You see, Mr. Speaker, I guess good news hurts. I continue with more good news on the budget. Our balanced and fair approach has to be recognized, a far cry from what we have been hearing over there of let us get that budget down to zero, and the sooner the better.
I have asked the member for Wild Rose what he would cut. What social programs would have to suffer as a result of their mad desire to reduce deficit and thereby the national debt to zero? Canadians from coast to coast would endure pain never felt before if those
kind of programs were implemented to reduce the deficit in an unfair and callous way. There is no question about that.
What else does the budget do? What did the member for Hamilton West and the majority of members on this side of the House vote for in the budget? How about no tax increases of any kind? What about a secure, stable, growing system of federal support for medicare? Medicare, I say to the hon. member opposite.
The provinces will receive post-secondary education and social assistance through the Canada health and social transfers. There will be no further cuts in transfers to the provinces. We have announced a firm funding commitment for a five-year period beginning 1998-99.
Do colleagues on this side remember when we were in opposition how the Tory government would make its promises and then make adjustments in the following budget and in the budget after that? There could be no opportunity for future planning for any of these organizations because they did not know what the federal budget would look like from year to year.
We will change that. That is a promise we made. They will have the opportunity to see a commitment for stable and firm funding for a five-year period, which will enable them to make their plans. For the first two years of the CHST it will remain constant at $25.1 billion. For the next three years it will increase.
What about restoring confidence in the old age security system by creating a seniors benefit designed to help those most in need? That was a government promise. That is another reason the member for Hamilton West voted for the budget. As promised, seniors will continue to receive the benefits they now receive, despite the crude and scaremongering remarks made by members of the third party during question period on this day.
I voted for jobs and growth. We have allocated money for new investment in three priority areas, one of which is youth, I remind the hon. member for Wild Rose. He was up on his feet saying: "We are not doing anything for youth. I am not sure what we are not doing, but we are not doing anything". We are doing things for youth.
Areas critical to future jobs and growth are technology and trade. The hon. member for Wild Rose was complaining about that, but it is there in the budget.
What about the provision of an additional $165 million over three years to help students and families with increased costs of education?
It is unfortunate the hon. member opposite says government members are doing this in a pompous fashion. Maybe our chests are sticking out a bit because we are proud of what we are doing on this side. We are actually accomplishing things and meeting goals we promised we would meet when we ran in the 1993 election. With a book in hand we said this is what we promise to do. The majority of those promises will be met. We will be able to go door to door in an election campaign and say this is what we promised to do.
I know the media will be out there. It will not outline our accomplishments, maybe comparing the accomplishments of this government with the last. It will not say this is how much the government has done. The media will see the glass not as half full but as half empty. It will recognize the 10 per cent or less the government did not do. That is a crying shame.
Canadians are winning. It is a Team Canada approach. It will happen. It will happen now. We are proud of that and we are proud of the budget.