Something had to be done about the deficit. My colleague across the way wants to talk about the debt but I am sure he understands that you work on the deficit first and then on the debt.
Canada is poised to be a leader in this new economy. We have put our fiscal house in order. Interest rates are at historic lows and our inflation rate is among the lowest in the industrialized world. From a trade standpoint, we are one of the most open economies in the world. We have many improvements to make in terms of trade. We must get into the details and make sure the rules of trade are well understood and applied.
We have an opportunity to build upon this economic foundation to create a knowledge economy for the 21st century. We have the people and the resources, we have the institutions and we have research excellence. But having such assets is not enough. We all understand that. We must mobilize our resources toward a clear objective of being the best in the world.
When Parliament convened in September, our government set out its priorities for seizing the opportunities presented by the new economy. Our priorities focused on setting the conditions to create jobs and wealth in economic sectors ranging from high technology to services and primary resources.
One of our key goals is to make Canada the most connected country in the world and to make sure Canadians have access to the electronic highway and information economy by the year 2000.
Connecting Canadians is essential for jobs and growth. By being the most connected nation in the world, we will be helping youth, workers and firms acquire the skills needed for the knowledge economy. Improving competitiveness and productivity of Canadian firms in all sectors of the economy is most important. It is a real must that we make Canada a choice location for investment and create new markets and opportunities in a global economy. We must open these opportunities to our rural areas and the remote areas of our country. This includes our aboriginal communities.
Connecting Canadians will allow us to build from strength. It is well recognized that we have the overall best communications infrastructure among the G-7 nations. We are among the leaders in terms of penetration, quality, market development and rates. We have the lowest rates in the G-7.
Connecting Canadians will also redefine how governments provide services and interact with citizens. It will open new ways for citizens to express their views in a democracy.
Connecting Canadians has a strong social, cultural and unity element. It brings citizens together from coast to coast to coast in either official language. It gives our creative community a new vehicle for cultural expression.
We have already put in place many of the pieces for the connecting Canadians agenda. These initiatives embrace our government's commitment to help all Canadians access the information highway and develop the skills to use it no matter where they are.
There is the community access program, better known as CAP. By the year 2000-01 every Canadian rural community with more than 400 people will be plugged into the Internet. That is over 5,000 communities.
Our community access program is giving people in Canada's remote areas access to municipal, provincial and federal information services. It is helping them to learn the skills needed to compete in an information based economy. It is becoming a focal point for community partnerships and building on ramps to the information highway.
Another initiative is SchoolNet. By the year 1999 this joint program with the provincial governments and the private sector will make Canada the first country in the world to have all its schools and libraries connected to the Internet. SchoolNet is also about content and connecting Canadians.
Our SchoolNet web site includes a collection of Internet based educational services and resources for both teachers and students. It includes career guides and university and college course calendars, information readily available at their homes. There are thousands of teacher designed projects and lesson plans and virtual tours of institutions that range from the Louvre to the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
The SchoolNet digital collections program is also training young Canadians to provide innovative education material on line. To date, young Canadians across the country have participated in projects to digitize some 180 collections of historical and cultural significance.
Computers for schools is another initiative. Working in partnership with provincial governments and private sector partners, including the Telephone Pioneers, we are recycling used computers in schools and libraries. Later today the Prime Minister will celebrate the delivery of the 50,000th computer under this program. We have challenged corporate Canada to help us reach a target of some 250,000 computers by the year 2000. This program will allow people from all walks of life to have access to computers and to be able to learn about computers at a very young age. This is a must for the future.
The student connection program will hire 2,000 university and college students to help some 50,000 small and medium size businesses get connected to the Internet and train them how to use the Internet for their business. Many of the SMEs are learning that by being more flexible and being able to use the Internet they are actually getting into more business and more exports. The students have the opportunity to earn wages to defray their education costs while gaining valuable work experience with a community business.
Another initiative designed to help Canadian youth find jobs is the national graduate register. This Internet database is already becoming a valuable way for young people to post their resumés and for employers to find the skilled young people they need. It is getting more than 32,000 hits per day. May I repeat that it is getting 32,000 hits a day.
In the months ahead Canadians can look forward to new initiatives to expand our agenda for connecting Canadians and to build on the successes we have achieved and the partnerships we have forged with the provinces and with private enterprise.
Canada is well on its way to becoming a world-class connected country. We are accelerating our efforts to be the best in the world. Connecting Canadians is an integrated package where the whole is greater than the sum of its components and each element helps build the capacity of the others.
The agenda will enable Canada to be the recognized and acknowledged as the most connected country in the world. It will enable us to create new opportunities for learning and cultural expression, job creation and economic growth; economic growth by being aware and being right up to date on trade around the world, being up to date on technology around the world, and being closely connected with research being done around the world.
In a knowledge based economy our most important resources are people. That is why connecting Canadians is very important. It is about empowering Canadians and enabling them to take full advantage of all the economic, cultural, social and educational opportunities that the knowledge economy offers us.