Mr. Speaker, I think a very historic budget has come out. I have no question that the Minister of Finance has, along with the cabinet, along with the Prime Minister, done something that all Canadians have longed for over the last several decades. When we talk about eliminating the deficit, it is extremely important and it is extremely historic for Canada.
We were the basket case of the G-7 countries a short time ago under the former government. We have totally turned that corner and now we are moving in a very positive direction. Eliminating the deficit is not the end, and every person in this House realizes it is still very important that we maintain a course that is set to improve the financial status, the financial balance sheet, the whole finances of Canada.
At the same time, it is extremely important that we look at the socioeconomic side of what is happening to our people. We look at what measures a government can take to create a better society with the assets we have.
I think when we talk about complaints regarding how dollars are being spent, it is like a family. There is no question that every person in the family is not going to agree with exactly how every dollar should be spent.
Surely we can agree on some basic elements and principles that have been going on in the last three years. We can agree on some basic directions in which we are intending to go in the future.
This budget does set a course. The course is not to spend lavishly, not to move our finances into a precarious position by huge tax cuts, not to put at risk what we have achieved to this point.
There are those in the House who say that we should cut taxes, a big cutting of taxes so that people can go out and spend more money. Are they responsible in looking at the view that we should not follow a course of being prudent, being cautious, being careful and realizing that the roller coaster of economics goes up and the roller coaster of economics goes down?
We in Canada cannot control world markets. We in Canada are subject to actions that occur in the United States, actions that occur in Asia, actions that occur in South America, actions that occur in Europe or anywhere else in the world.
If we are not really cautious about charting a course, putting a little money away for a rainy day, cushioning the effects that world economic questions can raise, then we are really at risk of falling back into a deficit. If interest rates throughout the world start pushing higher, if our Canadian dollar comes under heavy assault, as it really did a few weeks ago, if the Asian markets do not stay steady and move along, we are vulnerable.
Therefore when we talk about tax cuts, heavy payments, social spending, if we do not stay the course we have set over the last three years, we leave ourselves very vulnerable not only today but in the future.
Some would say we have a scenario to deal with. We have almost $600 billion in debt and the interest on that money is crushing. There is no question about that.
Huge interest payments are very expensive to Canada. For every $3 we take in in taxes, one of those dollars is spent against the debt on interest alone.
Therefore realizing that enormous problem we have, realizing what is happening within the spectrum of payments, we must make certain that we can pay that off without extending our debt, without extending other programs beyond our means whereby we would fall further into a deficit situation in the future.
I believe the finance minister has achieved that. I believe he has a very conservative approach to maintaining our financial security. But at the same time he has examined very carefully what is going to make us more prosperous.
The decision is let us get the population that is going into the workforce as well educated as possible. Let us put those people in a position where they understand high technology, where they have post-secondary options not available to many young people today. Let us make sure that every young Canadian has the opportunity to have the highest level of education they can achieve and the education that is going to bring them to a point of good, solid income earners.
How does that affect Canada? If we educate our young people to the abilities of handling high tech, we can then develop this high tech industry in this country and move forward. We can move forward with business opportunities never perceived before. We have a great opportunity here to move our young people into those high tech areas, move our young people into job situations which in fact will pay tremendous benefits to this country in the short term as well as the long term.
It will attract businesses into Canada that are working in the high tech industry and we can become a very focal point of high technology for Canadians, for North Americans, for the world. I have no question when we look at that issue it is extremely important that we be the leaders.
How does that affect other jobs? Even those who do not go to school will have opportunity to move into other areas because there is no question once you develop a high tech area, once you develop more jobs, there are other job opportunities, small business and so on, to support those people working in the industries, which we are going to train Canadians to do. This budget speaks of our prosperity in the future.
I would also like to touch on the questions we talked about with regard to what is most important for us at this point in time in order to help low income Canadians. I agree it would be nice if we could give more tax breaks and tax cuts. But we did target low income Canadians with a personal exemption. We removed our 3% surtax, which meant that many of our low income and middle income Canadians will have a much better opportunity within the tax structure than they had before.
I see my time is up. I would like Canadians to sit back and think about what opposition members have been saying to this point. I have heard them criticize what has been said, but in fact those critics are always going to be there. I have not heard them present good, solid solutions which would cure our illnesses.
I think we have moved to a very positive area. We are on the move, and staying the course is the only way I see this country gaining the most benefit it can.