Madam Chairman, when we first took office I remember the finance minister and I sitting in the Department of Finance considering just where we sat. We came into a government that was in disrepute. We came in at a time and pondered over what the previous government had done. That previous government had given an estimated deficit of $32 billion.
What was the result we were looking at? The result was $42 billion to $44 billion, close to $45 billion at the first shot. That was a disaster.
The next thing that happened was the finance minister said: "We are going to not only set targets to bring our deficit down to 3 per cent of GDP in the third year of our mandate as we promised, we are going to set those targets and we are going to achieve them". I was at that finance department meeting and he told them: "Do not make any mistake, there is no way those targets can be exceeded. I want targets met in every way every year".
The first year the target was $39.7 billion and the final result was $37.5 billion. When we put that target out what was the press saying, what was the Reform Party saying? They were saying: "You'll never each the target. You'll never make those numbers. Those are impossible targets to make". Now they say that we are too low but they were not saying that then. They were saying that we would never make our targets. The first target was not just $39.7 billion, we got $37.5 billion. It was bettered by more than $2 billion.
Our next year's target was set at $32 billion. Are we going to meet that target? You bet we are going to meet that target. We are going to beat that target and better it this year. The $24.7 billion, the 3 per cent of GDP target for next fiscal year is going to be met and bettered again. We have another target after that of 2 per cent of GDP down to $17 billion.
If the deficits are measured in the same way that the Europeans and the Americans do, that deficit of 2 per cent of GDP would fall to $6 billion or less than 1 per cent of GDP. That is virtually a balanced result and is in the fourth year of the mandate. That is a remarkable set of numbers.
The hon. member also asked me about job creation. I think he answered his own question mind you, but I would be happy to answer it again for him.
In the first year of our mandate there was 4.6 per cent of real growth, or almost 400,000 new jobs, and it continued. The second year was not as good. We did not get nearly as many.
Job growth has revived the last three months. We got 140,000 new jobs and since we took office 600,000 new jobs have been created. They have been created by the private sector. Those are full time jobs. It is because of the positive atmosphere of the government. The financial markets have said that the government is a credible government. This government has credibility.