Reform Party. The Reform Party is constantly calling upon us to run Canada like a business, like a bank or like a large corporation. It is one thing to run a country in a businesslike fashion; it is another matter to run a country like a business.
The member for Parry Sound-Muskoka hit it right on the head when he said that a government is first about people. In February the Minister of Finance presented a budget that was about people, about Canadians. While wanting to preserve those things in our society that make Canada a special place, he also presented things that deal with the concerns Canadians have that we respond effectively to our deficit.
We know that each year our national debt is growing. We have made a commitment as a government to deal with the growth in the debt. We made a commitment as a party competing with others to govern this country back in the fall 1993 election to get the annual deficit down to 3 per cent of the GDP. If we listen to the Minister of Finance carefully and analyse the kinds of results that are available, we will meet our 3 per cent target and quite possibly do better than that.
As my colleague said in his speech, the government is first about people. It is not just a business. Along with several other members of this House, I am a member of the finance committee. I had the opportunity to hear and read hundreds of witnesses and their presentations last fall as the finance committee undertook the prebudget consultations and prepared its report for the minister as part of the overall guidance he was seeking in preparing for the budget.
With very few exceptions, the witnesses we heard did not call for massive slashing of programs. They did not call for draconian measures that would turn back the clock and bring us back to the middle ages. Consistently we were told to deal with the deficit, not to raise personal income taxes and not to forget the importance of this country's social infrastructure. The infrastructure ensures that all Canadians have a fair stake in the future.
The natural resources of the country belong equally to all. We expect mining companies to find minerals and metals and to extract those resources. In so doing they pay a share to the community at large to the provincial treasuries and to the federal treasury. We expect forest companies to harvest our forests. At the same time we expect them to give something back in terms of stumpage fees and taxes because all Canadians own those trees. All Canadians can benefit from our resources.
This is why a Liberal government has proven to be the most effective in doing this over the decades. Liberal governments have consistently been able to find the way to balance the needs of industry and business to be profitable. That is important for job creation.
On balance with that there is the need to ensure that all Canadians have equal access to the benefits of the country. We can hardly blame Parliament or finance ministers for doing great damage to the country when we have the best country in the world.
Even though we can criticize past governments for mistakes, the Canadian attitude which is one of balance, taking care of those who have and those who have not in a fair and balanced way is the kind of country the world admires. That is why Canada is in its way so much of a leader. Other countries look to us for examples. As I mentioned, in the prebudget consultations last fall we heard a call for balance, deal with the deficit, do not raise personal taxes and make sure that everybody is treated fairly.
I do not think any of us can say that as a country we do this perfectly. Sadly, the rate of illiteracy is still too high. The rate of poverty particularly among children is still far too high. We still have household and family violence. We still have crime.
All we can do is work together to do better and to improve our communities and the quality of life. Liberal governments have consistently been able to find the way to do that. The budget as represented in Bill C-76 takes us a long way down that road.
I pick out one example of the kind of leadership Canadians have come to expect and can continue to expect from this government. I pick out an issue that became a hot issue in the lead up to the budget, the possibility there would be taxation of employer paid health benefits. Those are the benefits provided to those in the workplace for drugs and dental care, paid fully or partially by the employer.
There was a notion that perhaps the government was thinking about taxing these employer paid benefits. Many people spoke out against this. I received numerous cards and letters from constituents. The minister heard from the finance committee in its report that at this time no such measures should take place.
The finance committee suggested what had to be in the mind of the minister, because it makes sense. That is, the current system is unfair to the working poor, who must pay for their health benefits out of after tax income. We called on the industry, the insurance companies, dental providers, and asked if they would work together to help us find a way so all Canadians can be covered when it comes to drug benefits and dental care. I was very impressed, as I am sure my colleagues in the committee were impressed, by the very positive response from the insurers and from the dental providers that they would try to find a way in which all Canadians can be covered in some fashion for drugs and dental care. I am not saying we are there yet, but I have in the last two weeks seen some very strong evidence that this challenge is being responded to in a very positive way.
The Minister of Finance responded thoughtfully and carefully and decided not to move on that. This will give us some time in this country to find a way to make sure all Canadians are treated fairly when it comes to those particular benefits.
There are elements of unfairness on the subject of RRSPs as well. The more income you have, the more you can contribute. If you are poor, you are not as likely to be able to contribute to an RRSP. There tends to be an imbalance toward Canadians with higher incomes. Here as well reform is in the wind.
The whole issue of aging and pensions needs to be rethought in this modern era. The minister has wisely deferred on this issue pending further research and consultation.
I emphasize to my colleagues in the House, to my constituents, and to all Canadians that the public support for Bill C-76 and the budget is tremendous. It is a fair and balanced approach.