Thanks to good management and to good planning by the Minister of Finance and our government, as my colleague said. Sure, we had to make some cuts. But we did not do it in the Mike Harris style. That is why we do not see tens of thousands of demonstrators today in front of Parliament.
Yes, we had to cut, but we proceeded according to humanitarian principles, which is the best way to do things, and not as members of the Reform Party would have it, that is, cutting even more than we did to reduce the deficit. Of course, this depends on which Reform members we are talking about because some of them, like the hon. member for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca, are a little more reasonable than others. But some of them are extremists who would cut everything now in the Mike Harris style. In that case, we would have demonstrations. We would see people reduced to a state of dire poverty as so many have been by the Ontario government. This
is not what we want. We want to treat people decently. Of course, we have to make cuts, but we also want to treat people with respect.
Listen to what certain Canadians have to say about the budget. Let me read quote a few of them. Most Canadians, men and women, know what Mrs. Solange Denis said, and I quote: "No, I do not think that they took advantage of me to catch people's attention. I agree entirely with Mr. Martin's plan. I have always supported the Liberals." Bill Good is the host of an open-line program in British-Columbia, and it is well known that, in that part of the country, they do not always agree with the measures proposed by the Liberal Party. He said, and I quote: "The Minister of Finance gained a lot of credibility by meeting the goals he had set, namely, by keeping interest rates relatively low." I ask the members opposite to listen carefully as I continue: "International investors now think that the Minister of Finance is serious about reducing the deficit." Members of the Reform Party would learn a lot if only they listened to Bill Good. He also said this: "Yes, they would want him to go faster, but he met the goals set and, in fact, he even exceeded them, something neither Mike Wilson nor Don Mazankowski even accomplished." He said that, not I.
So that is what people say.
I can quote others. Jeffrey Simpson, of the Globe and Mail , who is not considered to be a great Liberal, said: ``If only the federal government had presented ten years ago a budget similar to those of the last two years, including yesterday's budget-'' That was on March, 7. Those are the praises we are hearing.
Ghislain Dufour, president of the Conseil du patronat du Québec-