Madam Speaker, the hon. member on the opposite side said that members on this side of the House should stand in our place and say that the deficit plan has been successful. I would say that whether or not we determine the deficit plan has been successful depends on how one measures success.
If we measure success by the high number of people who are unemployed, perhaps the plan has been successful. If we measure success by the large number of young people who need help and who will not be able to receive help under the budget, perhaps we can say it has been successful. If we measure success by the large number of people lining the corridors of hospitals trying to get proper health care, by the large number of people who are unable to afford pharmacare and proper medicines, or by the large number of seniors who are concerned about their future, perhaps we can say the budget has been successful. If we are looking at the large number of federal government employees who are still seeking pay equity, not being paid their rightful due, perhaps again the government has been successful. If we look at the large number of people working in shipyards who are not able to have a national shipbuilding policy that will address their concerns, perhaps the government has been successful.
When we look Atlantic Canada and Nova Scotia in particular the budget does very little to address the concerns of the people in that area. There is nothing concrete offered to ease the employment concerns of the fishers on the east coast. No substantial relief is offered to young people currently experiencing high student debt load.
We talk about the millennium fund which will not kick in until the year 2000 and then will only help about 7% of the students in the area. The budget has no new job creation strategies. It has no targets, as has been mentioned. There is no new investment in health care.
The government mentioned choices and talked about them being the choices of Canadians. We could look at the large number of Canadians who have not been consulted or dealt with in a real partnership. I am speaking about our aboriginal communities that year after year are refused admittance at the first ministers tables and constitutional talks. Yet we talk about working in partnership. Have those people been considered and have they been consulted in terms of priorities for people when we say that this is a budget for Canadian people?
We talk about priorities. Yet, when we talk about priorities, we are not really talking about priorities for people but we are talking about the priorities the government determined were its priorities in meeting the budget deficit. It has been done on the backs of the people. When we talk about how successful we are, let us think about those people who have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.
I see that my time is just about up. I throw those remarks out to have them on record for a response by the hon. member.