Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Nunatsiaq.
Opportunities, growth, jobs, balance, honesty, fairness, vision, responsibility, consultation and compassion; we ran on those words in the last federal election campaign and the government has delivered on those words during the last two years. The Minister of Finance has delivered on those words in the budget. We made commitments to Canadians in the red book. We are keeping those commitments in these estimates.
Canadians told us they wanted deficit reduction with no increase in personal income taxes. The deficit is going down and for the second year in a row there has been no increase in personal income taxes.
Canadians have told us to cut spending. For every dollar raised in new revenues the government has cut $7 in spending. The government is launching the largest restructuring of government spending since the end of the second world war.
In contrast to the recommendations of the Reform Party the government is not simply slashing spending across the board. The government will not choke off growth. It will not throw the country back into a recession.
The government has carefully rethought the role and structure of the federal government. The redesign of the federal government launched by the program review is reflected in the esti-
mates and will result in a smaller and smarter government. Government can no longer be all things to all people.
The program review looked at all areas of government spending with the exception of major transfers to persons and major transfers to provinces. All the programs were reviewed under the following criteria: did the program serve the public interest? Did it involve a necessary role for government? Was it affordable and could the private sector or the provinces do it better?
As a result of the review the government is reducing subsidies to businesses and agriculture. Many government services will be commercialised where practical. The government can no longer afford to intervene directly in the economy. The government from now on must concentrate on creating the best possible economic framework in which the private sector can create jobs.
Canadians told us to revamp our social programs to meet today's needs but to make sure that we respected our heritage of social justice. The government has embarked on a program which will do just that.
The Canada social transfer is not an abandonment of national standards, as some have argued. This transfer will provide more flexibility to the provinces. It will allow them to experiment and find the best way to deliver social programs and reduce administrative costs.
The conditions of the Canada Health Act, universality, comprehensiveness, accessibility, portability and public administration, will be maintained. The government will be working with the provinces to develop a set of shared principles that will underline the Canada social transfer.
The Ontario New Democratic Party has suggested the federal government has abandoned the promises it made in the red book. This is not true. In the 1994 estimates every key commitment in the red book was funded. This year's estimates have maintained the government's commitments. The government will maintain the health of our social programs while getting the deficit under control.
As promised in the red book, the government has begun to bring the deficit under control while at the same time funding the national infrastructure program, cutting unnecessary defence spending, introducing gun control legislation, reforming the Young Offenders Act, establishing a national crime prevention council, taking action to address foreign overfishing, promoting trade with Latin America and Asia.
It is establishing a youth service corps, restoring literacy funding, establishing a national form on health, introducing parliamentary reform to give MPs more influence, introducing legislation to make lobbying more fair and open, reinstating the residential rehabilitation assistance program, establishing a prenatal nutrition program, beginning an aboriginal head start program, establishing a centre of excellence for women's health, restoring the court challenges program, restoring the law reform commission, eliminating, downsizing and privatizing government agencies, boards and commissions.
The government delivered a tough but fair budget. It has spread the cost of deficit reduction evenly across the country. Despite the claims of some Ontario provincial politicians, Ontario did not receive more than its share of cuts.
The government has started Canada on the path to economic renewal, social reform and fiscal responsibility. The government has not solved every problem but it has started in the right direction.
The Prime Minister remarked repeatedly during the last election that a Liberal government would offer Canadians realistic hope. That is the hallmark of the Prime Minister's approach to government and that is the hallmark of the budget.
If we are to offer hope we must introduce programs which will encourage job creation in the short term, in the medium term and in the long term. If we are to be realistic we have to make choices.
I know some people were not happy with the choices made by the government. However, after extensive consultations the government made the tough choices that best reflect the priority of Canadians. For example, if we are to find money to fund research on diseases affecting women or spend money on badly needed infrastructure then tough choices have to be made.
The government is taking steps to ensure our social programs are maintained. Many seniors in my riding of Hamilton Mountain are concerned about the future of their pensions. The government will be releasing a discussion paper on the future of the pension system later this year. The government intends to make the pension system fairer and more sustainable in the long term.
I have spoken to many students in my riding who are concerned about their future prospects. The government is taking steps to improve the employment prospects of today's students. The best means of improving employment opportunities of young people is to provide them with practical experience and job skills. The new youth services corps and internship programs sponsored by the federal government will provide students with the experience and skills they need to succeed in today's job market.
Many people have expressed concern about the changes to the unemployment insurance program. I assure Canadians the Liberal government recognizes the importance of the unemployment insurance program. The government's aim is to allow people to become independent, to increase help for those in
really desperate circumstances. The government's goal is to find the maximum dollars to put people back to work.
Many of my constituents have expressed their concerns over Canada's crime rate. In recognition of Canadians' concern about public safety, the smallest reductions in spending were made in departments dedicated to justice and corrections. The government is willing to spend the money necessary to ensure the safety of all Canadians.
Our goal is to create opportunities for all Canadians from all regions, from all backgrounds and from all walks of life to make the most of their own lives and to help our country seize the future.
In the budget and in other initiatives the government has created the opportunity for us all to seize the future together through growth, jobs, balance, honesty, fairness, vision, responsibility and compassion.