moved:
That this House approves in general the budgetary policy of the government.
Mr. Speaker, I am tabling the budget documents, including notices of ways and means motions. The details of the measures are contained in the documents.
Pursuant to an order of this House, I will introduce today a bill seeking borrowing authority for the 1996-97 fiscal year. I am asking that an order of the day be designated for consideration of these motions.
It is as clear today as it ever has been that Canadians do not want rhetoric from their government. What they want is action, real progress. These are the standards that Canadians have set, and these are the standards by which this government wants to be judged.
Seldom in our history have so many experienced such anxiety. Canadians feel our very way of life is at risk. They look at medicare and feel it is threatened. They look at the pension system and wonder if it will be there for them in the years to come. They consider the economy and they worry that the gale force winds of competition and change will carry away their jobs. Canadians think about their children, our youth, and ask what kind of opportunities will be left for them.
If there is one obligation before government today, it is to do its part to address these deep concerns. It is to do what we must so that confidence can overcome anxiety and hope can replace despair. In short, we must act now to help Canadians secure their future.
In short, we must act now to help Canadians secure their future. We all have our part to play in this undertaking.
It will require the concerted efforts of individual citizens, their governments, business and others for our country to tackle these challenges effectively.
What Canadians want from their government is for it to set the goals, to have a plan and then to work as hard as it can and as long as it must to help get the job done.
This budget is our third in a comprehensive and determined drive to restore fiscal health to this country. In this budget we are keeping on course. We are maintaining our pace. We are not letting up. Indeed, this government will never let up. The attack on the deficit is irrevocable and irreversible. Let there be no doubt about that. We will balance the books. Furthermore, we will put the debt to GDP ratio, what we owe as a percentage of what we produce, on a constant downward track year after year after year. Nothing, I repeat nothing, will cause this government's conviction to change.
We announced in November that we had bettered our deficit target for 1994-95. It is now clear that our target for 1995-96 will be achieved or bettered and that we are on track for our 3 per cent target for 1996-97. This is proof of the profound impact of the actions set in motion in our first two budgets.
Moreover, today, we will make it clear that our deficit target for 1997-98, $17 billion or 2 per cent of GDP, is also secure.
We will hit the 3 per cent deficit target. We will hit the 2 per cent target announced last November. Indeed, we are announcing the actions today which will enable us to go beyond these targets to keep us moving toward budget balance.
To that end, we are cutting our own departmental spending by almost $2 billion to take effect in 1988-89, I mean 1998-99. I am going backward; I sound like the Reform Party.