Mr. Speaker, I listened to the hon. member for Gaspé and took note of the fact that he described the 1997 federal budget as a lazy man's budget. I am not exactly sure how he arrived at that description. Perhaps it is because our finance minister makes the job look easy, at least easy compared to the performance that we saw for so many years under the former Conservative government.
He also noted in his speech that the finance minister is ahead of the budget projections he laid down when the government assumed office in the fall of 1993. It is true that the finance minister is ahead of projections and he should be congratulated for that.
The hon. member pointed out that since the finance minister is ahead of his projections he should be giving something back to the Canadian people. I certainly agree with that and that is exactly what the finance minister did in the 1997 budget.
I remind the member for Gaspé, the House and all Canadian people that in the budget there was a $600 million child tax benefit, something that had not been there before. There was a reduction in the EI premiums. In addition small and medium size businesses in some cases will be able to forgo having to pay EI premiums at all if they hire additional employees.
There was $300 million for developing and researching new ways of delivering health care, something that the Canada Forum on Health proposed and recommended in its report. There was $800 million for the Canada foundation for innovation for universities and colleges. Those institutions have congratulated the government for that far sighted initiative.
There were $50 million for social housing initiatives in the budget. There was double the funding for youth employment initiatives. There were millions of more dollars for tourism. When we put it altogether we have lower interest rates.
I noted just today that the Boeing company which has a manufacturing plant in my riding announced an expansion of 400 jobs. Those kinds of things happen as a result of good fiscal management.