Mr. Speaker, I was viciously attacking all the people who go around suggesting that the Reform Party has not brought new politics to this place. I said that the people who suggested that are spreading malicious lies. We all know it is the non-shouting party. We all know it is the party that never maligns anybody.
I want to talk about this marvellous report of the Standing Committee on Finance.
I say to the hon. member for Medicine Hat that it is not the government, it is a committee of which he is a member. Not one single person on that committee, including my good friend from Willowdale, the chairperson, is a member of the administration. They are all MPs from various parties.
That committee went to St. John's. When in St. John's it heard concerns from seniors and from small business. It heard concerns about youth and about job creation. It heard concerns about deficit reduction targets, social programs and the fishery. The hon. member for Medicine Hat, the hon. member for Willowdale and the other members of that committee from all parties heard those concerns. Then the committee responded to those concerns.
On the issue of seniors, the report points out that as of the 1996 budget, thanks to the Minister of Finance, those 60 and over, along with their spouses whatever their age, are guaranteed no less than current pension payments.
On small business, the total lending ceiling under the Small Business Loans Act has been raised to $12 billion.
For youth, over the next three years the government is going to put out $1.2 billion including an additional $350 million announced in the last budget a few months ago.
On job creation, over 600,000 jobs have been created.
On deficit reduction targets, we are meeting them and we are beating them. That is performance. Let us stop right there.
Mr. Speaker, you are looking at a person who never particularly got his jollies out of deficit reduction. I had to tell you that. I have never seen deficit reduction as an end in itself. I never go to bed and say "thank the dear Lord I have reduced the deficit some more today". It is never in my prayers at night because it is not an end in itself. If it were an end in itself we should shut the government down and all go home.