Mr. Speaker, I am proud to speak today on the budget which represents some very fundamental Liberal values and some values that are important to all Canadians.
While we have been very frugal since the election in 1993, and have had a constant eye on reducing the financial obligations of Canadians, we have also not taken our eye off those values that are
important to Canadians: compassion, caring for one another and building a better future for all of us.
The government has not had an easy time of it in recent years. Some difficult decisions have had to be made. And yet, we have considerable achievements to our credit. We have, with this budget, taken back our national sovereignty.
It is nothing less than that. We have taken back our national economic sovereignty.
We have taken back the power to decide in Canada, for Canadians, and the power to build the future that we want for ourselves and for our children.
No more do we have to look over our shoulders to Tokyo, Zurich, New York, to the international bankers on whom we had become so dependent for our bills. By next year for the first time in 28 years we will no longer have to borrow new money on the world market. This is money that up until now has been borrowed to pay year in and year out for medicare, for pensions, for education, for research, for culture.
I ask people to take themselves back to the situation we faced three and a half years ago. Of the money the Canadian government had to spend every year, more and more was going to pay the interest on the debt and less and less was available for the programs that Canadians value, to the point where we were not going to be able to afford any of those programs.
We have reversed that. We have shrunken the deficit steadily and dramatically. By 1999 we will have no deficit.
This year's budget showed just how important that achievement is. We are able again to invest in our future, modestly, yes, because we are not yet out of the woods, but in areas that are crucial.
I want to give credit to Canadians from all across the country who I believe through our caucus, our Liberal members, very much influenced and determined the priorities in the 1997-98 budget.
Just one example is the first step in a massive effort against child poverty, the most progressive social program that has been introduced since medicare. I want to particularly give credit to my own riding association in Ottawa West that first developed a child poverty resolution to go to the national Liberal convention last year and then worked along with the help of the Nepean Women's Liberal Association to make sure that at the national convention with Liberals from all across the country, children were at the top of the government's national agenda.
We have held day long forums in Ottawa West on health care, social programs and pensions. When the National Forum on Health reported last year the values of our community for accessible universal portable health care were in its report.
The budget also picks up on those recommendations and begins immediately to implement some of the recommendations of the National Forum on Health to which my constituents and Canadians contributed. It implements $300 million to try some innovative new approaches in health care. It deals with such things as a new health research fund. It doubles the money for things like the prenatal nutrition program and the community action program for the health of children.
We have money in the budget to recognize the economic equality of persons with disabilities. We have tax measures that will help compensate for the extra expense of having to cope with disabilities such as dependent care. We have a $30 million opportunities fund for Canadians with disabilities to improve their ability to be full participating citizens of our country.
There are measures for short term jobs because we know there are still many Canadians uncertain about their future, unable to keep a job, able to get only short term low skilled jobs. We are extending the infrastructure program which was so successful in kickstarting the economy shortly after the last election.
Just as important, we are investing long term. The Canada innovation fund will strengthen the abilities of universities to contribute to research, to the advancement of knowledge and to new job opportunities in the future. We are making it easier for students to attend university through improved tax treatment of their expenses as students from which either they or their parents can benefit, and by making it easier for them to repay student loans. The government has made it easier for parents to invest in a registered education savings plan for their children's education.
The economic indicators are all right at this moment. There are low interest rates, low inflation, a dramatically improved trade situation and a dramatically improved balance of payments. We have 700,000 more Canadians working today than were working two and a half years ago. That is quite an accomplishment. We went into the 1993 election with predictions from the then government that unemployment would not go down until well into the next century. That was not good enough and that is why we invested in both short term jobs and long term economic prospects for Canadians.
A number of the measures in the budget are also an indication of how we have strengthened the Canadian family. In a sense it began with the Team Canada missions to stimulate the economy and create better opportunities for Canadian firms to sell abroad and to
create jobs at home. That has led to the provinces working together in many other areas.
The new child tax benefit would not be possible without the co-operation of the provinces. There are a number of measures throughout the budget, such as health care initiatives, that rely on that co-operation, that of working together as a Canadian family for the benefit of all Canadians. By working together we strengthen our bonds across this great country and strengthening our ability to do even more in the future.
I am proud to speak on the budget. It shows some very difficult measures have been taken but they have been producing results. There are those who would say give people tax cuts. There are those who would say cut more and faster. On the other side there are those who would say spend more and do not worry about the debt and deficit.
This government will not jeopardize our history of compassion, of caring for one another, of investing in the future of all Canadians. Nor will we undermine the gains that have been made at great sacrifice for many Canadians.
This budget represents a record of achievement but it also represents a launching pad for the future based on a much more solid confidence in our economic situation, based on a sense that people have had good government, honest government and that is a record I am pleased to stand on.