Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to have an opportunity to speak to the government's most recent budget which has established the right combination of measures to help move the country forward.
The budget deals with the Canadian deficit, as it needs to do. It deals with the issue of jobs, which is also a priority today. It also deals with the least advantaged in Canadian society and the obligation and need of government to help those people.
It does it in a way that understands government has two responsibilities. The first one is a fiscal responsibility. As a government we have a need to ensure that the expenditures we undertake are prudent, that we get value for every dollar we spend, and that we make sure Canadian taxpayers are getting full value for the money they are paying into the federal government.
Our responsibility as a government goes far beyond fiscal responsibility. It is more than just a matter of maintaining the books. It is more than just a matter of a balance sheet or an income statement. As a government we also have a social responsibility. We have a responsibility as a government to individual Canadians.
For the last 50 years we have historically agreed that we will not allow Canadians to fall below a certain level. As Canadians we collectively agree that when an individual goes to a hospital the first question asked should be what is wrong and not how much money does he have. We also agree to ensure that people have shelter and will not starve. We must have a social safety net, and government has that responsibility.
When we look at the budget it is important to recognize that we have achieved our mandate or our objective of fulfilling both those responsibilities.
I will talk a bit about fiscal responsibility. The government has done a good job in the three budgets it has brought forward in dealing with the Canadian deficit. During the campaign we promised to reduce the deficit to 3 per cent of GDP and we will be achieving that. Beyond that we have set a new objective of 2 per cent of GDP.
It is difficult to get one's mind around percentages. It is even better to look at some numbers. When the two-year planning phase announced by the minister in his recent budget is completed, the deficit in Canada will have been reduced by $25 billion. No government in the country has done a better job in reducing expenditures or in deficit reduction than we have done as a federal government.
Even more important in terms of fiscal responsibility, our borrowing as a nation and as a federal government in the upcoming year will be reduced to $13 billion and in the year following to only $6 billion. That is the best record in the country in 30 years and the best among the G-7 as a percentage of GDP. We are doing a good job in ensuring the borrowings of the federal government are being reduced dramatically.
We have gone from program spending being about 16 per cent of our gross domestic product to where it will be reduced by about 12 per cent when this budgetary cycle is completed. That also represents significant progress. It is the best we have done in the nation since the second world war.
There are things far beyond deficit control that governments need to deal with. One important objective is the need to create jobs. As a government we are doing a good job in that regard. We are ensuring that an environment exists within the country which allows jobs to be created. We are doing it in part because we are getting the economic fundamentals right.
Inflation in the country is at the lowest sustained level it has been in 30 years. That is a strong economic fundamental. Interest rates in the country have dropped by three points in the last year, another strong fundamental.
As I mentioned a moment ago, government's borrowings are being substantially reduced. This means the private sector is not being crowded out of the capital market and is being allowed investment opportunities to create jobs. We are getting the fundamentals rights. We are allowing for an environment to be created in the country in which job creation can occur.
As many of my colleagues have pointed out today during the debate, job creation has been occurring in the country. In the last three months Statistics Canada has reported almost 125,000 to 130,000 new jobs or in excess of 600,000 new jobs since the government came to office.
Despite getting the fundamentals right, which is important and represents real progress, our government also understands the necessity for government to target specific areas in which to do specific work. That is why we see new initiatives announced in the budget which deal with youth unemployment. Our government realizes this is a particular area of concern and we are acting in that respect.
The government also understands that there are areas where we can have the most impact on job creation. We have seen some initiatives undertaken by the government which will help see that happen. The establishment by Industry Canada of a technology fund that will start off at $150 million and grow to $250 million is important. It is a growth area of the economy where jobs can occur and we need to support it.
We are a country of exporters. We need to have more small businesses involved in it. Much of our exporting is done by the largest corporations. We need to move that down the scale so that our small businesses are taking part in export development. I was pleased to see our investment of another $50 million in the Export Development Corporation.
On the high tech side $50 million has been invested in the Business Development Bank of Canada so that it will be able to provide the necessary capital to firms dealing in the high tech sector. This is an example of the government understanding that in addition to the fundamentals we have done a good job in getting right there is a need for us to operate in specific sectors to help stimulate job creation.
The third area I mentioned when I started my speech was the need to help the least advantaged in society. There is a need. Whether it is helping the least advantaged areas in society geographically-and we do that through our transfer program, our equalization payments-or whether it is that we have increased the child tax benefits for 700,000 low income families, we understand the need to help the least advantaged in society.
In summary, the government understands that the way to deal with the Canadian economy, the way to create a budget and present a budget, is to have an approach that takes in several components and not to fixate on one simple part of it. That is why we have dealt with the deficit. That is why we have dealt with jobs. That is why we have dealt with helping the least advantaged in society.
I close by reiterating that the government understands it has a dual responsibility in governing the nation. It understands fiscal responsibility but it also understands it has a social responsibility to individual Canadians.