Mr. Speaker, in rising to comment on the motion of the fourth party today, let me remind Canadians about what we have been able to accomplish.
When the government took office we had a deficit of $42 billion. In just three short years we were able with the support of Canadians to bring that deficit down to $8.9 billion.
During that period we have seen our national debt peak at $583 billion. In the last year we have been able to pay that down by $11 billion. This is not an abstract exercise in dealing with the deficit and debt. We have seen very practical results.
As a result of our prudent fiscal management, monetary and fiscal policy since we first took office, we have seen interest rates fall by a full five percentage points. From two percentage points over the American rate to below short, medium and long term U.S. interest rates.
A couple of weeks ago when interest rates went up only 25 basis points, mortgage rates continued to fall, showing that these policies are working.
The hon member for Qu'Appelle said that high interest rates cost us jobs. How does he think we got the low interest rates which are starting to produce jobs? It is because we have been responsible fiscal and monetary managers.
We have also seen the pay-off in terms of low interest rates and growth of our economy. Our economy is now growing by OECD and IMF estimates over the next few years at the rate of 3.7%. This is the highest of G-7 countries. In the second quarter of this year we saw how our economy grew at an annual rate of 4.9 per cent. This is the way that we are going about the important task of creating jobs.
No one in the House on any side, I would venture to say, does not realize that probably the most difficult thing we as members of Parliament go through as individuals is seeing qualified people who want to work and have the capacity to contribute not being employed to the full extent of their capacities. If any one of us had a wish, I am sure we would all agree it would be to ensure that every Canadian had a job commensurate with their abilities and capacities. How do we do that?
We are seeing the results of our prudent management of the economy now paying huge dividends. When we took office there was 11.4% unemployment. It has come down to 9%. We know that is not good enough but in the private sector in Canada, which is the only place where jobs will be created, we have created 1.1 million new jobs. This is an extraordinary record of accomplishment.
In the first nine months of this year we have created 279,000 new jobs. Estimates are that over the next two years we will be creating them at the rate of at least 300,000 new jobs a year. This is the pay-off for what we have introduced.
I am very sympathetic to NDPers when they talk about the need for jobs. They are telling us that we have to set targets. Did either of their two speakers today tell us what the targets should be? No. Here is how they told us they would achieve them. Let me go through them.
They said that labour sponsored venture capital funds should be forced by the federal government to do retrofits. They cannot do retrofits. Are they talking about increased tax incentives for these funds?
They talked about further tax cuts. I will just go through the list the first two speakers put before us. At the same time they called for increased spending on health care, education, training, culture, environment, child poverty and housing, as well as a major expenditure program on the GST tax break. They were talking about eight new expenditure programs.
They also said “Let inflation go, just let it go. We do not have to worry about inflation”. The actions taken to date do not have an effect on monetary policy until a year to a year and a half down the road.
The member for Qu'Appelle said that high interest rates cost us jobs. How do we get high interest rates? By allowing inflation to go amok. It was when interest rates were at 22% that inflation was in the double digits.
We are never going to allow Canada to go that way again. We are going to keep interest rates low by managing the economy sensibly. Members of the NDP have come out—we will see the details of it later—with a program they think will create jobs, 60,000 they say. The community reinvestment act, which they are going to enact in Canada, will require funds taken as deposits in a community to be reinvested at least to a certain extent in that community.
We have looked at this. Do members know who the net losers would be? They would be the Atlantic provinces and a couple of the prairie provinces because they are now the net beneficiaries of the lending of our banks.
More money is lent to these poorer areas of Canada than is taken from these provinces in deposits. If that is the type of policy that they are advocating for Canada, either their research is wrong or they are on a totally wrong track in trying to give hope to the areas of Canada that most need it.
We are not unmindful of the need to keep fighting to get unemployment down. We are particularly concerned about youth unemployment, which is almost double the rate of unemployment in other areas of the economy. That is why we introduced the federal public sector youth internship program. That is why we have brought in the youth employment strategy which involves summer placements, international internships and science and technology internships.
I am particularly proud of the 6,000 jobs that have been created for the First Nations and Inuit peoples through the internship program that has been provided there.
Yes, regrettably in our quest to deal with the tremendous deficit and debt problem, unfortunately we have had to make cuts in transfers to the provinces, cuts in health care, which when analysed in total, including tax points that have been transferred and cash transfers, is an overall cut at its maximum of $3 billion.
If half of that was allocated to health care, it would be less than 3% of the total health care budget in Canada. We do not like to have to do that but we did have to cut. Our cuts to the provinces were at the level of 8%, whereas cuts to program spending were in the order of 13%.
At the same time, needs have been recognized and increased funds have been allocated in the 1997 budget for health care, $150 million for better approaches to providing health care, $50 million for the health care information system and $100 million for children's health initiatives.
We are very mindful of the fact that education is the key to future prosperity. That is why we have taken recent measures. On Canada student loans, which have a 30-month grace period, the limit has been doubled to $4,000 for registered educational savings plans. We have increased the amount that is deductible for student tuition fees and tuition credits are up. We are conscious of how that has to be done.
We are criticized by the NDP in terms of culture. Yes, our cultural industries are key, not only a major player in the economy, employing almost 900,000 Canadian, but also in defining who we are as a people.
That is why new moneys are allocated, $25 million a year, to the Canada Council starting next year, with another $10 million to it to help us honour the millennium.
One of our most important initiatives in health care, education and the cultural sector was to recognize that as governments have to cut back, perhaps the private sector could contribute more. That is why in so many areas tax incentives have been enhanced, to allow the private sector to help contribute in these areas.
We are going to continue our responsible course. We are not going to inflate ourselves into joblessness and high interest rates. Our path is working. Let us stay the course. Let us finish the job.