Mr. Speaker, I listened attentively to the comments of my colleague opposite. I want to make a couple of points regarding the debt.
The debt is certainly declining. The debt to GDP ratio will decline 63% over the next two years, the largest drop of all G-7 countries.
I want to focus on the stop, look and listen idea put forward by the hon. member. Yes, we have stopped the deficit. We have stopped the rise of the debt. Certainly we will continue to look and listen to Canadians, to reflect Canadian priorities and to ensure that those priorities are reflected in budgets.
This brings me to my comment about this budget. Essentially it is an education budget. The hon. member says that we are doing all these terrible things when in fact we are giving young Canadians an opportunity.
I draw the attention of the hon. member to the Globe and Mail article of this morning. It says quite clearly that the work is going to those who have earned a university degree, a college diploma or some other form of post-secondary educational certificate. If young people can do anything to insulate themselves from joining the unemployed, the data paints a pervasive picture that the answer can be summed up in one phrase: stay in school.
We have reinvested in young people, reinvested in the Canadian priority and provided some vision with respect to education. That is the linkage that provides competitiveness for this great country which will bring us into the next millennium.
We could talk about restoring funding to the granting councils. The member is unequivocally correct that we are restoring funding to 1994 levels. He must realize—and I am sure he does—that Canadians have waited 30 years to balance the budget. We have finally done that. We are reinvesting in Canadian priorities.
How could the member honestly ridicule the budget and say that it does not reflect Canadian priorities? It does. I draw the hon. member's attention to the article in the Globe and Mail . I could pass a copy on for him to read.