Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by saying that this government has done something that no other has accomplished in over 30 years. Through the direction of this government, the Canadian people have achieved a balanced budget.
In response to this achievement, the finance minister delivered a budget balance on Tuesday. This budget is visionary. Its recommendations are sustainable. Its foundations are predicated on fiscal stability. Its scope reaches all Canadians in a fair and responsible manner.
As a member of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, I had the opportunity last fall to hear from Canadians from Vancouver to St. John's. I also hosted a consultation session in my riding of Kitchener Centre. I submitted those recommendations to the Minister of Finance.
This budget speaks to the requests made by Canadians, made by my constituents. It speaks to our children, our youth, our unemployed, our working families, our businesses, our disabled people, our aboriginal population and our elderly.
This budget is in the best interests of all Canadians. It invests in community, the community of Canada.
The budget is multifaceted. I could not hope to touch on all of its merits. Instead I would like to highlight four themes: feasibility, fairness, focus, and the future.
We heard that Canadians were pleased that the deficit had been brought under control. We now find that we are even ahead of that target. However there was also an expressed concern that the government would revert to the program spending ways of the past. This government in the budget sets out a course for a continuous mandate of sensible reinvestment for Canadians without jeopardizing all we have been able to accomplish together.
Along with the previously committed programs of previous budgets, as well as Bill C-28 which will receive debate in this House in the next few weeks, we are committing to a course which is sustainable.
Canadians wanted to see us bring down the deficit. This budget fulfils that wish through designating our $3 billion contingency reserve to this purpose if it has not been required.
The current budget commits 60% to debt reduction, which is slightly more than we said we would do in the last election. This was among the recommendations made by my constituents in Kitchener during my prebudget consultation.
I would like to point out that the contingency reserve has not been required for the past four years. As a result, we have been able to reduce our marketable debt by $13 billion. This plan remains within the context of Canada's budget, interest rates and the debt to GDP ratio.
In addition to securing an enduring reduction in public debt burden the government has also reduced its exposure to increases in interest rates by restructuring the composition of our public debt. Sixty-five per cent of our debt is at a fixed rate. This is in the face of 50% in the early 1990s. This saves Canadians almost $1 billion in debt charges per year and will help us to manage our debt over the long term.
This government is committed to the feasible delivery of what Canadians said they needed and what Canadians want.
On fairness, this government is committed to meaningful consultations. I see the issues and the concerns expressed by the people across Canada addressed in this budget. This budget spans generations, provinces, and all of Canada's many ethnic communities. It truly is a budget for all Canadians. It offers visionary approaches to issues which Canadians hold dear to their hearts.
As a demonstration of the government's commitment to ensuring fairness in taxation, it has removed the 3% general surtax introduced by the Mulroney government. In addition, the government will increase the basic personal exemption by $500 for single taxpayers with an income under $20,000 and by $1,000 for a family with an income under $40,000. As a result 400,000 Canadians will be removed from the tax rolls and there will be tax relief for 4.6 million Canadians.
This budget is focused. While providing a fair approach which benefits all Canadians, this budget also addresses key areas for growth and improvement.
I would like to read a segment from my prebudget town hall report: “Education is the key to our future. Start early. Keep it accessible. Encourage lifelong learning”. This is what I heard from the people of Kitchener Centre.
A key focal point of this budget is on lifelong learning, encouraging Canadians to maintain and develop skills and knowledge.
There was a 24% increase in technological, computer and professional development as well as apprenticeship in short term programs across Canada in 1997, an increase over 1996. Due to a number of factors people are realizing the importance of ongoing lifelong learning. We are making those programs available to them through interest relief and being able to use their RRSPs for educational programs.
Part time university enrolment was down 10% to 18% in 1997 from 1996, due in part to rising costs, work and family commitments, the realization that a university degree is helpful in obtaining employment but specific skills development is also beneficial. This budget addresses these issues through offering ongoing support to lifelong learning by making the RRSPs accessible and by allowing for RESP contributions. The government will match 20% of those contributions.
Eligibility for increased assistance is also available for part time students and for students with families and other commitments. We are also opening up the eligibility to include apprenticeship programs. Generally, we are being more inclusive of the entire education spectrum. This is key to the skills development which is needed for our future workforce.
Studies in the Kitchener area indicate a desperate need for high tech and knowledge skilled workers. We have seen a shift from manufacturing industries to those in the high tech sector. This budget offers Canadians the tools they need to develop the skills that are necessary to carry them into the future and ensure increased employment opportunities.
In addition to the increased aid to students and those furthering their education, we have the Canadian millennium fund.
The government has also offered to help ease the debt burden on recent graduates by offering tax relief on the interest portion of the amount paid on loans approved under federal and provincial student loan programs.
This budget also offers an EI holiday which gives employers an incentive to hire young Canadians. This is an attempt to stop the no job, no experience, no experience, no job cycle.
Constituents at my town hall said that technology and innovation are the future. Our companies need research and development if they are to grow and prosper. Effective in 1998-99 this government has committed to restoring research granting councils to their 1994-95 levels and will continue to grow over the next two years reaching their highest level ever by the year 2001.
This budget will increase funding for research and development by more than $400 million over the next three years. This commitment to research and development will allow Canada's innovation sector to continue to be at the cutting edge. We cannot continue to lose Canada's best and brightest. We are much better off to have them make their medical discoveries and develop new technology in Canada rather than try to repatriate them after the fact.
Health care is also a key concern of Canadians. It is one of the reasons why in both Bill C-28 and this budget we have committed to having a floor of $12.5 billion going to the provinces for their CHST.
This budget looks to Canada's future by making strategic investments in areas I have mentioned. Studies indicate that over the next two decades the most critical economic challenge will be the supply of skilled labour. It is said that the attention paid in the past to address the deficit and inflation will be necessary to address this need for skilled labour in the future. The result of not addressing this would lead to a lack of economic growth with thousands of Canadians who want to work but lack the job skills to find employment.
Larry Smith, an adjunct faculty member in economics at the University of Waterloo, called this budget a stunning economic accomplishment.
Building on the theme of lifelong learning I would like to share an analogy made by one of my colleagues. If a man is hungry and you give him bread, he will eat for a day. But if you give him seeds and teach him how to farm, he will nourish himself into the future.
Truly, this budget has that kind of investment and that kind of vision both for Canadians and for the future of Canada. This budget is offering Canadians the seeds to gain the knowledge and the ability to reap the long term benefits.